Hasbro posts 1Q profit on Transformers, games

PAWTUCKET – Hasbro Inc. (NYSE: HAS) posted a first-quarter profit of $37.47 million, or 13.9 percent more than the year-ago period’s $32.89 million, on revenue that increased 12.6 percent to $704.22 million worldwide.
Earnings per diluted share rose to 26 cents from the 2007 first quarter’s 25 cents, as the company spent $156 million to repurchase 6.1 million shares of common stock at an average price of $25.63 per share. The results far exceeded expectations, based on a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, whose median forecasts called for a profit of 14 cents per share.
“We had a strong 2007,” Hasbro President and CEO Alfred J. Verrechia said last week of the company’s third record year in a row, “and the momentum continues in 2008, with growth driven primarily by Transformers and Littlest Pet Shop, as well as Playskool, Star Wars, Baby Alive, My Little Pony and board games.”
First-quarter highlights included a six-year deal with Universal Pictures announced Feb. 20; the acquisition of family-game creator Cranium Inc.,completed Jan. 25; and a 25-percent year-over-year increase in the company’s regular first-quarter dividend – payable May 15 – which the board of directors boosted to 20 cents per share in the fifth-consecutive annual increase. &#8226