The Walt Disney Company reported that its net income rose a whopping 27% in the fiscal second quarter. A larger-than-expected gain was lifted as kids snapped up DVDs of the “Frozen” video and souvenirs tied to the animated mega-hit. The box office sales as well as the sales of related merchandise raised the income of $1.92 billion compared to $1.51 billion made in Q2 a year ago. Thus, the revenues grew to $11.6 billion, the company said in a statement, exceeding projections of $11.2 billion. Apart from traditional animated videos, “Thor: The Dark World,” the new feature film, made the film studio’s earnings rise fourfold. Interestingly, “Frozen” has scored a record $1.17 billion in worldwide ticket sales, the most for an animated film. Moreover, the film was also the top-selling DVD six weeks after its release. Meanwhile, Disney’s four largest business divisions also generated profit growth. So, the interactive division posted a profit of $14 million, reversing a $54 million loss a year earlier, on the strength of sales of Disney Infinity, the company’s video-game platform. The revenue grew 38% to $268 million. The broadcast division including ABS and ESPN networks yielded the operating revenue of $2.1 billion in Q1 2014 which is 15% higher than a year ago. Besides, it should be also mentioned that the legendary division Walt Disney Parks and Resorts dealing with theme parks and cruise vessels managed to expand its operating income by 19% to $457 million for Q1 2014 whereas the revenue went up 8% to $3.6 billion. No wonder, the market responded to such upbeat readings by boosting prices of Disney shares. In total, the stock of the entertainment corporation has advanced 6.1% since early 2014.
