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Premier Exhibitions, Inc. (NASDAQ:PRXI), a presenter of museum-quality touring exhibitions around the world, today announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 ended May 31, 2015.
Comparing the first fiscal quarter 2016 with the prior year’s first fiscal quarter:
– Total revenue decreased 3.2% to $7.2 million compared to $7.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Exhibition revenue was negatively impacted by a reduction in the number of exhibitions rented to promoters or museums. Merchandise revenue was negatively impacted by fewer exhibitions presented in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 offset partially by an increase in average retail per attendee for semi-permanent exhibitions.
– Gross profit decreased to $1.7 million from $3.1 million in last year’s first fiscal quarter while gross margins fell to 24.0% from 41.2% in the prior year period. The decrease in gross profit was inclusive of $1.0 million of additional expense related to the New York City location with limited corresponding revenue to offset the expenses.
– Net loss after non-controlling interest was $2.3 million, or $0.46 per diluted share, compared to net loss after non-controlling interest of $1.2 million, or $0.25 per diluted share in last year’s first fiscal quarter. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure (1), was $0.6 million, a decrease of $0.4 million from in the prior year.
– Total exhibition days decreased 24.4% to 1,078 as compared to 1,426 in the first fiscal quarter of 2015.
– Average attendance per exhibition day increased 4.8% to 484 compared to 462 in last year’s first fiscal quarter. Average ticket prices for semi-permanent and partner presented exhibitions increased 18.8% to $18.04 from $15.18 in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
– Average attendance per exhibition day for semi-permanent exhibitions was 344 compared to 373 in the prior year period. Average ticket prices for semi-permanent exhibitions increased 10.2% to $21.42 from $19.44 in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
– General and administrative expenses decreased 13.0% to $2.9 million, compared with $3.3 million in last year’s first fiscal quarter as the Company incurred lower compensation expense during the first quarter of fiscal 2016 which was partially offset by an increase in professional fees related to the merger transaction.
– On May 31, 2015, the Company had total cash and cash equivalents of $1.6 million.
Michael Little, Premier’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Our disappointing performance during the quarter is due to underutilization of our Bodies and Titanic exhibitions coupled with rent expenses for ‘Saturday Night Live: The Exhibition’ that were only modestly offset by revenues since the exhibition opened in late May. On the top-line, fewer overall exhibitions presented resulted in a decrease in total exhibition days as well as lower merchandise sales. This in turn resulted in lower gross profit and a higher net loss compared to the year-ago period.”
Little continued, “In the face of these challenges, our focus remains reducing all non-essential expenses, including G&A, and managing liquidity. Although we incurred professional fees related to the pending merger, we reduced our overall compensation expenses to better align our base business cost structure with revenues. We are also doing everything possible to minimize our cash-burn given our liquidity constraints.”
Little added, “We fully appreciate the importance of SNL’s success to the future of our exhibition business and are cautiously optimistic by the public’s reception to the property thus far. Our celebration of the iconic sketch comedy and variety show is situated in midtown Manhattan and has garnered positive reviews in leading news and entertainment publications. Our objective is to position the venue and exhibit as a ‘must see’ for metropolitan area residents and tourists alike. In promoting the venue and exhibit, we are partnering with the local media and tourism industry to promote SNL as a quintessential New York landmark, thus building future ticket sales.”
Little concluded, “At this time, we have no further update on our merger agreement with Dinoking Tech Inc. We will be submitting our proxy for review by the SEC shortly and expect to hold the shareholder meeting to vote on the merger early in the third quarter of fiscal 2016.”
