NEW YORK — Harvey Entertainment Co. on Wednesday reported a net loss of $386,000 for the fourth quarter, blamed on costs of reacquiring licensing rights to its cartoon properties from Universal Studios.
Harvey said the loss, compared with a $35,000 profit in the year-ago quarter, came on revenue of $1.3 million, down 51%, also related to the licensing move and to a $2 million decline in merchandise royalties vs. 1995, when Universal released “Casper,” based on a major Harvey character.
But the full year looked brighter: Net income rose 48%, to $1.3 million, on revenues of $9.2 million, up 1%. Har-vey now plans a new line of direct-to-video releases, produced by Saban Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, and expects to gain substantially higher revenues from licensing by bringing that function inhouse.
