Wizard World just released its Q2 SEC filings, reporting income up sharply on an increased slate of shows. You’ll recall that Wizard World is a public company having gone “penny stock” a few years ago. The PR cites “higher quality events, including better organization, more programming, and an exciting list of celebrities and artists to an increasing fan base, ” as aiding the growth as well as doubling their number of events from two to four—and increasing admission prices. Wizard ran four shows in the first six months of 2013 and 8 in the comparable period in 2014. Convention revenue was $7,110,940 for the quarter and $12,284,138 for the first six months, on costs of $4,348,167 and $7,608,194 for a gross margin of $2,762,773 and $4,675,944 respectively. After operating expenses, net income for Q2 was $759,842 and $1,452,044 for the first six months, both vs a seven figure loss in 2013.
While I’ll leave it to an actual financial expert to look at the stock part of the filing, I did notice this:
We expect to produce sixteen (16) live events during the year ending December 31, 2014. To date, we have operated profitable live events in Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, Columbus, Portland, Nashville, Austin, and St. Louis, but we have operated at a deficit in other events. In order for us to operate a successful event, we must produce an event that is relevant to the public in order to drive admissions, booth sales, sponsorship, and advertising. In order for the Company to grow the digital business, we must attract unique users and drive traffic to our online site. To date, we have exhausted considerable resources developing our media platform, but we have yet to earn a profit from the platform.
This suggests that the Sacramento, Louisville, Minneapolis, Atlanta and San Antonio Wizard worlds were not profitable. The San Antonio stop, at least, won’t be back in 2015, I’m told—it’s listed as TBD on the Wizard Site. To Atalnta stop is listed, although they’ll take another crack at Minneapolis, Louisville and Sacramento.
Clearly, running shows as long as Wizard has, they’ve learned a ting or two, and the business can be lucrative…but a new territory is a crapshhoot, and their ambitious expansion program will probably be fine tuned as good markets are recognized.
The stock was up a tad on the news, but it generally fluctuates in a small range list most penny stocks.
Wizard World, Inc. (OTCBB: WIZD) (the “Company”), a leading provider of Comic Cons and pop culture conventions across the world, today announced that the Company has released its second quarter 2014 financial results in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2014 (“Q2 2014”).
The Company hosted four comic cons in Q2 2014: St. Louis, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Philadelphia, bringing fans together with their favorite celebrities, artists, exhibitors in a pop culture and multimedia experience. Convention revenue for period ended June 30, 2014 was $7,110,940, an increase of $4,209,524 (or 145%) from $2,901,416 reported in the comparable period in 2013. Convention revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2014 was $12,284,138, an increase of $7,589,246 (or 162%) from $4,694,892 reported in the comparable period in 2013. The significant increase in revenue in 2014 is primarily accredited to the Company’s team’s dedication to delivering higher quality events, including better organization, more programming, and an exciting list of celebrities and artists to an increasing fan base, which all translates to higher revenue growth.
The Company ran eight events during the first six months ended June 30, 2014, as compared to four events during the comparable period in 2013. Average revenue generated per event in 2014 was $1,535,517 as compared to $1,173,723 during 2013.
Operating expenses were $2,002,931 in Q2 2014, as compared to $859,536 the same period in 2013, which was the result of increases in staffing and employment costs due to the increased number and size of the events. Operating expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2014, was $3,223,900, as compared to $1,550,043 reported in the comparable period in 2013.
Income from operations was $759,842 in Q2 2014, an increase of 358% from $(293,666) reported in the comparable period in 2013. Income from operations for the six months ended June 30, 2014, was $1,452,044 as compared to $(167,574) reported in the comparable period in 2013. The increase is primarily attributable to running more and larger events with similar fixed costs.
$759,703 or income per share of $0.01 for the three months ended June 30, 2014, as compared to $(3,183,533) or loss per share of $0.09, in the comparable period in 2013. Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2014, was $1,451,744 or income per share of $0.03, as compared to $(2,079,357) or loss per share of $(0.06), reported in the comparable period in 2013. Income in 2014 was primarily generated from convention revenue and stronger profit margin versus the loss in 2013 which was non-cash generated from a loss on the fair value of the Company’s derivative liabilities, and by year end of 2013 the Company successfully extinguished all derivative instruments.
At June 30, 2014, the Company had working capital of $4,030,802 and as of August 8, 2014, there were 51,341,524 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.
“We are excited to have successfully completed eight of our 2014 events to date, as our team is now preparing for our flagship event in Chicago which is expected to bring tens of thousands of fans to meet over 50 celebrities including the reunion of the cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation, more than 315 artists and more than 300 exhibitors,” said John Macaluso, CEO of Wizard World, Inc. “We are thrilled to have already topped our 2013 revenue and we believe we will continue to exceed our expectations for the remainder of the year, increasing shareholder value and organically building our shareholder base with the ultimate shareholders, our fans.”
The Company will continue its 2014 tour next in Chicago, August 21–24. Seven additional shows are scheduled in 2014, bringing the yearly total to 16 conventions. To find a Wizard World Comic Con in a city near you, go to: http://www.wizardworld.com/.
The Company encourages shareholders to not rely on this press release and to refer to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for full disclosure relating to the second quarter financial report, filed on August 11, 2014, which can be found on www.sec.gov
Wow, I would be surprised if Sacramento was not profitable. It was very crowded, and they were already talking about expanding into a larger space for 2015. Without WonderCon in the Bay Area, it really doesn’t face much competition in Northern California in the pop-culture event category. Will be very interesting to see how it develops for next year.
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