Exchange rates and inside problems have negative effect on 21st Century Fox profit

21st Century Fox announced a drop in profits for the first quarter due to ongoing problems in the television network Fox, higher costs to broadcast sports events, as well as unfavourable exchange rates, reported New York Times.

On Wednesday 21st Century Fox announced a net profit of 975 mln dollars, or 46 cents per share for the first quarter compared to 1.05 billion dollars, or 47 cents a share, for the same period last year. Revenues amounted to 6.84 bln dollars, which is unchanged from the last year.

The results of the company exceeded the expectations of Wall Street. Analysts forecast earnings of 39 cents per share for the first quarter.

The financial results reflect the company's progress in some areas, especially in the film industry, but also difficulties in its most important area: finding new successful shows on television and cable programs. Advertising revenues of the television network Fox declined by 7% because of the poor ratings. The lower ratings of cable networks FX and National Geographic have also negatively affected profits.

The pressure on the new management team of the Fox television network restructuring is obviously quite strong. Chase Carey, chief operating officer of the 21st Century Fox, said several times in a conference call with analysts that network performance is unacceptable, but promised that things will improve.