Time Warner Reveals 4Q Beat, Hikes Dividend by 10%

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) logged an 11% drop in fourth-quarter profits on Wednesday, but the owner of CNN and HBO posted adjusted profits that topped estimates and hiked its dividend by 10%.

Time Warner said it earned $983 million, or $1.06 a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $1.11 billion, or $1.15 a share, a year earlier. Last quarter’s earnings included $105 million in asset impairment charges.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.17 a share, up from $1.16 the year before and above consensus calls from analysts for $1.15.

Revenue rose 4.9% to $8.57 billion, topping the Street’s view of $8.39 billion.

"We had another very successful year in 2013, with Turner, Home Box Office and Warner Bros. all posting record profits while also investing for future growth,” Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said in a statement.

Revenue at Time Warner’s Turner division increased 3% last quarter to $2.5 billion thanks to a 6% jump in subscription sales and a 1% boost to ad revenue.

The company’s HBO business generated a 6% increase in revenue to $1.3 billion as subscription sales climbed 8%.

Warner Bros. movie studio grew revenue 7% to $4 billion amid strong demand for movie releases like "Gravity" and the video game release of "Batman: Arkham Origins."

However, Time Inc., which publishes Sports Illustrated and People magazines, posted flat revenue of $966 million as subscription revenue fell 6%. Time Warner expects to complete the spinoff of Time Inc. in the second quarter.

The media conglomerate also announced its board of directors approved a 10% increase to the company’s quarterly dividend. The new dividend of 31.75 cents per share is payable on March 15 to shareholders of record as of February 28.

Looking ahead, Time Warner projected 2014 non-GAAP EPS growth in the low double digits off a 2013 adjusted base of $3.51. Both metrics exclude Time Inc.

Shares of New York-based Time Warner ticked up 0.33% to $62.60 in premarket trading on Wednesday.