Cannon Group’s Profit Up 84% in 2nd Quarter

Los Angeles-based Cannon Group reported that its second-quarter profit was up 84% from a year earlier, saying the results were “substantially� helped by the sale of West German television and videocassette rights to the film library that it acquired in its purchase of Screen Entertainment, London.

Cannon reported net income of $5.7 million on $132.6 million in revenue in the quarter ended June 28, compared to a $3.1-million profit on revenue of $36 million in the second quarter of 1985.

Cannon did not say how much was added to its revenue and profit by the licensing of its 2,500-title British film library to VMP Video Median Pool in West Germany.

In addition to the film library, Cannon’s $275-million British purchase last May included the ABC chain of 287 cinema screens and the Elstree movie studio in London. Cannon already owned 198 screens in Britain, where it is now the largest theater operator with 39% of the screens.

The company’s great increase in revenue in the second quarter also reflected the acquisition of the British theater chain and, to a lesser degree, the June 16 purchase of the 425-screen, 12-state Commonwealth theater chain in the United States.