King Digital Profit Up, Cuts FY Bookings Guidance; Stock Tanks - Update

(RTTNews) - King Digital Entertainment (KING), a publisher of games on digital platforms, Tuesday reported an increase in second-quarter profit, aided mostly on higher revenue.

The company, which went public in March, cut its gross bookings guidance for the full year, citing mainly weakness in its Candy Crush saga video game. King Digital also declared a $150 million special dividend.

Following the announcement, King shares plunged 22 percent in after-hours trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

King posted second quarter net earnings of $165.4 million or $0.52 per share, compared with $125.9 million or $0.39 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.59 per share, compared with $0.45 per share a year ago.

Revenues for the second quarter rose to $593.6 million from $455.5 million in the prior year, and adjusted revenue to $593.5 million from $461.2 million.

The company said its gross bookings for the quarter slid 5 percent from the first quarter to $611 million, due to lower bookings from Candy Crush Saga.

Bookings from games other than Candy Crush Saga increased to about $250 million, or 41 percent of the total revenue, up from 33 percent in the first quarter.

For the third quarter, King expect gross bookings of $500 million to $525 million.

For the full year 2014, King now expect gross booking of $2.25 billion to $2.35 billion, from its prior guidance of $2.55 billion and $2.65 billion.

KING closed Tuesday at $18.20, up $0.03 or 0.17%, on a volume of 5.6 million shares. In after hours, the stock dropped $4.08 or 22.42%, trading at $14.12.