Harvey posts loss

The Harvey Entertainment Company (Nasdaq: HRVY) reported a net loss of $2,006,000, or $0.48 per share, for the third quarter of 1998 as compared to a net gain of $2,551,000, or $0.62 a share, for the same third quarter period in 1997. For the nine month period ending September 30,1998, Harvey has totaled a net loss of $4,788,000, or $1.19 per share, as compared to a net income of $2,551,000, or $0.64 per share, in the comparable year-ago period. Net operating revenues were also considerably less coming in at a negative $1,121,000 compared to revenues of $7,126,000 in the year-ago period. The decrease in revenue is attributed to an adjustment of $2,316,00 because of Harvey's over-estimation of predicted sales of the direct-to-video film, "Casper, A Spirited Beginning," as well as the revenue fluctuations related to the timing and accounting treatment of merchandising licenses. Gary Gray, Chairman of the Board, commented, "During this period, we have continued to move forward on two projects, in addition to our ongoing licensing activities. We completed production of "Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure" and have entered into a distribution agreement for this video with a major media company. We have also completed the debut issue of "Harvey, The Magazine for Kids" available on November 17 with an initial 200,000 copy print run." The Harvey library of characters include Casper, the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Hot Stuff, Baby Huey, Little Audrey, Herman & Katnip, and numerous others.