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Gonzo Reports 368-Million-Yen Revenue in 2012 Fiscal Year's 1st Half

The anime studio Gonzo revealed this week that it earned 28 million yen (about US$360,000) in operating profit or 2 million yen (US$26,000) in ordinary profit during the first half of the fiscal year ending in March 2012. The first half ran from April to September of 2011.

Gonzo's reported net profit did drop from 47 million yen (US$570,000) in the same period last year to 42 million yen (US$550,000) in the red. The company's impairment for contributions from the GDH Entertainment Fund #1, Japan Entertainment Investment Business Limited Partnership, and the Contents Firm Contribution Investment Business Limited Partnership during that period were factors in the loss.

The company's net sales also dropped to 368 million yen (US$4.8 million), a drop of 32.7% from 547 million yen (US$7.1 million) during the same period last year and a bigger drop from 1.26 billion yen (US$16.4 million) the year before. Gonzo limited its spending on anime productions to 125 million yen (US$1.6 million) during the first half of the 2012 fiscal year.

In the past year, the company's Nyanpire The Animation series began airing in July, and Gonzo's Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing- television anime premiered in October. Gonzo also created a promotional anime for next year's Kyokugen Dasshutsu ADV: Zennin Shibō Desu (Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die) game developed by Chunsoft.

Global Business

Gonzo is working in three potential areas of growth, all in international business. The first is "Gonzo+," its global venture which is developing the Afro Samurai franchise. In particular, Gonzo+ is working with the American/Dominican Republic production company Indomina to produce the live-action Afro Samurai film.

In a partnership with the Malaysian animation studio Funcel and Malaysia's National Film Development Corporation, Gonzo is producing the Satria - The Warriors of the 7 Elements adventure series for a fall 2012 release. Finally, Gonzo is collaborating with Chinese companies on the joint production of three projects.

History

Gonzo was established in 1992 when anime producer Shouji Murahama left Gainax to start his own company. Gonzo merged with Shinichirō Ishikawa's Digimation company in 2000 and a new parent company was formed, GDH (Gonzo Digimation Holdings). The Nihon Keizai Shimbun paper reported in 2009 that GDH was restructuring its anime production operations after GDH asked 20% of its workforce to "voluntarily retire" in 2008. GDH has since absorbed Gonzo and adopted the Gonzo name for itself.

Last year, Gonzo returned to profitability with 74 million yen (about US$900,000) in operating profit or 28 million yen (US$340,000) in ordinary profit during the first half of the fiscal year ending in March 2011. The anime studio's net profits dropped from 82 million yen (US$1 million) in the same period the previous year.

Source: animeanime.biz