Hasbro Inc held their third quarter conference call yesterday where the talked about the successes of the company as a way to try to inflate their stock price, as you would expect any business to do.  However, as you would alsl expect, there was Transformers news which came out of the call.  The core news was their official confirmation of Transformers 5 as well mentioned how the live-action Transformers and G.I.Joe franchises along with the Star Wars license will be key over the next several years for the boys toys division.

They also announced that Allspark Pictures, a trademark application we picked up on the 13th August 2013, related to a new live-action movie division of Hasbro which will be used to release movies of Hasbro properties with the first two movies being My Little Pony and Jem and the Holograms.  It is also likely (and this is currently speculation on our part but we hope to be able to confirm this shortly) likely to be the studio that will release both the Micronauts franchise and Visionaries.

"Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner:

Transformers: Age of Extinction delivered over 1 billion dollars at the global box office. This result, coupled with an innovative new line, drove strong year-over-year revenue gains in TRANSFORMERS. Through the first nine months of the year, TRANSFORMERS revenues are greater in international markets than in the U.S. and Canada segment, reflecting the mix of box office results and the global expansion of Hasbro. Overall, the brand is performing in line with the last movie year and we are well into development for the next installments of TRANSFORMERS content. This includes new television programming, as well as collaborating with the film makers on our next ideas to re-invent and re-imagine the TRANSFORMERS brand in movies.

***

This new relationship is a terrific complement to the prolific boys’ entertainment slate over the next several years, including film and television entertainment from Marvel and Lucasfilm, as well as the next theatrical installments of Hasbro’ s brands, G.I. JOE and TRANSFORMERS.

***

In the first quarter 2015, we are launching the next installment of TRANSFORMERS television programming, Transformers: Robots in Disguise. The all new show will debut on Cartoon Network in the U.S., the top-rated primetime network for boys' ages 6-11 and 9-14. Hasbro has developed tremendous expertise in producing animation. We are working with the world’s best studios and we know how to produce top quality animation cost effectively. As our content strategy and all-screen strategy evolve, we are building upon our experience in animation and storytelling. In addition to television, there are select films where we are taking greater control of the process. We have two movies we are currently developing under our new film label, Allspark Pictures. These films are MY LITTLE PONY and JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS.

***

We envision Allspark Pictures as a new way to make fresh and compelling movies, based on new and existing Hasbro brands, for audiences globally.

***
Deb Thomas, Hasbro CFO:

Entertainment and Licensing segment revenues grew 10%, fueled primarily by lifestyle licensing revenues for Hasbro Franchise Brands, including MY LITTLE PONY and TRANSFORMERS.

***

Cost of sales as a percentage of revenue in the quarter declined. This decline continues to reflect growth in entertainment properties, including TRANSFORMERS and MARVEL properties, as well as higher Entertainment and Licensing revenues.

***

Q&A Session:

During the Q&A Session, Mr. Goldner mentioned that AllSpark Pictures was formed in order to increase the focus and effort towards Live Action Movies.

Mr. Goldner also mentioned that Rescue Bots will continue on the newly rebranded Discovery Family.

A question was asked about the success of AOE. The CEO mentioned that he is happy with the growing emerging market for Transformers. He mentioned that they will continue to cater the success of the Chinese market. The second question targeted the International vs. US success of Age Of Extinction. Brian Goldner felt ok with the results, judging by his response.

CEO also explained why Titan Heroes line exists (it was as if he knew the Fan question). He mentioned that the line is mostly targeted at emerging markets due to their low prices"

Credit goes to TFW2005.com for the transcript of the call

If you are in the Pawtucket area this Sunday you might want to head on over to the City Hall this Sunday for a special exhibition by Hasbro Inc called "From Sketches to Product Development of a Transformers Figure".  The exhibt will guide attendees through the design and development process of the "Stomp and Chomp" Grimlock figure.

Pawtucket's Advisory Commission on Arts and Culture is hosting an exhibit on the creation and development on the Transformers brand, by Hasbro, Inc.

The exhibit, entitled, "From Sketches to Product Development of a Transformer Figure" will be held Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m, in the lobby of City Hall.

Hasbro will offer a look at the process of developing the new 'Stomp and Chomp Grimlock' figure, from renderings to finished product.

Concept art from the model artists featuring all the original Transformers will be included.

A drawing will be held for free collectibles from this year's Comic-Con event.

The exhibit will be in place for three months, and is open to the public each day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

From NBC 10 News

Whilst not Transformers related it seems the ties between Michael Bay and Hasbro are set to grow.  Acting Auditions have posted an article talking about how Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes and Blumhouse Productions are currently looking for actors to play the lead roles in a film based on Hasbro's Ouija board game.  The film is reported to be a thriller from Universal Pictures that will follow a group of teens who attempt to make contact with a recently deceased classmate.  It was originally planned to be a "big budget family adventure" before Universal Pictures pulled the project in August 2011 due to budgetary concerns.  The project is now back on with a streamlined budget, a new screenplay and is set to be directed by Stiles White (Knowing and The Possession) with Insidious, Paranormal Activity and The Purge producer Jason Blum also involved.

Hasbro Inc have now issued their 10K results for Q3 which, on paper, saw year-on-year growth of 2% on net revenue for the group to $1.37 billion dollars.  This had a knock on affect of increasing the valuation of their share prices by 5% to $1.31 from $1.24.  However, the 10-K was filed before the recent legal ruling against the company which resulted in a $75.5 million legal settlement that was reported on this site last month.  This settlement reversed the overall value of the companies stock price from the 5% increase to a 22.5% decrease to a share price of $0.96.  The share price is expected to recover especially over 2014 with the release of more movie tie-in products.

Despite solid international growth as well as strong results in their "Girls Toys" market, the Boys Toy section which makes up 1/3rd of Hasbro's revenue suffered a 17% year-on-year loss to $392 million despite good performances in both the Transformers and Star Wars products.

Source: Hasbro Inc via Via Yahoo! Finance

Hasbro have been ordered to pay just under $73 million dollars to the inventor of NERF in a decision made by an arbitrator on the 29th October 2013.  Hasbro are considering appealing the decision which was the result of a case where by the inventor was claiming unpaid royalties and damages from Hasbro for the period 2007-2012.

Whilst not directly relating to Transformers this news may well impact all of Hasbro's lines and business which will only be known after the release of their Q3 financial statement later this month as the company may seek to claw back some of the losses by cutting expenditure or increasing revenue through a price hike.

You can read the report here.

Every year CR Magazine produces a list of their top "100 Best Corporate Citizens" which recognises companies for their increasing transparency regarding the Company's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, including product safety, environmental sustainability and manufacturing ethics as well as philanthropy. Hasbro were placed 7th in this years list with other notable companies include AT&T, Gap, Inc., Campbell Soup Co. and Intel.

"We are proud to be honored for the second consecutive year for our leadership and advancements in corporate social responsibility, including environmental sustainability, manufacturing ethics, philanthropy, and governance," said Brian Goldner, Hasbro's President and CEO. "This recognition is a testament to the dedication of our employees around the world, and the strides we’re making in helping to build a safe and sustainable world for future generations.”

This is the 2nd such award Hasbro have received this year as in March Hasbro was recognised as one of the "2013 World's Most Ethical Companies" by the Ethisphere Institute, a leading global business ethics think-tank dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability.

Highlights of Hasbro's CSR efforts include:

• Reduced packaging: In 2012, Hasbro began to reduce the amount of material used in packaging for products in its brand portfolio. This builds upon Hasbro's ongoing sustainable packaging commitment.
• Phase-out of PVC in packaging: Hasbro has already phased out polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from new product packaging, and will continue to reduce PVC in all packaging until completely eliminated.
• Using Materials Responsibly: Hasbro’s owned and operated North American factory which makes many of the company’s board games and puzzles uses vegetable-based printing inks and aqueous coatings in its printing processes for game and puzzle components, boxes and instructions. Additionally, this factory retains green certification for its printing processes by the nonprofit Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP).
• Product safety: Continuing the company's outstanding product safety record, all Hasbro products meet or exceed federal and international safety standards and regulation, and Hasbro has not experienced a product recall in recent years.
• Philanthropy: In 2012, more than three million children were impacted by Hasbro’s philanthropic programs worldwide which focus on empowering childhood through hope, play and service. Hasbro employees also volunteered just over 20,000 hours of their time and talents to make a difference for children in their local communities.

Aaron Archer has annouced his new role of VP Toy And Brand design IP creation  at Hasbro.  We'd like to pass on our congratulations to Aaron in his new role.

TFW2005 have posted an article covering what was shown during Hasbro Incs Toy Fair 2013 Investor Event Webinar. There was not a great deal of new information coming out of the event with the exception of the announcement of a brand new Chinese exclusive Transformers TV series which is currently in production.

"We have Transformers: Prime in China" said Goldner. "And we are also developing a new TV Series for Transformers indigenous to the Chinese Market. Transformers is one of the popular brands there. The brand was there in the 80s so we are making a Brand New TV Series that is produced in China with Chinese partners and will air in CCTV [China Central Television]."

Whether the show will be dubbed into English as Car Robots was when it became Transformers: Robots In Disguise or whether the show will remain exclusive to the Chinese like Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo did for Japan will not be known for a couple of years though in our estimation I would not expect it to be dubbed.

Whether the series will be based around the Chinese MMO, the Asian exclusives, toys not used within the main show or new characters and toys remains to be seen, but since Hasbro are pushing heavily into the Asian market, especially China, we would not be suprised to see the line feature new recolours as well as some exclusive molds much like Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo.

ebay auction

About the Toy Trust...

Ever since the rumours started circulating that Disney were about to start an approach to buy out Hasbro Inc traders have been scrambling for Hasbro stock which lead to Wall Street analysts taking a closer look into the possible deal between these two giants.  This has led to an article being published in the Providence Journal by John Kostrzewa in which he states that:

"Hasbro declined comment, citing its policy of not talking about rumor or speculation. CNBC analyst David Faber reported that Hasbro's advisors told him there's "absolutely nothing going on that they are aware of at all, in any way, shape or form" involving Hasbro or Disney."

So advisors to Hasbro, tell a DNBC analyst "nothing to it", which leads John to directly ask Hasbro Inc who decline to comment.  What does this mean? Well it's an "unofficial no" and not an official statement, though Hasbro will always decline to comment as they will not want to be seen as being negative just incase Disney are working out a offer.

This story is expected to continue to run

MTV Geek are reporting rumour that having recently bought LucasFilm to add to their portfolio including Marvel and Pixar, that Disney are in talks to aquire Hasbro Inc.  MTV Geek claim to have been told that "these are still just discussions at this point, but serious enough that something could be announced at any time and create ripples throughout the entertainment industry. The Lucasfilm acquisition has been reported as taking as few as 6 months to complete. On the other hand, Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has until 2015 on his current contract, and he waited about 3 years in between the acquisitions of Marvel and Lucasfilm, so we may be without firm news on this for some time."

If this rumour does turn out to be true it's affects will be far reaching indeed as it is likely to signal the end of both The Hub (A Hasbro - Discovery joint venture) as well as the relationship between Hasbro and Paramount for the live-action franchise for both Transformers and G.I-Joe, when the current agreements expire.  Remember, Paramount had the Iron Man rights originally.

SlashFilm has joined in on the discussion and agrees with us regarding this pointing out that "If the deal follows the LucasFilm model, those rights [the live action movies for Transformers and G.I. Joe] would likely stay with that company, at least until some kind of contract runs out.".  The also make mention to the fact that Universal had controlling rights to a collection of Hasbro Inc properties including Clue (Cludeo), Ouija, Stretch Armstrong and Battleship, but famously dropped most of them and only released Battleship.  Wirth Disney owning their own studios, this would no longer be an issue for Hasbro, Disney could just churn out movies of all of their IPs at will.

Hasbro Inc stock has also seen a recent rise.

Stay tuned as there is likely to be much more on this story over the coming days, weeks and months

The race is on for the next Marvel/HeroClix figure, and everyone's favourite boun— Freelance Peacekeeping Agent and former Transformers co-star, Death's Head, needs your vote! You can help Death's Head see off the competition (Ghost Rider - pah! Sleepwalker - feh!) by heading over to the HeroClix site (http://heroclix.com/heroclix/marvel-heroclix-fan-vote/#axzz26fDZt6Iq) and voting now (before September 27th anyway).

Do you work within I.T? Are you looking for an opportunity to break into the Video Games industry?  If you are then you may be pleased to know that Jagex are recruiting for staff to work on Transformers Universe, the online MMORPG game which is under development here within the U.K.

They have several vacancines currently listed on LinkedIn which include:

• Head of IT, Jagex - Cambridge

  World leading independent online games studio Jagex Ltd is looking for an exceptional Head of IT to take a leading role in developing and maintaining...more

• Product Analyst (Transformers Universe) , Jagex - Cambridge

  World-leading independent online games studio Jagex Ltd is looking for an exceptional Product Analyst to join our Transformers Universe department....more

• VFX Specialist, Jagex - Cambridge

  VFX Specialist (Transformers Universe) World leading independent Online Games Studio, Jagex Ltd, is looking for an exceptional VFX Artist to join a...more

• Senior Engine Developer (Transformers Universe), Jagex - Cambridge

  Jagex Ltd, the UK’s leading independent online games studio, is looking for exceptional and passionate programmers, who want to work with cutting edge...more

• Senior Graphics Developer (Transformers Universe), Jagex - Cambridge

  agex Ltd, the UK’s leading independent online games studio, is looking for exceptional and passionate programmers, who want to work with cutting edge...more

I'm half tempted to apply for the Head of IT position myself ;)

Hasbro Inc President and CEO, Brian D. Goldner has sold 100,000 shares in the US toy company for a staggering $3.54 million ($35.43 per share).  According to the related SEC filing Mr Goldner executed his option to sell the shares on the 28th February 2012 netting him a cool $1.75 million which almost doubles the value he paided for them when he bought them at $17.97.  Brian still has shares, in fact he owns another 102,209 shares which are currently worth another $3.62 million.

Brian was promoted to CEO and President of Hasbro Inc in 2008, partly due to the success of the Transformers movie, and has worked at Hasbro since 2000. Before that, he served as President of Bandai North America, and worked at J. Walter Thomson Advertising and Leo Burnett Advertising.  He is also currently on the board of Molson Coors Brewing Company.