The following chart reflects the amounts and percent change of certain significant overhead items:
The increase in staff related expenses primarily reflects an accrual related to incentive compensation. The current period reflects a $5.9 million favorable settlement of litigation and the prior year period reflects the net impact of a $3.5 million favorable settlement of litigation offset partially by a $2.4 million unfavorable settlement of litigation. The decrease in advertising and promotion expenses was primarily a result of costs incurred in the prior year period related to our advertising campaign associated with our new company name and logo. The decrease in bad debt expense was a result of a payment received from a pay-per-view service in the current year that was fully reserved for in the prior year.
The increase reflects a higher overall rate of return on our investments in the current year.
with SFAS No. 146 assumed that we would sub-let the property by May 1, 2004. Rental payments for fiscal 2005, assuming no sub-let rental income, would be approximately $2.7 million.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Cash flows from operating activities for the six months ended October 24, 2003 and October 25, 2002 were $32.3 million and $10.6 million, respectively. Cash flows provided by operating activities from continuing operations were $33.8 million and $11.3 million for the six months ended October 24, 2003 and October 25, 2002, respectively. Working capital, consisting of current assets less current liabilities, was $269.6 million as of October 24, 2003 and $275.1 million as of April 30, 2003.
Cash flows used for investing activities were $53.3 million and $11.9 million for the six months ended October 24, 2003 and October 25, 2003, respectively. Capital expenditures for the six months ended October 24, 2003 were $2.5 million as compared to $5.2 million for the six months ended October 25, 2002. For fiscal 2004, we estimate capital expenditures to be approximately $7.5 million, which includes a conversion of our critical business and financial systems, television equipment and building improvements. During the six months ended October 24, 2003, we acquired film libraries and certain other assets for approximately $1.6 million. As of November 7, 2003, we had approximately $166.5 million invested in fixed-income mutual funds, which primarily held AAA and AA debt rated instruments and $24.5 million in United States Treasury Notes. Our investment policy is designed to assume a minimum of credit, interest rate and market risk.
Cash flows used in financing activities for the six months ended October 25, 2003 were $25.0 million as compared to $29.1 million for the six months ended October 25, 2002. In June 2003, we purchased approximately 2.0 million shares of our Class A common stock for approximately $19.2 million.
We have not entered into any contracts that would require us to make significant guaranteed payments other than those that were previously disclosed in the Liquidity and Capital Resource section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended April 30, 2003.
We believe that cash generated from operations and from existing cash and short-term investments will be sufficient to meet our cash needs over the next twelve months for working capital and capital expenditures.
Application of Critical Accounting Policies
There have been no changes to our accounting policies that were previously disclosed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended April 30, 2003 nor in the methodology used in formulating these significant judgments and estimates that affect the application of these policies. Amounts included in our consolidated balance sheet in accounts that we have identified as being subject to significant judgments and estimates were as follows:
| | As of | |
| |
| |
| | October 24, 2003 | | April 30, 2003 | |
| |
| |
| |
Pay-per-view accounts receivable | | $ | 15.2 million | | $ | 24.3 million | |
Advertising reserve for underdelivery | | $ | 3.1 million | | $ | 6.9 million | |
Home video reserve for returns | | $ | 2.3 million | | $ | 1.5 million | |
Publishing newsstand reserve for returns | | $ | 3.4 million | | $ | 5.0 million | |
Allowance for doubtful accounts | | $ | 2.9 million | | $ | 5.3 million | |
Accrued expenses that may be reversed pending the outcome of litigation – see Note 8 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements | | $ | 7.0 million | | $ | 6.4 million | |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Cautionary Statement for Purposes of the “Safe Harbor” Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” for certain statements that are forward-looking and are not based on historical facts. When used in this Quarterly Report, the words “may,” “will,” “could,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “continue,” “project,” “intend”, “estimate”, “believe”, “expect” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such words. These statements relate to our future plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and are not historical facts and accordingly involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results or the performance by us to be materially different from future results or performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others,
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could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements made in this Quarterly Report, in press releases and in oral statements made by our authorized officers: (i) our failure to continue to develop creative and entertaining programs and events would likely lead to a decline in the popularity of our brand of entertainment; (ii) our failure to retain or continue to recruit key performers could lead to a decline in the appeal of our story lines and the popularity of our brand of entertainment; (iii) the loss of the creative services of Vincent McMahon could adversely affect our ability to create popular characters and story lines; (iv) our failure to maintain or renew key agreements could adversely affect our ability to distribute our television and pay-per-view programming, and in this regard, over the next fourteen months, several large television and pay-per-view agreements will be up for renewal, and in particular the domestic pay-per-view agreements with our two primary distributors currently end in late 2003 and early 2004; our primary domestic television distribution agreement with Viacom runs until Fall 2004 for its UPN network and Fall 2005 for its Spike TV network; and our primary television distribution in the UK runs through December 31, 2004; (v) we may not be able to compete effectively with companies providing other forms of entertainment and programming, and many of these competitors have greater financial resources than we; (vi) we may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights which could negatively impact our ability to compete in the sports entertainment market; (vii) general economic conditions or a change in the popularity of our brand of sports entertainment could adversely impact our business; (viii) risks associated with producing live events, both domestically and internationally, including without limitation risks that our insurance may not cover liabilities resulting from accidents or injuries and that we may be prohibited from promoting and conducting live events if we do not comply with applicable regulations; (ix) uncertainties associated with international markets; (x) we could incur substantial liabilities, or be required to conduct certain aspects of our business differently, if pending or future material litigation is resolved unfavorably; (xi) any new or complementary businesses into which we may expand in the future could adversely affect our existing businesses; (xii) through his beneficial ownership of a substantial majority of our Class B common stock, our controlling stockholder can exercise significant influence over our affairs, and his interests could conflict with the holders of our Class A common stock; and (xiii) a substantial number of shares will be eligible for future sale by our current majority stockholder, and the sale of those shares could lower our stock price. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Quarterly Report and undue reliance should not be placed on these statements.
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
In the normal course of business, we are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate, interest rate and equity price risks that could impact our results of operations. Our foreign currency exchange rate risk is minimized by maintaining minimal net assets and liabilities in currencies other than our functional currency.
Interest Rate Risk
We are exposed to interest rate risk related to our corporate jet lease and investment portfolio. We have a lease agreement for a 1998 Canadair Challenger 604 airplane. The term of this aircraft lease is for twelve years ending on October 30, 2012. The monthly lease payment for this aircraft is determined by a floating rate, which is based upon 30-day commercial paper rate as stated by the Federal Reserve plus 1.95%.
Our investment portfolio currently consists primarily of fixed-income mutual funds and treasury notes, with a strong emphasis placed on preservation of capital. The market value of those securities can fluctuate with market interest rates. In an effort to minimize our exposure to interest rate risk, our investment portfolio’s dollar weighted duration is less than two years.
Item 4. Controls and Procedures
Based on their most recent review, which was completed within 90 days of filing of this report, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure and are effective to ensure that such information is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. While we are in the process of formalizing certain of our control procedures, there were no significant changes in our internal controls or in other factors that could significantly affect those controls subsequent to the date of this evaluation.
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PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. Legal Proceedings
See Note 8 to Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 4. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
The Annual Meeting of Stockholders was held on September 19, 2003.
| (a) | The election of seven Directors of the Company: |
| | | Votes | | |
| |
| |
Nominees | | For | | Withheld | |
| |
| |
| |
Vincent K. McMahon | | 558,176,628 | | 2,582,768 | |
Linda E. McMahon | | 558,176,315 | | 2,583,081 | |
Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. | | 556,927,035 | | 3,832,361 | |
David Kenin | | 556,930,222 | | 3,829,174 | |
Joseph Perkins | | 557,004,348 | | 3,755,048 | |
Michael B. Solomon | | 556,927,017 | | 3,832,379 | |
Philip B. Livingston | | 556,888,503 | | 3,870,893 | |
| On September 19, 2003, Robert Bowman was named as a member of the Board of Directors of the Company. Mr. Bowman was also named Chairman of the Audit Committee. |
| | |
| (b) | The approval of the Company’s Management Bonus Plan: |
| | Votes | | |
|
For | | Against | | Abstain |
| |
| |
|
559,973,389 | | 772,651 | | 13,352 |
| (c) | The appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as auditors for the Company for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2004: |
| | Votes | | |
|
For | | Against | | Abstain |
| |
| |
|
555,652,211 | | 5,092,576 | | 14,609 |
Item 6. Exhibits and Reports on Form 8-K
(a.) Exhibits
31.1 Certification by Linda E. McMahon pursuant to Section 302 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (filed herewith).
31.2 Certification by Philip B. Livingston pursuant to Section 302 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (filed herewith).
32.1 Certification by Linda E. McMahon and Philip B. Livingston pursuant to Section 906 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (filed herewith).
(b.) Reports on Form 8-K
The registrant filed a report on Form 8-K dated June 12, 2003 under Item 5, Other Events.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereto duly authorized.
| WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT, INC. |
| (Registrant) |
| |
Dated: November 21, 2003 | By: | /s/ PHILIP B. LIVINGSTON |
| |
|
| | Philip B. Livingston Chief Financial Officer |
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