As part of its fourth quarter earnings report today, Outerwall said it is shutting down its Redbox DVD rental kiosks in Canada.
Outerwall, the Bellevue-based parent company of businesses including Coinstar and Redbox, noted today in its earnings that the Redbox business in Canada “is not meeting the company’s performance expectations.”
Outerwall took a $1.5 million write-down in its Q4 earnings as a result of the kiosk closure. The Financial Post notes that 1,400 kiosks will be relocated to the U.S. by April.
The company posted revenue of $600 million in the last fiscal quarter, which was up 1.2 percent from this time last year and beat analyst expectations. Outerwall posted an EPS of $2.35, which also exceeded expectations and was up from $1.55 per share last year.
Outerwall, which recently increased both movie and video game rental prices at Redbox kiosks, noted that the week of Dec. 29 was the highest rental week in Redbox history. The company also installed 380 new ecoATM kiosks last quarter.
In addition, Outerwall said that starting in March it will pay stockholders a $0.30 per share dividend for the first time ever. The board of directors also approved an additional share repurchase authorization of up to $250 million of its common stock.
Shares of Outerwall were down by just under 1 percent in after-hours trading Thursday. The company’s stock is down more than 4 percent over the past year.
Last month, Outerwall announced that J. Scott Di Valerio resigned from the board and as CEO after less than two years in that position. Board member Nora Denzel — a former Intuit exec — was named interim CEO as the company executes a full search for a new CEO.
Outerwall hit some speed bumps last year when a joint venture with Verizon to take on Netflix in movie streaming didn’t pan out. In an interview with GeekWire at CES last month, Di Valerio discussed the failed attempt, saying they learned from the experience.
