Shares of Funko Inc. rose more than 5 percent this afternoon after the Everett, Wash.-based maker of the Pop! figurines issued its first earnings report as a public company and announced the $4 million acquisition of UK animation studio A Very Large Evil Corporation.
The company said net sales rose 21 percent to $142.8 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, while profits were $8.3 million, down from $17.2 million in the same quarter last year but still ahead of Wall Street’s expectations.
A Large Evil Corporation, based in Bath, England, will operate under the name Funko Animation Studios as a result of the acquisition.
Funko is looking to rebound from a difficult IPO in early November, in which its shares fell 41 percent from its initial offering price. Even with the post-earnings bounce, the company’s share price of 9.82 is still well below the original $12/share price of its initial public offering.
Funko CEO Brian Mariotti talks about the IPO aftermath in an interview published today with Bloomberg News: “I’m not going to lie — it was a bit disappointing, a bit shocking. That 24 hours didn’t go as expected, but it put a hell of a lot of fire in each one of our management team’s bellies to prove everyone wrong.
