Image Entertainment said its 2nd quarter loss narrowed to $513,00...

Company said it saw sales growth in all 3 of its business categories -- domestic wholesale distribution, retail distribution via subsidiary DVDPlanet.com, international wholesale. It reported $666,000 pretax loss in quarter that included one-time impairment charge of $343,000 to write down closing of its Las Vegas distribution center and adjacent land. Commenting on results, Image CEO Martin Greenwald said company “grew its core DVD business as well as strengthened its balance sheet” in quarter. Greenwald once again told financial analysts in conference call after our Wed. deadline that management was continuing to focus its efforts on improving company’s liquidity and strengthening balance sheet. He said: “We have been able to significantly reduce our interest-bearing debt since March 31, 2002 through proceeds raised from a private placement as well as proceeds received from the sale of our Las Vegas, Nevada, real estate. Comparing overall interest-bearing debt, we've seen a drop from $25.6 million on March 31, 2002 to $18.8 million as of November 12, 2002. Obviously, this not only reduces the Company’s interest expense line item but also frees up capital for additional licensing. We will continue to explore new opportunities to further improve the balance sheet.” He went on to say: “Image’s library of exclusive content now stands at approximately 2,000 active DVD titles with more compelling content being released every month. Because of the strength of the library, and the acceptance of our new programming, I am confident that, for the quarter ending December 31, 2002, we will see both sequential and comparative revenue growth as well as expanding operating income.”