Transcript: WildBrain Q4 2026 Earnings Conference Call

WildBrain (TSX: WILD ) reported fourth-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company's fourth-quarter earnings call has been provided below. APIs provide real-time access to earnings call transcripts and financial data. Visit to learn more.

View the webcast at Summary WildBrain completed the sale of its interest in Peanuts and exited the Canadian television broadcasting business, which helped simplify operations and fully repay corporate debt. Fiscal 2026 revenue from continuing operations was $246 million, down 10% from the previous year, with a net loss of $75 million compared to $122 million in fiscal 2025. The company has reorganized around three core segments: Franchise and Global Licensing, Content, and the WildBrain Network, aiming for clearer accountability and growth.

The WildBrain Network reported a 6% revenue increase year-over-year in Q4, driven by higher direct advertising revenue, and has expanded its advertising capabilities. WildBrain announced the acquisition of Personality AI to expand its franchise ecosystem into interactive character experiences. For fiscal 2027, WildBrain expects revenue between $270 million and $295 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $28 to $32 million, representing significant growth over fiscal 2026. The company plans a $30 million investment program for fiscal 2027 across content, technology, and infrastructure, expected to affect near-term profitability and free cash flow.

WildBrain is confident in its long-term growth, expecting Adjusted EBITDA to double from fiscal 2027 levels by the end of fiscal 2029. Full Transcript OPERATOR Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to WildBrain's fiscal 2026 full year and fourth quarter earnings conference call.

As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star then zero.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Kathleen Persaud, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am. Kathleen Persaud, Vice President, Investor Relations Thank you, operator.

And thank you everyone for joining us today for WildBrain's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 earnings call. Joining me today are Josh Sherba, President and CEO, and Nick Gawne, our CFO. Before we begin, please note the matters discussed on this call include forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws which reflect WildBrain's current expectations of future events. Such statements are based on a number of factors and assumptions that management believes are reasonable at the time they were made and information currently available.

However, many of these factors and assumptions are subject to risks and uncertainty beyond WildBrain's control, which could cause actual results to vary materially from those that are disclosed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic, business and political conditions. WildBrain undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. Please note that all currency numbers are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

After our remarks, we will open the call for questions. I'll now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Josh Sherba. Deirdre Brennan, Chief Executive Officer Thanks for joining us today. Fiscal 2026 was a transformational year for WildBrain.

We completed the sale of our interest in Peanuts, exited the Canadian television broadcasting business, and fully repaid our corporate debt. These actions simplified our business, strengthened our balance sheet, and repositioned WildBrain around three core growth platforms: Franchise and Global Licensing, Content, and the WildBrain Network, which became our new reporting segments effective in Q4. We enter fiscal 2027 with a clearer operating model, substantial financial flexibility, and the ability to deploy capital more deliberately.

Our focus has shifted from balance sheet repair and debt servicing to investing in the capabilities that we believe can create a larger, higher quality, and more scalable business. As part of that repositioning, we have aligned our external reporting with the way we now manage the business and create value. Franchise and Global Licensing, Content, and the WildBrain Network each have a distinct mandate, but they are designed to work together to form our flywheel.

Franchise and Global Licensing builds and monetizes owned and partner brands; Content develops, produces, and distributes programming that drives fandom and supports franchise growth; and the WildBrain Network reaches audiences at scale while generating advertising revenue and data insights. This flywheel creates the differentiated platform we have developed to grow and accelerate brands and those of our partners. Organizing around these three connected pillars gives us clearer accountability, brings related capabilities closer together, and provides investors with greater visibility into the underlying economics and growth drivers of the business.

Our fourth quarter results were affected by impacts arising from lower licensing agency revenues at WildBrain CPLG, reflecting timing differences and the impact of changes in certain partner relationships, as well as provisions for uncollectible trade receivables related to certain licensing customers. We also increased investment behind our own franchises to continue driving growth. At the same time, we continue to see positive momentum in Strawberry Shortcake and Teletubbies, higher direct advertising revenue in the WildBrain Network, and an expanding pipeline of content activity heading into fiscal 2027. We are also adding new capabilities to our licensing ecosystem.

Subsequent to the quarter, we announced the acquisition of Personality AI, a kid-safe, scalable interactive character platform. This adds proprietary generative AI capabilities that can be deployed across toys, apps, games, and digital platforms both for our own brands and for partner IP through our licensing agency. Starting with Franchise and Global Licensing, fiscal 2026 demonstrated the strength of our owned brand licensing model. Full-year segment revenue grew 27% to approximately $88 million, supported by growth in owned brand royalties and WildBrain CPLG agency commissions.

Strawberry Shortcake remained a key driver during the year. The brand continued to expand across content, retail, licensing, and live experiences. In the fourth quarter, owned brand royalties continued to grow, led by Strawberry Shortcake. We have continued to build a broad content and marketing pipeline around the brand.

The rollout of new Strawberry Shortcake programming on the WildBrain Network is designed to keep the franchise in front of audiences, deepen fan engagement, and support future consumer products opportunities across categories and territories. Teletubbies also continued to build momentum, particularly across Asia. In June, the first-ever themed Teletubbies and In the Night Garden retail store opened in China. Called WildBrain Garden, the store is part of Magic World, one of the region's largest family entertainment centers, featuring WildBrain's brands alongside others such as Peanuts, Peppa, and Crayola.

This is another example of how we can extend our brands beyond the screen and into physical experiences that support awareness, retail activity, and long-term franchise value. As Teletubbies approaches its 30th anniversary, we are building a coordinated global program across content, consumer products, retail, and live experiences. Our objective is to combine global brand recognition with locally relevant execution to create durable growth across markets. At WildBrain CPLG, the fourth quarter reflected lower agency revenue impacted by factors I previously mentioned.

We have been actively managing through the transition of client relationships over the past year by expanding our portfolio of third-party partners and building a strong pipeline of new opportunities. While new relationships take time to onboard and scale, we remain confident in our ability to replace this business over time. In addition, over the last several quarters we have proactively repositioned CPLG to better capitalize on local market opportunities and unlock growth across both international and domestic markets.

Building on our success in Asia Pacific and other key regions, we have expanded local capabilities and strengthened our market presence to accelerate opportunities for both owned and partner brands, most recently with the opening of a new CPLG office in Japan this summer. This repositioning is an offensive growth initiative designed to increase our addressable market, deepen client relationships, and accelerate long-term growth. We remain confident in CPLG's long-term value as a global licensing platform and as an important route to market for WildBrain's owned franchises. We also continue to expand CPLG's existing partner brand mandate in North America.

Penguin Ventures and WildBrain CPLG announced new licensing collaborations for The World of Peter Rabbit across apparel, accessories, homeware, gifting, and digital products. Separately, Miraculous Corp. expanded WildBrain CPLG's remit to lead location-based entertainment opportunities for its local hit brand Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir across EMEA and Asia Pacific. This new LBE relationship with Miraculous builds on CPLG's existing consumer products licensing relationship outside the Americas.

These wins demonstrate the breadth of CPLG's capabilities across consumer products and location-based entertainment. The acquisition of Personality AI expands our franchise flywheel into interactive character experiences, creating new ways for audiences to engage with beloved brands. Its proprietary kid-safe technology can be deployed across COPPA-compliant toys, apps, games, digital platforms, and physical experiences, giving us a scalable capability to deepen fandom and unlock new commercial opportunities for both WildBrain brands and partner brands represented through WildBrain CPLG. Personality AI will be reported as part of our Franchise and Global Licensing segment.

Turning to Content, fourth quarter revenue of $29 million was lower than the previous year primarily because of lower live-action production activity and lower distribution revenue. The prior-year quarter included a significant content delivery that did not repeat, and current projects were at different points in their production cycles, impacting timing in the quarter. The underlying opportunity remains meaningful. We have a number of greenlit projects across animation and live action that are expected to support a rebound in production activity during fiscal 2027.

Our integrated capabilities across development, pre-production, production, and distribution remain central both to serving third-party partners and to building our own franchises. Our content capabilities were also on display at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where our team participated in an official Work in Progress panel presenting a first look at Snoopy Unleashed for Apple Original Films, while our content sales team brought new Strawberry Shortcake programming to the MIFA market in June.

Apple also announced that WildBrain had been appointed the production studio on the new animated feature film Little Santa, based on the best-selling children's book of the same name. And just this morning, Apple TV announced the newest Peanuts special produced by our studio. 12 Days of Snoopy is a brand-new Peanuts holiday special featuring an original song from John Legend. Premiering this November, this is the latest production delivery in our long-term agreement with Apple TV.

In live action, production is now underway on the second season of Finding Her Edge for Netflix. These activities highlight the breadth of our pipeline across premium animation, digital-first franchise content, and live action. We are also continuing to evolve our production model to improve scalability and better match resources with project demand. The goal is to preserve WildBrain's creative leadership and partner relationships while creating a more flexible delivery platform over time.

We have additional initiatives underway that we expect to discuss in the coming periods. Turning to the WildBrain Network, fourth quarter revenue increased 6% year over year to approximately $12 million, driven by higher direct advertising revenue from our Media Solutions business. The network now spans more than 1,000 channels across YouTube, FAST, and AVOD platforms. It gives us global audience reach, a direct source of audience insight, and a scaled platform for advertisers seeking brand-safe access to kids and families.

During the year, monetization was affected by changes in our partner mix and lower revenue on certain third-party platforms. However, the fourth quarter showed encouraging progress in direct advertising with growth of over 20%. We are investing in sales, marketing, and operating capabilities to expand Media Solutions and improve monetization across the network. A recent example of that progress is our exclusive direct advertising sales partnership with Miraculous Corp.

Under the agreement, WildBrain Media Solutions will hold exclusive direct advertising sales rights for Miraculous Corp's intellectual property, including Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. The partnership adds a globally distributed franchise to our advertiser offering and expands the publisher-direct inventory available through the WildBrain Network. We see the network as more than a distribution business; it is a strategic part of our franchise flywheel. Content builds audiences, the network creates reach and insight, and that engagement supports licensing, advertising, and distribution opportunities across the company.

More broadly across the company, we are investing in our technology and operating infrastructure. Our priorities include better enterprise data, modernized systems, increased automation, and more scalable operating workflows. These investments are intended to reduce complexity, improve visibility, and create a stronger foundation for growth. This is not simply a systems upgrade.

We are bringing technology, data, automation, and production technology into a more unified operating model with clear strategy and accountability. The objective is to create faster, simpler workflows, scalable production capabilities, and a more disciplined foundation for technology and AI investment. So, stepping back, fiscal 2026 reset the foundation of WildBrain. We simplified the portfolio, eliminated corporate debt, established a clearer three-segment operating model, and created the financial flexibility to invest behind our strongest opportunities.

Fiscal 2027 will be an investment year. We are deliberately putting capital behind franchises, content, advertising capabilities, technology, and operating infrastructure. These investments will affect near-term profitability and free cash flow, but we believe they position WildBrain for stronger revenue growth, adjusted EBITDA expansion, and improved cash generation beyond fiscal 2027. With that, I will turn it over to Nick to review the financial results and outlook in more detail.

Nick Gawne, Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Josh. Before I begin, I want to clarify the presentation of our financial results following the closure of our Canadian television broadcasting business and the sale of our 41% interest in Peanuts Holdings. The historical results of those businesses are presented as discontinued operations. Peanuts-related revenue and expenses provided under post-closing arrangements from our licensing agency, content production, and content distribution services remain in continuing operations.

We have also updated our reportable segments to Franchise and Global Licensing, Content, and WildBrain Network. Alongside segment revenue, we are now also providing adjusted EBITDA for each reportable segment. This is new incremental disclosure for investors and reflects the way management evaluates segment performance and allocates resources. Segment adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure as defined and discussed in our MD&A.

I will highlight both the fourth quarter and full year results for each segment. Comparative information has been recast to conform to the new structure. Unless I state otherwise, the figures I will discuss relate to continuing operations. Revenue from continuing operations in the fourth quarter was $55 million, down 29% from $77 million in the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, revenue from continuing operations was $246 million, down 10% from $274 million in fiscal 2025. Franchise and Global Licensing revenue was $16 million in the fourth quarter, down 16%. The decrease reflected lower licensing agency revenue at WildBrain CPLG, partly offset by continued growth in own brand royalties led by Strawberry Shortcake. For the full year, Franchise and Global Licensing revenue was $88 million, up 27%, driven by growth in own brand royalties and higher agency commissions at CPLG.

Content revenue was $29 million in the fourth quarter, down 40%, reflecting lower production and distribution revenue, including the absence of a significant content delivery recognized in the prior-year quarter.