Warner Profit Up 115%; Records, Films Cited

Warner Communications said its first-quarter net income rose 115% over 1986 levels, due to gains in records and films.

The company’s record division posted a record operating profit of $47 million, up 50% from 1986. Warner said that a rapid growth in the sale of compact disks had a strong impact on the higher earnings.

Warner’s record labels include Warner Bros. Records, Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch and Atlantic Records.

The film division’s operating profit was up 4% from a year earlier.

At Warner Cable, the cable-TV subsidiary, earnings rose 57% in the quarter, the company said.

The only division to post lower earnings was book publishing, where first-quarter profit fell 26% from the same 1986 period. The company gave no reason for the decline.