Superheroes Rescue Disney Profit

Walt Disney has been given a superhero boost as it makes its largest quarterly profit ever, with the help of the latest Avengers film.

The entertainment giant saw profit soar by 24% to \$1.83bn (£1.7bn) for the three months to the end of June, compared to the previous year.

It is a case of blockbuster to the rescue, as Avengers Assemble crashed onto cinema screens, breaking box-office records in the US on its opening weekend.

The film starring Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo generated more than \$1.4bn (£895m) worldwide.

Chairman and chief executive of The Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger said: "We had a phenomenal third quarter, delivering the largest quarterly earnings in the history of our company."

Over the last year the company has seen earnings per share rocket by 31% to \$1.01 (£0.65)- up from \$0.77 (£0.49).

Mr Iger said: "We also delivered record earnings per share for the first nine months of our fiscal year, and we believe our results clearly demonstrate Disney’s unique value proposition and great potential to deliver long-term growth."

The boost comes following a poor performance earlier this year, when Disney saw losses with big films such as John Carter flopping at the box office.

The group's theme parks also brought welcome news with earnings rising 21% as takings at its Tokyo site increased following a negative impact caused by the 2011 earthquake in Japan.

The results exceeded expectations on Wall Street as analysts had predicted the company's share price would only make it as high as \$0.93 (£0.59) per share.