The company said its loss before tax widened to 43.9 million pounds ($54.65 million) from 6.8 million pounds last year.

Quarterly sales were dragged by leaner performance in the film, television & music division due to lower broadcasting and licensing revenues, the entertainment firm said.

Revenue fell nearly 7% to 173.1 million pounds compared with the same period last year.

In August, Hasbro said it will buy Entertainment One for about $4 billion in cash, adding the independent studio with preschool brands such as Peppa Pig to the U.S. company known for Nerf and Power Rangers.

Entertainment One, which started life as a Canadian record and tape retailer, recently signed a multi-year production deal with award-winning producer Mark Gordon, who has worked on "Saving Private Ryan" and "Grey's Anatomy".

(Reporting by Aakash Jagadeesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)