After earlier announcing earlier the day that its acquisition by a San Francisco investment group was back on track, Image Entertainment Inc. said Thursday afternoon that it turned a profit in its third quarter.

After the market closed, the Chatworth-based home entertainment distributor reported net earnings of $304,000 (1 cent per share), compared with a net loss of $2.05 million. Net revenues increased 43 percent to $39.2 million.

President David Borshell said the third quarter net revenues were just slightly off a company record.

“While the home entertainment marketplace has been challenged, we have been very fortunate this fiscal year to have significantly increased our revenues and generated both positive operating and net income,” said Borshell in a statement. “With that said, we do need to drive stronger bottom line results. We’re making a diligent effort to reduce overall expenses and are doing what is necessary to strive for consistent operating profitability.”

The company reaffirmed its fiscal 2009 guidance of net revenue of between $128 million to $131 million.

Before the market opened, Image said Nyx Acquisitions Inc. finally made a required $1.3 million payment, putting its acquisition of Image back on track. The company last month said Nyx was in breach of its merger agreement because it failed to make the required payment by a Jan. 20 deadline.

Chatsworth-based Image Entertainment agreed to sell itself to Nyx last November for $60.2 million in cash, plus assumption of debt. Nyx is a division of Q Black LLC, a privately held new-media and global investment group. The transaction is expected to close by Feb. 26 if shareholders approve the deal at a Feb. 24 special meeting.

Image shares closed up 98 cents, or 95 percent, to $2.01 on the Nasdaq.