Shares in Image Entertainment Inc. gained 4 percent Thursday after the company reported a loss for 2007 and amended its acquisition agreement to permit it to remain a public company.

Image reported late Wednesday that it lost $3.1 million (-14 cents per share), for its fiscal fourth quarter ending March 31. Image reported a loss of $283,000 (-1 cent) for the same period a year earlier. Image attributed the loss to the write-off of distribution and music publishing advances it paid to now-bankrupt Source Entertainment.

Revenue for the Chatsworth-based company was even at $30 million.

The company also reported a loss for the year of $13 million (-59 cents) as well as an 11 percent dip in revenue to $100 million. Image blamed poor DVD sales and the closing of Tower Records for the loss.

Image predicted another loss for the fiscal first quarter of 2008 but indicated that it was expecting to turn a profit by the end of next year.

The company estimated that first-quarter revenue would be between $19 million and $21 million on revenue of $100 million to $110 million.

Separately, Image also said it has amended the agreement it signed in March to be bought by BTP Acquisition Co. LLC, an investor group led by David Bergstein, for $95 million, so that the company can remain public.

Shareholders in the Chatsworth-based producer and distributor of home entertainment programming will receive the same aggregate cash consideration as under the original buyout deal, and will also retain between 5 percent and 9 percent of their common shares.

Stockholders owning a total of approximately 38 percent of Image’s outstanding common shares have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction. The deal is expected to close by Oct 1.

Shares in Image were up 16 cents, or 4 percent, to $4.233 in afternoon trading Thursday on the Nasdaq.