In a trading update released this morning, Cineworld Group (CINE) told investors that performances and attendances have steadily grown, resulting in steady revenue growth.
The Company, which operates as the second largest cinema exhibitor globally, said the accelerated recovery in the six months to 31 December 2021 has been driven by a range of new titles including, inter alia, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Venom,” “Black Widow,” “Dune,” “Free Guy,” “Eternals” and “No Time to Die.”
Cineworld, which owns the entertainment firm Regal Cinemas, highlighted to investors that changes in the film slate for November 2021, which saw revenue dip lower after "Top Gun: Maverick" was moved to May 2022, has impacted the gradual recovery seen since reopening.
The Company hailed the December 2021 period as “particularly strong”, supported by the success of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" in all territories, which became the first film to gross more than 1.5 billion dollars at the box office since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While its financial numbers were not disclosed to investors, the COmpany noted that July 2021 revenues had been just 50% of the same month in 2019. That rose to 54% in August, 60% in September, 90% in October, 56% in November and 88% in December, respectively.
The strongest growth rate for Cineworld over the period was in the U.S., where revenue increased from 45% of pre-covid 2019 levels in July to 91% of 2019 levels in December.
This was followed by the U.K. and Ireland which increased from 54% to 89% of 2019 levels.
Despite shares trading at a fraction of their all-time high, shares in Cineworld ticked up 0.21% to 38.81p during late morning trading following the release of its second half trading update.
In addition, Cineworld said it has now served its notice of appeal of the decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in the case of Cineplex Inc. against Cineworld on 12 January 2022.
Last month, the Canadian court ordered Cineworld to pay $957 million in damages to the Canadian entertainment company Cineplex for abandoning a planned takeover of the group.
Commenting, Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld, said: "We are pleased to see continued strong demand amongst audiences for cinema experiences, supported by a slate of high-quality and high-performing movies. This demonstrates that fans are continuing to choose the unrivalled theatrical experience. We have seen recovery in theatre attendances across our geographies, which generated a positive cashflow performance for Q4.”
He said "Spider-Man: No Way Home" has shown the importance for studios of cinematic releases. He added that “whilst there are challenges ahead, we are excited to welcome customers to our cinemas to enjoy the highly anticipated slate of movies throughout 2022.”
Addressing shareholders, he said Cineworld continues to implement guidelines “to ensure our cinemas are a safe environment for our customers, and I want to thank everyone across our team who make it possible for our customers to experience the best place to watch a movie."
Cineworld confirmed that it will announce its full year results on Thursday 17 March 2022.
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