8th May 2014 09:18
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK cinema chain Cineworld Group PLC Thursday reported strong revenue growth in the first 18 weeks of its new financial year, boosted by good growth in admissions and by price increases.
The cinema chain - which operates under the brands Cineworld, Picturehouse, Cinema City, and Yes Planet - said trading in the period was in line with expectations, and it remains confident of delivering a performance for the year as a whole in line with current market expectations.
For the 18 weeks to May 1, total revenues across the group grew almost 34%, which it said was boosted by an increase in market share in the UK and Ireland and by a good performance in central and eastern Europe.
UK and Ireland cinema sales were up 7% in the period, with box office sales up 6.8%, boosted by a 4.8% rise in the average ticket price and a 1.9% increase in admissions.
"The increase in retail revenue performance in the period was due to an upward trend in spend per person, which increased by 6.1%, benefiting from the positive contribution of the 11 Starbucks outlets which were opened (in its cinemas) in the current period compared to two in the comparative period," the company said in a statement.
In central and eastern Europe and Israel, admissions in the region increased by 14%, which drove a 12% increase in box office revenues. Overall retail revenues in the region increased by 15%, while other income, which includes screen advertising, sponsorship and film distribution income, fell by 7.5%.
The group said that while there is a strong line-up of films for the remainder of the first half, including films "Godzilla" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past", the upcoming football World Cup in June is expected to hit admissions during the course of the event, as people choose to watch the football over going to the cinema.
Looking ahead, Cineworld said a six-screen cinema is scheduled to open in St Neots in Cambridgeshire later this month, with a further 64 screens planned across the group in the second half of the year. In April, it opened a six-screen cinema in Ploiesti in Romania.
The Cineworld Group currently operates more than 1,850 screens across 202 sites in the UK and Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Israel.
Shares in the cinema chain were down 0.5% at 340.75 pence Thursday morning.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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