13th Aug 2015 06:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Cineworld Group PLC Thursday reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year, boosted by sales of tickets for a number of new films, including 'Fifty Shades of Grey', which broke box office records.
The cinema operator reported a a huge boost in pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended July 2 to GBP46.8 million from GBP13.9 million in the same period the year before, as its revenue grew 22.5% to GBP329.1 million from GBP268.6 million.
Cineworld said that it saw a "satisfactory" increase in admissions, box office revenue and retail sales, with the most successful titles released being 'Fifty Shades of Grey', 'Fast and Furious 7', and 'Jurassic World', all of which broke box office records. 'Avengers: The Age of Ultron' was also a big success, it said.
Cineworld added that the film release programme for the second half of the year is "encouraging", saying that family titles such as 'Minions' and 'Jurassic World' have continued their strong performance into July, while the new Disney title 'Inside Out' has also proved popular.
Notable releases in the second half also include 'Star Wars: Episode VII', 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part' and the next Bond film 'Spectre', it added.
"Overall, with the anticipated strength of the film line up in the second half, coupled with our solid first half performance, we are marginally ahead of our plans for the year as a whole," Chief Executive Mooky Greidinger said in a statement.
Cineworld will pay an interim dividend of 5.0 pence, a 31.6% increase on the 3.8p it paid the year before.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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