17th Mar 2022 10:10
(Alliance News) - Cineworld Group PLC on Thursday said it had narrowed its loss over 2021, as revenue doubled as admissions and demand recovered from the pandemic.
The world's second-largest cinema chain, behind US-based AMC, reported revenue doubled in 2021 to USD1.80 billion from USD852.3 million in Covid-blighted 2020.
The results reflect a period of temporary closures from January to April/May, following Covid restrictions and the limited amount of new film releases, Cineworld noted.
Trading in the fourth quarter was strong, benefiting from 'pent-up demand for affordable out-of-home-entertainment' and a strong film slate.
Its pretax loss narrowed substantially to USD708.3 million in the year, from USD3.01 billion in 2020.
"We continued to minimise and control our expenses, including resizing the cost base and increasing levels of labour flexibility. These actions, along with continued contract renegotiations, focus on procurement, as well as general cost control, minimised our cash burn during the cinema closures and increased our margins in the second half," explained Chief Executive Officer Moshe Greidinger.
However, net debt widened year-on-year from USD4.34 billion to USD4.84 billion at the end of December.
Dividends remain suspended for the year to conserve cash, Cineworld said. Cash at year-end was USD354.3 million, down slightly from USD336.7 million a year before.
In January and February, trading was hit by Omicron-related restrictions. However, it anticipates strong trading from March onwards supported by a "strong and full film slate" with titles such as 'Avatar 2', 'Top Gun Maverick', 'Jurassic World: Dominion' and 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' set to be released.
Shares in Cineworld were down 1.1% to 37.62 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
"Although the Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact our global operations, we are encouraged by our return to trading, the continued recovery seen across our industry and the return to profitability and cash flow generation in Q4 2021," CEO Greidinger continued.
"The success of Spiderman - No Way Home which is now the 6th biggest movie of all time globally and 3rd biggest movie in the US while Omicron was emerging across the globe demonstrates the love and loyalty to the big screen."
By Elizabeth Winter; [email protected]
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