Trading update

RNS Number : 4585I

Cineworld Group plc

03 July 2013

 



CINEWORLD GROUP plc
Trading Update

Cineworld Group plc ("Cineworld" or the "Group") is due to publish its interim results for the 26 weeks ended 27 June 2013 on 15 August 2013. At the start of its close period, Cineworld is pleased to announce the following trading update.

Revenues for the 26 weeks ended 27 June 2013:

	Cineworld Group % change vs. prior year	Cineworld Cinemas % change vs. prior year	Picturehouse proforma1 % change vs. prior year
Total Revenues	+21.9%	+10.5%	+12.9%
Box Office	+18.7%	+10.4%	+9.1%
Retail	+21.9%	+9.8%	+13.5%
Other Income	+65.2%	+15.6%	+21.7%

Trading for the first half of the financial year is as expected and in line with previous guidance.

Cineworld Cinemas achieved a 10.4% increase in Box Office revenue, reflecting growth of 4.6% in average ticket price and an increase in admission levels of 5.5%. 

Cineworld Cinemas' box office market share² on a like-for-like basis has improved to 25.2% from 24.7% in the same period last year. Including Picturehouse, the Group's box office market share has increased to 27.2%.  The overall market² grew by approximately 7.6% in the period. Total retail revenue has increased by 9.8%, a result of both the increase in admissions and higher average spend per person which increased by 4.0% demonstrating the positive effect of our promotional activities.

Screen advertising revenues were higher than the previous year, which is encouraging given the relatively slow growth trend in the wider advertising market. The balance of "Other Income" relates to the increase in sales of 3D glasses due to the higher number of 3D films in the period compared to the prior year.

Picturehouse has also traded well and its results are in line with our expectations at the time of the acquisition. 

Looking ahead to the second half of the financial year, we are on track to open a new nine screen cinema at Wembley, a ten screen replacement cinema in Gloucester and take over the existing IMAX cinema at the Glasgow Science Centre.  The opening of the new 6 screen cinema at St Neots has been delayed by one quarter due to construction issues which have been resolved and the cinema is now scheduled to open in early 2014.

We expect the positive start to the year to continue into Q3 where there are weaker comparatives due to the impact of the London Olympics on scheduling last year.  By contrast there is a tougher Q4 comparative due to the phenomenal success of Skyfall. The film line up during the second half of the year has strong 3D titles which include "Despicable Me 2", "Monsters University", "The Wolverine" and the second instalment of the The Hobbit trilogy: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug".  These titles are matched by an exciting range of 2D films including  "The World's End" and the second film of the Hunger Games series "Hunger Games: Catching Fire". As a result we remain confident of delivering growth for the year as a whole in line with current market expectations.

¹Picturehouse proforma reflects the year on year performance of the acquired business
²Refers to UK/Ireland market by gross box office - data per Rentrak/EDI

For further information:

Cineworld Group plc	020 8987 5000		Bell Pottinger	020 7861 2840/2861
Philip Bowcock			Elly Williamson/Charlotte Offredi

 

END

 

 

TSTSSDFAEFDSEFW