Cineworld delivers blockbuster year

12th Mar 2015 08:43

Cinema operator Cineworld Group more than doubled its annual pre-tax profits, as higher box office intakes drove revenue up.The FTSE 250 company said its pre-tax profit to 1 January rose to £67.3m from £30.9m in the previous 12 months, while revenue jumped 53% to £619.4m.Adjusted profit before tax rose 73% to £75m, above consensus of £68.6m, driven by the acquisition of Cinema City, while adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 31.2% to 24.4p.The increase in revenue was driven by a 61% increase in admissions, which saw box office takings rise 42.6% to £399.2m."As a group, we have outperformed the market and continued to grow revenues despite a year which saw a decline in global admissions," said group chief executive Mooky Greidinger.The group, which boasted the second largest cinema chain in Europe, with 203 screens by the end of 2014, said it would pay a final dividend of 9.7p per share, bringing its total dividend to 13.5p, a 34% hike year-on-year.Broker Numis said it had upgraded its earnings forecast for 2015 by 4% to £90m, though warned that strong currency headwinds were likely to undermine Cinema City profits by about £4m."Strong growth should be driven by £5m of forecast acquisition synergies, 10% self-financed expansion and attractive like-for-like admission growth," analysts at Numis said in a note, adding they had upgraded their rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'add'.Cineworld shares were up 4.73% to 469.30p at 09:06 on Thursday.