Cineworld reveals positive first half results

14th Aug 2014 07:51

Cineworld, the largest cinema operator in the UK and Ireland, posted an increase in revenue for the first half of 2014 boosted by strong box office sales from the Lego-movie and Marvel films.The firm's acquisition of eastern European business, Cinema city, helped to lift revenue by 33.2% to £268.6m from £201.6m the previous year. Pre-tax profits took a slight drop of 16% to £13.9m, as a result of several one-off exceptional items, including a rise in finance cost. Profits rose by 46% to £25.3m from last year's £17.3m.Chief executive Moshe Greidinger said: "As a management team, we have already identified significant further opportunities and we now expect to generate annualised synergies of £5m within the next three years."UK and Ireland box office revenues declined 0.5%. Admissions were lower by 3.4% compared with the same period last year as a result of the World Cup in June 2014.Greidinger added: "There is a strong film line up for the second half of the financial year including key titles: Guardians of the Galaxy; The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1; and the final instalment of The Hobbit The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. "Trading in the opening weeks of third quarter 2014, as expected, has been lower than the prior period due to the impact of the final stages of the World Cup and the phasing of film release dates."As of 08:25 the share price had dropped 1.6 p to 322p.WS