David BurrowsCineworld, the global cinema chain has benefitted from improved admission numbers in UK, Ireland and the Rest of the World compared to the same period (January to November) in the previous year.
Retail revenue showed strong growth of 13.4%, particularly in the ROW with growth of 24.6%. Retail revenue is a function of admissions, economic and spending trends in each local market and was positively impacted by the expansion of the group's retail offerings.
The group now has 28 Starbucks sites and 12 VIP sites. The company has also made significant progress with its expansion and refurbishment programme. During the second half of the year it has opened seven sites with a total of 83 screens.
New screens
Three sites were opened in the UK, two sites in Poland, one in Romania and one in the Czech Republic. This brings the total number of new site openings during the year to nine, in addition to the acquisition of Empire Newcastle (16 screens).
Investment in technology also continued. In the second half of the year the group has opened 6 new 4DX screens, 2 IMAX screens and 2 Superscreens bringing the total to 34 4DX screens, 35 IMAX screens and 11 Superscreens.
The film slate for the remainder of the year includes recent openings, "Paddington 2, "Justice League", and then in December "Pitch Perfect 3", "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle", as well as the highly anticipated "Star Wars: The Last Jedi".
Based on the expected strength of the film slate for the final six weeks, the company’s full year outlook remains unchanged.
The company’s share price was slightly down , 1.34%, to 660 in mid-morning trading.