CINEWORLD has warned over its future as it revealed half-year losses of $1.6 billion US (£1.3 billion).
The cinema company, which has premises across Scotland including in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, said further global coronavirus restrictions or film delays may force it to raise further cash.
The news prompted a significant reaction in the City and shares in the business closed down 15 per cent at 41.36p.
The group swung to the hefty loss for the six months to June 30 from pre-tax profits of $139.7m (£110m) a year ago as revenues plummeted after lockdowns forced its cinemas to close.
READ MORE: Cineworld provides update to customers in Scotland
Its cinemas across the UK have since reopened with Covid measures in place including mandatory wearing of face coverings.
It said it was still in talks with lenders over breathing space for upcoming banking agreements, while it alerted over the potential need to boost finances again if it had to close its cinemas once more or if film releases were pushed back.
It also said current trading has been “encouraging considering the circumstances”, with solid demand for action-thriller and spy film Tenet released earlier this month.
Cineworld warned: “There can be no certainty as to the future impact of Covid-19 on the group.
“If governments were to strengthen restrictions on social gathering, which may therefore oblige us to close our estate again or further push back movie releases, it would have a negative impact on our financial performance and likely require the need to raise additional liquidity.”
The group said 561 of its 778 sites worldwide have reopened, with 200 cinemas in the US, six in the UK and 11 in Israel still closed.
Cineworld said if the cinemas still closed in the US do not open before the end of October or there are further delays in the forecast significant movie releases to 2021, then extra financing would be needed.
In a “severe but plausible scenario” where a second wave of the pandemic caused further lengthy cinemas closures, then it would breach banking agreements in December and June 2021 and need further financing to continue to operate from early next year, it said.
In May, Cineworld pulled out of a $28bn Canadian dollar (£1.6bn) deal to buy Canada’s biggest chain, Cineplex.
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