Shares in Everyman Media Group leapt by more than 3.5% as the independent cinema chain declared it is moving into the second half with “confidence” , highlighting the “excellent pipeline” of forthcoming releases such as Gladiator II and Paddington in Peru.
The group said it had weathered the full impact of last year’s Hollywood actor and writer strikes, which halted the flow of new films, as it reported revenue of £46.9m in the 26 weeks ended June 27, up from £38.3m. Admissions rose to 1.9 million from 1.6m with modest increases in food and beverage spend and ticket prices helping the firm to lift underlying earnings to £6.2m from £5.8m.
And the company, which has cinemas in Glasgow’s Princes Square and Edinburgh’s St James Quarter, said it is looking forward to the second half, which will bring a slew of new theatrical releases. The slate includes Wicked, Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, and Joker: Folie a Deux.
Read more:
- Will Doctor Doom have a cunning plan to save our cinemas?
- Jump Ship Brewing riding the wave of non-alcoholic beer
Everyman, which now operates 45 cinemas and 155 screens in the UK, said it remained on track to meet market expectations for the year ending January 2, 2025. The market is currently forecasting revenue of £108m and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of £19.3m.
Alex Scrimgeour, chief executive of Everyman Media Group, said: "Despite weathering the full impact of last year's actor and writer strikes, we are pleased to report another period of financial and operational progress. We achieved strong growth in revenue, increased EBIDTA and record market share, driven by rising demand for Everyman's unique brand of hospitality.
“The expansion of our footprint continues, with one new venue opened in the period and two more openings to look forward to in the year, further consolidating our position as the market leader in premium cinema.
“We move into the second half with confidence, and look forward to an exciting slate of high-profile releases to come through the remainder of the year."
The company opened a three-screen in Bury St Edmonds in the first half, and will extend its portfolio further with the launch of a five-screen venue in Cambridge in November. A three-screen venue is due to be added in Stratford, London, in December.
Shares closed up 3.54%, or 2p, at 58.5p.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here