Trading update for the period 1 January 2017 to 19 November 2017 – Revenue growth of 10.6% achieved.
Revenue movements for the period were as follows:
|
|
Actual |
|
Constant Currency |
||||
|
|
Group |
UK & Ireland |
ROW(1) |
|
Group |
UK & Ireland |
ROW(1) |
|
Total revenue |
10.6% |
5.9% |
18.2% |
|
6.5% |
5.9% |
7.3% |
|
Box Office |
10.4% |
5.8% |
19.0% |
|
6.6% |
5.8% |
8.1% |
|
Retail |
13.4% |
6.5% |
24.6% |
|
9.3% |
6.5% |
13.3% |
|
Other Income |
6.0% |
5.1% |
6.8% |
|
0.2% |
5.1% |
-3.6% |
(1) ROW is defined as Rest of the World and includes Poland, Hungary, Israel, Romania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
Admissions in both the UK & Ireland and the ROW increased compared to the same period in the prior year. Growth continues to be driven by the expansion of our estate, the improved results from the ongoing refurbishment programme and the continuing roll-out of our premium formats. The highest grossing films in the second half of the year in the UK were “Dunkirk”, “Despicable Me 3” and “It”. Locally produced films continued to perform well across the ROW, especially in Poland where “Botoks” is the best performing film year to date.
Retail revenue showed strong growth of 13.4% (9.3% constant currency), particularly in the ROW with growth of 24.6% (13.3% constant currency). 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. For the Group, Other Income has remained broadly flat, partially resulting from a temporary decrease in distribution activity in the ROW – a revenue stream with a comparatively low impact on EBITDA.
The Group has made significant progress with its expansion and refurbishment programme. During the second half of the year the Group has opened seven sites with a total of 83 screens. Three sites were opened in the UK (South Ruislip, Bracknell and Leeds), two sites in Poland (Wroclaw and Bialianka), one in Romania (Galati) and one in the Czech Republic (Chodov, in Prague). This brings the total number of new site openings during the year to nine, in addition to the acquisition of Empire Newcastle (16 screens). Four smaller sites, (23 screens in total) originally scheduled for Q4 2017 will now open in early 2018. In addition the Group continues to proactively manage its existing estate through the refurbishment and selective closure of certain sites. In this regard, three refurbishments have been completed in the UK, (Ipswich, Northampton and Solihull), two in Poland (Arkadia and Mokotow) and there continues to be a number of refurbishments on-going. The Stockport site (10 screens) was closed in the UK.
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, our full year outlook remains unchanged.