Cineworld has this morning reported an 8.4% rise in group revenue for the six months to the end of June 2016 to £356.7m, with revenue across its UK & Ireland business up 3% to £225.9m.
Box office admissions and box offices revenues in the UK & Ireland decreased by 4% and 0.3% respectively during the period, which the company said was “reflective of the film slate during the first half of 2016 compared to 2015”. The total UK box offices admissions for the six-month period was 4.9% lower compared to the prior period (Source: UK Cinema Association)
In the UK and Ireland as a whole the top three movies in the first six months of 2016 were, “The Jungle Book”, “Deadpool” and “Captain America: Civil War” which grossed £120m compared to the first half of 2015 which was underpinned by the success of “Jurassic World”, “Avengers: The Age of Ultron” and “Fast and Furious 7”which grossed over £138m in the UK and Ireland.
The average ticket price achieved in the UK and Ireland increased to £6.25 (2015: £6.02). Cineworld said that this reflected the increased availability and popularity of premium offerings and price rises. The top three movies in the first half were all available in the IMAX, 3D and 4DX format.
Retail revenue in the UK & Ireland was 5.7% higher than the comparative period. Retail spend per person increased by 10% to £2.23 (2015: £2.02). The company said that spend per person had been positively impacted by the nature of the film mix in the first half, as well as its broader range of retail offerings, including Starbucks and its VIP experience alongside modest price rises.
During the first half of the year, the company opened a further two Starbucks outlets, one in its new Loughborough cinema, and one in Stevenage, taking the total number to 19 at 30 June 2016. It has a further five openings planned for the second half of this year.
The company said: “The launch of our VIP experience in the UK in Sheffield at the end of 2015 is proving popular and we are due to open the second one in Glasgow during the second half of the year.”
The group said that the film release programme for the second half of the year includes strong family titles during the summer such as “The Secret Life of Pets”, “The BFG” and “Finding Dory”.
It said: “The performance for July was encouraging with the UK market box office increasing 21.7% in the period 1 July 2016 - 7 August 2016 compared to the comparative period (Source: Rentrak). Other key releases include “Star Trek Beyond”, “Jason Bourne”, “Bridget Jones Baby”, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Star Wars: Rogue One”. Based on the film slate in the second half and our solid first half results, we remain confident of delivering a performance for the year as a whole in line with current market expectations.”
