AMC Entertainment losses smaller than expected as 99% of cinemas open worldwide

Meme stock AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) beat analysts’ forecasts with its third-quarter results as almost all of its venues were open for the first time since the end of 2019.

The owner of the Odeon cinema chain in the UK and AMC movie theatres in the US saw revenues soar to US$763mln from US$120mln a year ago as moviegoers ventures outside their homes following the simmering down of the pandemic. This surpassed analysts’ expectations by US$55mln.

“Our financial results continue to improve, but one can see and feel that our industry and our company are on a path of recovery and improvement,” said CEO Adam Aron.

Net losses came to US$224mln, or US$0.44 per share, compared with a US$906mln loss or US$8.41 per share, a year ago. This exceeded analysts’ forecast by US$0.09 per share.

Net loss was up 34.8% over the second quarter of 2021, and 75.2% over the comparable third quarter a year ago.

In the third-quarter AMC prospered from ‘Shang Chi and Legend of the Ten Rings’, an American superhero film based on Marvel comics, and ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’, featuring Tom Hardy.

Due to the pandemic cooling off and the release of eagerly-awaited films, Aron revealed that “for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2019 substantially all of our worldwide theatres were open for the entirety of a calendar quarter.”

The company ended the quarter with over US$1.8mln in liquidity, including cash and undrawn revolving credits.

With 100% and 99% of domestic and international cinemas open, respectively, admissions hit peak levels since pre-pandemic times.

Around 40 million customers walked through its doors last quarter, up from 22 million in the second quarter, while admission revenue rose to US$425mln from US$63mln relative to 2020’s third quarter.

“Even amidst such good news, we are not yet where we want and need to be,” added Aron.

In the second quarter, the company said it is keen to offer new payment options such as bitcoin, and Aron mentioned AMC continues to look at other cryptocurrencies it can accept, as well as aiming to launch its own crypto.

AMC, one of the central names in 2021’s meme stock phenomenon, has seen its shares skyrocket by almost 2000% to US$45.10 on 9 November compared with approximately US$2 at the start of 2021 and US$7 in early 2020.

But in pre-market trading on Tuesday it was seen to be heading for a 4% decline to US$42.75.

Story by ProactiveInvestors