Cineworld deal boosts figures

It's not an overstatement to say last year was a transformative year for Cineworld. The £272m acquisition of Polish chain Cinema City International, which was funded by a £110m rights issue last February, gave a significant boost to last year's statutory figures (an extra week also helped). On a like-for-like basis, group revenue grew 1.7 per cent to £619m and cash profit rose 7.4 per cent to £127m.

The impact of uninspiring movie releases - admissions were down 0.5 per cent - was offset by a 1.3 per cent hike in the average ticket price to £4.72. This trend was driven by the UK and Ireland, where a 4 per cent dip in admissions was offset by a 4 per cent increase in average ticket prices, resulting in flat box office revenue of £269m. The opposite effect could be observed in central and eastern Europe: admissions rose 4 per cent as average ticket prices fell due to once-a-week discounts.

Expansion is still high on the agenda, and entry into new European markets is keeping pace. Over the next three years Cinema City hopes to add 30 new multiplexes - roughly 328 screens - the next of which will open in Bucharest in April. Cineworld also hopes to add another 176 screens to its UK estate, bringing the total to more than 500 new screens in three years.

So far, 2015 is shaping up to be a better year for the cinema industry. A new Bond film and the latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise could drive admission numbers up later in the year, while the controversial Fifty Shades of Grey gave Cineworld record levels of weekend admissions when it opened on Valentines Day.