Giant movie chain AMC Entertainment saw revenue dip 15% last quarter to $991 million and losses widen on a one-time impairment charge in a fourth quarter was tough on exhibition in general with Avatar: The Way Of Water hitting late in the year, and a few misfires.
A fuller release sked led by a steadier stream of tentpoles is expected to nudge the box office towards real post-Covid recovery this year.
AMC “continued on a multi-year glide path to recovery,” said CEO Adam Aron, taking a bit of a dig at bankrupt Regal parent Cineworld. “In stark contrast to others in our industry who have faltered, AMC Entertainment has increased our liquidity profile and strengthened our balance sheet through equity capital raising, debt refinancing, debt exchanges and repurchases.” However, the company is not out of the woods and much pivots around a crucial shareholder meeting coming up next month. “We cannot stress enough how crucial it is that for AMC to remain viable, we must continue to be agile and nimble not only in running our business day to day, but also in our continued raising of cash and decreasing the debt load on AMC Entertainment,” Aron said. “As we have been saying for a long time, the industry-wide box office will not return to pre-pandemic norms before 2024 or 2025 at the earliest.
Therefore, this active management of our capital structure is vital for AMC to ultimately both survive the pandemic and to thrive over the long haul.
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