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(Sharecast News) - Everyman Media Group reported a narrowing of its interim losses on Wednesday as it hailed "healthy" admissions growth and said it expects to "at least meet" market expectations for the full year and beyond.
In the 26 weeks to 30 June, pre-tax losses narrowed to £798,000 from £9.2m in the same period a year earlier, on revenues of £40.7m, up from £7.7m.
The company swung to and adjusted EBITDA of £7.5m during the half from a loss of £1.4m.
Everyman said admissions comparison to the same period in 2021 was challenging due to Covid-related closures. However, versus the first half of 2019, admissions were up 20%, driven by organic growth and the opening of nine new venues.
Chief executive Alex Scrimgeour said: "The first half of the financial year has been a period of progress on all fronts, with healthy admissions growth and robust spend per head, suggesting we are now back on track following the turbulence of recent years. Despite reduced film output due to the effect of low production during the pandemic, we've enjoyed three of the ten highest-ever box office releases in the past twelve months.
"Looking ahead, we are optimistic about our prospects. We are confident that film production is back up to full speed and that the flow of excellent content will be bigger and better going forward, beginning with an attractive pipeline of new releases over the remainder of this year and next."
Scrimgeour said Everyman had kicked off the second half of the year in line with expectations and the outlook for the remainder was "promising".
The group said that with encouraging admissions levels to date and a strong film slate for the fourth quarter, it remains on track to "at least meet" expectations for the full year.
Canaccord Genuity, which rates the stock at 'buy', said the results were "strong" and demonstrate that Everyman has bounced back strongly from the challenges of the pandemic.
"Investment made into the customer offering over the last few years, coupled with a solid film release schedule, and a resumed site expansion plan has resulted in a record half year performance in terms of both sales and EBITDA," it said.
"Its enhanced F&B offering and curated film offering of major and independent releases offer a real point of differentiation for customers and have helped to drive further market share gains. Looking forward, there remains a significant growth opportunity available to the group, with a number of new site openings over the coming 24 months."
