UK cinemas close their doors as pandemic takes hold

(Sharecast News) - Cinemas across the UK and Ireland are shuttering because of the coronavirus outbreak, it was announced on Tuesday.
Cineworld, Odeon, Everyman Media Group and Vue Cinemas took the decision, along with the British Film Institute cinema complex on London's Southbank, to temporarily close screens after the government on Monday advised people to avoid entertainment venues.

In a statement, Cineworld chief executive Mooky Greidinger said: "We are committed to providing safe and healthy environments for our employees and guests, and have therefore made the difficult decision to close our cinemas in UK and Ireland until further notice."

The Irish sites will close on Tuesday, the UK sites from Wednesday.

Cineworld is the UK and Ireland's largest chain, with 102 cinemas. It also owns the smaller Picturehouse chain.

Odeon, meanwhile, which is owned by US group AMC Theatres, tweeted: "Following government guidelines, Odeon cinemas are closed until further notice."

The smaller Everyman chain said in a statement to investors: "Trading over recent days has been impacted by Covid-19 and the delay of major movie releases. Following guidance provided by the UK government, the board of Everyman has taken the decision to close its venues to guests until further notice. The health of our staff and our customers is the board's highest priority."

A spokesman for Vue told Reuters that the chain's 91 UK and Ireland cinemas would close from Tuesday.

As at 1230 GMT, shares in Cineworld had tumbled 29% to 26.94p, compounding falls earlier in the week after US box office takings slumped over the weekend as people stayed away from cinemas because of the pandemic. Shares in Everyman were down 12% at 71.40p.

Cineworld, which was founded in 1995 and listed in 2007, recently expanded into the US, acquiring American operator Regal Entertainment in 2018 for $5.8bn to become the world's second-biggest operator. In December 2019, it announced another major deal, the C$2.8bn acquisition of Canada's Cineplex.

The spending spree has left Cineworld with net debt of $3.6bn, however, and last week it warned that should cinemas have to close, it could lose up to three months of revenue, putting it at risk of breaching debt convents and undermining its ability to continue as going concern.

On Tuesday, Cineplex said it was shutting its Canadian venues until 2 April in response to the outbreak. Regal has also closed its US screens, as has AMC Theatres.