CINE.L Regulatory News (CINE)

29 Apr 2009 07:00



Cineworld Group PLC 29th April 2009 

CINEWORLD GROUP PLC  Interim Management Statement 

The Board of Cineworld Group plc ("Cineworld" or the "Group") today made the following Interim Management Statement for the 17 week trading period to 23 April 2009.

Revenues for the 17 weeks to 23 April 2009:

Steve Wiener, Chief Executive, Cineworld Group plc comments:

"The Group is pleased to report healthy trading in the 17 weeks to 23 April 2009, which has been driven principally by a strong performance at the box office. At the end of the period our market share was 23.5% (Source: EDI Neilsen). Other income is significantly below the level last year, due to the absence of the Carlton Screen Advertising minimum guarantee which had been in place through to February 2008 as well as some softening in advertising demand. 

With the anticipated blockbuster releases in Q2 of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", "Star Trek", "Angels and Demons", "Night at the Museum 2", "Terminator: Salvation" and "Transformers 2", we are confident that this revenue trend will continue for the rest of the first half, though the benefit of the strong revenue growth will continue to be balanced, in part, by cost pressures, such as increased utility prices. 

The recent investment in our digital estate and our roll-out of 3D facilities has so far shown very encouraging results. Cineworld achieved box office market shares of 50% and 46% respectively for the 3D releases of "Bolt" and "Monsters versus Aliens" (EDI Neilsen). Both our ten screen cinema in Aberdeen and five screen cinema in Witney remain on schedule to open in the second half. 

The figures overall demonstrate the resilience of our business in the current economic and financial climate. With an attractive line up of film releases in the second half, we remain confident in the outlook for the year as a whole."

-Ends-

For further information:

Georgina Briscoe 020 7153 1530

M:Communications