Everyman Media secures new loan facility, trading in line

Everyman Media said on Thursday that trading in 2018 continued to be in line with market expectations as it announced a new £30m loan facility.

In an update for the 53 weeks to 3 January, the cinema group said it was confident of being able to grow the existing pipeline beyond the new sites that are expected to go live next year as it has agreed a new, five-year loan facility of £30m with Barclays Bank and Santander. This replaces the previous £20m facility signed back in March 2017 with Barclays.

Everyman said it now operates 26 venues, with four new venues opened in the final quarter of the financial year in Altrincham, Crystal Palace, Glasgow and Liverpool. The group now operates 84 screens versus 69 in 2017. Together with York, which was opened in the first half of the year, this brings the total number of venues opened in 2018 to five.

Everyman also said that it continues to source "exciting opportunities" for future investment. Since the interim results in September, lease agreements have been signed for four venues in Manchester, Clitheroe, Northallerton and Plymouth.

Including these, it now has commitments in place to open a further 14 venues by 2022, with seven openings expected in 2019, consisting of Horsham, Newcastle, Clitheroe, Manchester, London Broadgate, Cardiff, and Wokingham.

"The directors maintain a positive outlook for the cinema industry and for the company in 2019. Audiences continue to enjoy film, and specifically the Everyman experience," it said.

At 1140 GMT, the shares were down 1% to 202p.