Canaccord Genuity lowers target price on Everyman Media

Analysts at Canaccord Genuity lowered their target price on cinema chain operator Everyman Media on Monday, stating that while the group had delivered a full-year earnings beat, growth trajectory for the coming two years had "moderated".

Canaccord Genuity highlighted that a solid end to 2022 had resulted in a 2% revenue and an 11% underlying earnings beat for Everyman, compared to its expectations.

"We view this as a strong outcome given the challenging consumer and macro backdrop, and inflationary operating cost environment. The Group continues to make positive financial and operational progress in the wake of the pandemic-related disruption seen in recent years," said Canaccord.

However, whilst the analysts acknowledged there was "a solid pipeline" of new openings planned for the years ahead, they also said there had been "some slippage" in the phasing of anticipated openings and a forecast increase in utility costs once contracts expire, both of which resulted in a reduction of FY23E and FY24E forecasts

"Whilst the near-term growth trajectory has been tempered by these two factors, which are largely beyond management's control, we take comfort that the performance across FY23E to date has been encouraging," said Canaccord.

But the Canadian bank went on to say that the industry continued to recover post-pandemic and that the film slate for the year ahead looked "encouraging", with both the volume and quality of new releases set to significantly increase compared to 2022, which had a reduced slate due to pandemic film production delays.

"We continue to believe that Everyman's premium brand is strong and differentiated which, coupled with a robust balance sheet, reinforces our belief that the group is well positioned for future growth," concluded Canaccord Genuity, which reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com