Cineworld interim profit hit by currency movements

Cineworld posted a drop in first-half profit as the company took a hit from adverse currency movements.

In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit fell 34.6% to £30.6m as the group suffered adverse currency movements of £6.1m compared to an exchange rate gain of £8.9m in the same period a year ago.

Revenue rose to £356.7m from £329.1m and Cineworld declared an interim dividend of 5.2p per share, up from 5p the year before. Admissions in the first half were up 2.7% to 46.1m.

Chief executive officer Mooky Greidinger said: “The results for the first half of the year are in line with our expectations. We have achieved growth in admissions, box office revenue, and retail sales, with a particularly strong performance in our Rest of the World segment, achieving double digit growth in admissions.”

Looking ahead, the company said the film release programme for the second half of the year includes strong family titles during the summer such as ‘The Secret Life of Pets’, ‘The BFG’ and ‘Finding Dory’.

Cineworld said the performance in July was encouraging, with the UK market box officer increasing 27.1% from 1 July to 7 August compared to the comparative period.

“Based on the film slate in the second half and our solid first half results, we remain confident of delivering a performance for the year as a whole in line with current market expectations."

At 0942 BST, Cineworld shares were down 2.1% to 581p.