Everyman delivers bullish 2024 outlook after strong FY growth

Shares in Everyman Media Group jumped on Tuesday after the upmarket cinema chain delivered double-digit growth in both revenues and profits last year and pointed to an "improving film slate" in 2024.

The company said upcoming titles like Wicked, Despicable Me 4, Paddington in Peru, Joker: Folie à Deux, Inside Out 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, Dune: Part II and an untitled Gladiator sequel have given it confidence in the new financial year.

Group revenues were up 16.7% in the 52 weeks to 28 December at £90.9m as market share improved to 4.8% from 4.5%, ticket prices increased 3.2% to £11.65 and food and beverage spend per head rose 10.2% to £10.29. Meanwhile EBITDA rose 19.1% to £16.2m.

Everyman said it was "marginally affected" by the WAG and SAG-AFTRA writers' and actors' strikes in Hollywood, which delayed some titles into 2024, but said: "The board is pleased however to re-confirm market expectations for 2024 and has confidence in the prospects of the business moving forward."

The company opened four new venues during the year, and also purchased two additional Tivoli venues from the now-collapsed Empire Cinemas chain last month. It already has three new sites planned for 2024 but said it would continue to consider "opportunistic acquisitions", like with the Tivoli deal.

"We have delivered robust, double-digit growth in both revenue and EBITDA against a challenging economic backdrop, delays to new openings and both writers' and actors' strikes," said chief executive Alex Scrimgeour.

"Further operational progress has been made with improvements in all key metrics, illustrating that our proposition remains as relevant as ever."

The stock was up 4.8% at 63p by 0819 GMT.