Movie theater leader AMC Entertainment Holdings AMC reported fourth-quarter financial results after the market close Tuesday. Here are the key highlights.
What Happened: AMC reported fourth-quarter revenue of $990.9 million, down 15.4% year-over-year. The revenue total came in ahead of a Street estimate of $977.7 million, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
AMC posted a loss of 14 cents per share in the fourth quarter, beating a Street estimate of a loss of 21 cents per share.
For the full fiscal year, AMC had revenue of $3.91 billion, up 54.7% year-over-year.
“Naturally, we are pleased that AMC Entertainment easily bested consensus estimates and EPS after excluding for non-cash impairment write offs,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said.
“We are similarly encouraged that our Q4 2022 revenue per patron of $19.98 was well above pre-pandemic levels, thanks to rising ticket prices and the consumer’s continued predilection to indulge more at our concession stands in our high margin food and beverage business.”
The real story for AMC in 2022 was the company continuing on a “multi-year glide path to recovery,” Aron said.
The full-year results were the best year for the company since pre-pandemic 2019, the CEO said.
“In stark contrast to others in our industry who have faltered, AMC Entertainment has increased our liquidity profile and strengthened our balance sheet through equity capital raising, debt refinancing, debt exchanges and purchases.”
The company ended the quarter with available liquidity of $842.7 million and debt of $4.95 billion.
In the first quarter, AMC repurchased several notes at a discount to lower its debt. The company sold 207.8 million APE units APE in 2022, raising proceeds of $228.8 million.
The company sold an additional 6.6 million shares of APE units in the first quarter of 2023, rasing $9.6 million.
Related Link: Trading Strategies For AMC Entertainment Stock After Q4 Earnings
What’s Next: Aron said revenue growth should continue in 2023, with 75% more major movie titles being released than in 2022.
Aron said the movie sector will not return to pre-pandemic box office performance until 2024 or 2025 at the earliest. The CEO said the raising of cash and debt reduction are important to the company.
“With more major movies coming in 2023, we are highly confident that our multi-year recovery will continue to show considerable progress this year.”
AMC is urging shareholders to vote “yes” for the proposal at the March 14 special meeting of shareholders to give the company the “best chance to generate value for all of our shareholders in the months and years to come.”
AMC Price Action: AMC shares are up 0.2% to $7.13 in after-hours trading Tuesday at the time of writing.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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