Everyman Media Group PLC (LON:EMAN) have seen their shares jump today, following an impressive update from the entertainment group.
The firm reported that it has achieved record group sales of £65 million in the annual period which ended on January 2.
This was one of many stand out figures from this mornings update, as the £65 million figure showed a 25% rise from £51.9 million reported in 2019.
The firm noted that it had looked to improve customer service and quality of product, which led to a rise in average ticket price from £11.26 to £11.37 whilst spend per head rose to £7.13 from the 2018 figure of £6.30.
Notably, the firm also expanded its share in the market to 3.1% having held a 2.5% stake in 2018 amid competition from firms such as Odeon.
Everyman also added that pre-IFRS 16 EBITDA is expected to be approximately £12.0 million, an increase of 30% year on year.
The cinema chain now operates at 33 different venues, as five new sites were opened n the final quarter of the financial year (Cardiff, Clitheroe, London Broadgate, Manchester and Wokingham).
The total number of screens now operated by the Group is 110, which again shows a rise from 84 in 2018.
With Horsham and Newcastle which were opened in the first half of the year, this brings the total number of venues opened in 2019 to seven, a record number of openings for the Group in a single year.
Since the publishing of interim results in September, the firm has agreed lease deals for three more venues (Aberdeen, Exeter and London Kings Road).
With these in place, the firm has commitments in place to open a further 12 venues by 2022, with 4 openings confirmed for 2020, consisting of Dublin, Lincoln, London Kings Road, and Plymouth.
Crispin Lilly, Chief Executive of Everyman said: “This is a solid result for the year. After record admissions in 2018, UK box-office fell by 1.9% in 2019; despite this we grew each of our key performance metrics and also increased our overall market share of the UK box-office. We remain positive on the outlook for the cinema industry, the Everyman brand and for the Company in 2020. Our teams continue to deliver great results across all areas of the business and we are well placed to deliver to expectations in 2020.”
Successful year for Everyman
In March, the firm saw its profits up on the backs of new store openings, and this seems to have translated into the impressive update we have seen today.
Revenue for the year was up 27.7% to £51.9 million, compared to £40.6 million back in 2017.
Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 38.2% to £9.2 million, an improvement from the £6.6 million reported a year ago.
During the period, Everyman Media Group said it opened five new venues, including locations in York, Glasgow and Liverpool, taking its estate to 26 sites and 84 screens as of March 12.
September Success
As mentioned previously, Everyman once again saw their profits rise when they updated the market in September.
Revenue for the six months grew 16% to £28.9 million and operating profit increased 14% to £1.6 million.
Everyman Media Group said that these were supported by increasing admissions and the amount spent on food and beverages.
Admissions were up by 9.4% to 1.5 million across the period and the cinema company experienced continued growth in average food and beverage spend, up by 13.2% to £6.95.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by 61% to £6.6 million, up from the £4.1 million figure recorded the year prior.
The Cinema Market
Rival in the cinema market Cineworld (LON:CINE) have seen a similar period of trading, however it seems that Everyman have taken the market by storm.
Just before Christmas, Cineworld announced that they would be buying Cineplex Inc (TSE:CGX), the largest cinema operator in Canada, for CAD2.8 billion.
Cineworld, said that it will pay ay CAD34 in cash for each Cineplex share. Cineplex shares closed in Toronto on December 16 at CAD24.01, giving it a market capitalization of CAD1.52 billion.
Cineworld believes the deal represents an “exciting” opportunity to enter the “stable and attractive” Canadian market. The transaction will add 165 cinemas and 1,695 screens to Cineworld, it said.
Certainly the update from Everyman will impress shareholders, as they hit the new year up and running there should be a strong sense that the group can capture more of the market with better customer service and stronger performances, like the one seen today.
Shares in Everyman Media Group PLC trade at 219p (+2.57%). 15/1/20 9:40BST.
