Home Page Haverhill News

The Board of Cineworld Group plc has issued the following Interim Management Statement for the 43 week trading period to 23 October 2008.

Revenues for the 43 weeks to 23 October 2008:
% change vs. prior year
Total Revenues
+ 2.2%
Box Office
+ 3.9%
Retail
+ 0.1%
Other Income
- 4.5%

Steve Wiener, Chief Executive, Cineworld Group plc comments:
“The Group is pleased to report healthy trading in the 43 weeks to 23 October 2008. During the second half the outstanding films have been the July releases of “The Dark Knight” and "Mamma Mia”. The latter is continuing to play well and is now the second highest grossing film of all time in the UK. These two films, together with other notable performances from “Hancock” and “Wall-E”, have contributed to better than expected trading for Q3 which will assist in offsetting both the impact on Q4 from the rescheduling of “Harry Potter” to summer 2009, and certain cost increases relating to utilities and interest rates in the second half of the year. At the end of the period our market share was 23.3% (Source: EDI Neilsen).

The Group is highly cash generative and its balance sheet remains strong. We opened a cinema at Haverhill on 10th October in addition to High Wycombe in March, increasing our estate to 75 cinemas and 775 screens. Our joint venture screen advertising business, Digital Cinema Media Limited, is trading ahead of expectations.

The trading results achieved to date demonstrate the resilient nature of our business, particularly in the current economic climate. The Group is well placed to benefit from a strong final quarter, with an excellent film line up that includes “James Bond: Quantum of Solace”, “High School Musical 3”, “Madagascar 2” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still”.