The runaway success of Avengers Assemble helped Cineworld almost double pre-tax profits to £13.4m in the first half of 2012, despite an almost 12% year-on-year fall in cinema advertising.
Cineworld, the UK's second largest cinema chain behind Guy Hands's Odeon/UCI, said that total revenues grew slightly, up 1.1% year-on-year to £165.4m.
Box office revenues grew 3.5% to £118.6m – slightly below the total cinema market increase of 4.3% – led by the Avengers film, which grossed more than £51m nationally.
Other films that performed well included Men in Black 3, The Hunger Games and Ridley Scott's Prometheus.
Admission numbers dropped by 0.8% year-on-year to 23 million, probably due in part to Euro 2012, however box office revenues rose thanks to an increase of 4.9% on average ticket prices.
The black spot in otherwise solid results was the performance of cinema advertising, which fell 11.7% year-on-year in the first six months.
"In addition to the inevitable pull of advertising towards the European football championships and the London Olympics, companies continue to defer their advertising spends and divert expenditure more towards ad hoc sales promotions and the internet, both of which are considered short term means to grow sales in a consumer environment where demand remains fragile," said Stephen Wiener, chief executive of Cineworld Group.
Screen advertising is classified as part of "other revenue" by Cineworld – a category that includes sponsorships, screen hire, games machine income and sales of 3D glasses – which fell by 19.3% year-on-year to £8.8m.
Retail revenue, from selling drinks and snacks to cinema-goers, fell 2.1% to £38m as belt-tightening consumers cut back on spending.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, a key metric of underlying profitability keenly watched by investors, grew 2.3% to £26.3m.
"Our results show that cinema is a resilient investment in challenging economic times," said Wiener. "The current trading performance, together with a reduction in net debt, means that the Cineworld Group remains in a sound financial position to fund continued growth".
The interim dividend per share of 3.8p was up 5.6% year-on-year. Net debt fell slightly to £99.2m at the end of June.
The company said the shaky performance of 3D films looks to be stabilising, with 15 releases in the first half of this year.
"Film studios are becoming increasingly adept in discerning the genre and target audience of 3D films," said Wiener. "The quality of 3D film product remains absolutely critical."
The company said that it has seen a 48% year-on-year increase in registrations to its MyCineworld portal to almost 1.5 million in the three month period from March when it scrapped online booking fees.
Cineworld said that films premiering in the run up to the London Olympic Games, including The Amazing Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises, have performed as expected.
The final three months of 2012 is expected to be strong for ticket sales, with major titles including James Bond's Skyfall, the final part of the Twighlight franchise and the first instalment of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit due for release.
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