AMC Entertainment Holdings has seen its fourth-quarter revenue increase and its net loss narrower than James Cameron’s Avatar: the way of the water played on his screen.
On Tuesday, AMC Theaters’ parent company reported that fourth-quarter revenue grew 21 percent to $954.4 million.
Loss per share was 17 cents, up from a loss of 33 cents a year earlier, and fourth quarter loss was $235.5 million, narrowing a year-earlier 2022 loss of $337.4 million as AMC continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and cope with changing consumer habits in the age of streaming.
During the last quarter, AMC reported global attendance of 48 million, just up from the 39.7 million in the same period last year as the company emerged from the depths of the pandemic.
AMC Theaters’ latest earnings will be watched for clues as to how much the US exhibition industry has gained from a Hollywood box office recovery in the multiplex as the COVID-19 crisis has faded, but the streaming revolution continues. AMC investors also see a volatile share price for the movie theater giant given strong backing from private investors, current box office trends and high levels of debt.
Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theaters, said of the latest financial quarter, “Our results for the first quarter of 2023 represent AMC’s strongest first quarter in four full years. We entered 2023 by continuing our positive path to recovery, with more than 21 percent growth in total revenues and a $69 million improvement in adjusted EBITDA compared to the prior year. The first quarter of 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2022 mark the first two consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA since March 2020.”
