IMAX spikes on Q3 results

IMAX Corporation (TSX:IMX) Thursday reported a sharply higher third quarter profit as revenue grew across all of its operating streams, with particular strength in box office revenue.

For the three months that ended September 30, the movie theatre company reported a profit of $15.0 million, or 22 cents per share, compared to net income of $8.4 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier.

IMAX, which designs and produces cameras and projection equipment for its namesake motion picture film format, said adjusted profit was $17.9 million, or 26 cents per share.

Revenues were $80.7 million, 20 per cent higher than $67.5 million in the same period last year.

The results were driven by continued theatre network growth globally, with 41 contract signings and 33 theatre installations during the quarter, the company said.

“Our strong quarterly financial results once again demonstrate how much the IMAX business model has evolved,” said CEO Richard L. Gelfond.

“We believe IMAX has become a story of growth and operating leverage, and our pipeline for future theatre deals remains robust. Our view is that we have reached a point of critical mass where our portfolio approach to our film slate combined with our global network expansion is driving scalability in the business.

“We are also seeing an increase in demand from filmmakers who want to take advantage of our differentiation opportunities.”

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Gross box office from Digital Re-Mastering (DMR) titles was $173.2 million, up from $149.5 million in the third quarter of 2011. The average DMR box office per screen was $311,700, compared to $355,500 a year earlier.

Production and IMAX DMR revenues increased 35.6 per cent to $25.2 million.

IMAX systems revenue was $25.4 million, higher than $20.6 million a year ago, reflecting the installation of 14 full, new theatre systems in the quarter under sales or sales-type lease arrangements. The company also installed 3 digital system upgrades.

Revenue from joint revenue sharing arrangements increased 31.9 per cent to $13.2 million. During the quarter, the company installed 14 new theatres under joint revenue sharing arrangements.

It ended the third quarter with 287 theatres operating under joint revenue sharing arrangements, as compared to 218 theatres at the end of the same period last year.

The company maintained Thursday its full year install guidance of around 110 new theatre installations. It also forecast between 110 and 125 new theatre installations for next year.

The total IMAX theatre network consisted of 689 systems at the end of the quarter, of which 556 were in commercial multiplexes.

There were also 285 theatre systems in backlog as of September 30, compared to 295 systems in backlog as of the same time last year.

“We believe that IMAX’s fundamentals have never been stronger,” Gelfond concluded.

“The healthy level of business activity is evidenced by our signings and installations this quarter, and we continue to be encouraged by the pace and quality of discussions regarding future theatre deals.”

Deborah Bacal
Proactive Investors
Source Article

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