Belgian cinema operator Kennebolis saw a sharp drop in visitors in Corona 2020. The cinema group received only 12.1 million visitors due to the pandemic, while it assumed more than 45 million. This was due to the frequent closures in various countries that forced cinemas to close, the security measures imposed and the delay of blockbuster films, such as the new James Bond movie.
As a result, the cinema group, which has eighteen cinemas in the Netherlands, incurred a loss of 69.1 million euros. The main reason behind this was the rise in real estate values. In 2019, profits are 54.4 million euros. Revenue decreased 68% to 176.3 million euros. Net debt increased from 417 million euros to more than 513 million euros compared to the previous year. This was partly due to investments in building new cinema complexes.
During the year of Corona, Kinepolis continued to build new cinemas, including in Haarlem and Leidschendam and in France and the United States. The company expects to emerge more from the crisis in 2022 once all cinemas open again.
Despite the impact of the Corona crisis, the cinema group believes that it will be able to pass the coming period and have sufficient funds to do so. For example, the company took out a three-year loan of € 80 million at the start of this year. Kinepolis previously cut costs by turning management’s hand in wages and delaying payment of higher wages and bonuses. Kinepolis also won’t pay dividends for 2020.
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