AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (AMC) on Tuesday reported a 15% drop in revenue for the fourth quarter and said “the industry-wide box office will not return to pre-pandemic norms before 2024 or 2025 at the earliest.”
Persistently high inflation has forced consumers to cut spending on out-of-home entertainment, on one hand, while movie releases remained light during the quarter because of production delay, on the other hand.
AMC’s revenue came in at $990.9 million during the quarter ended December 31st, which compares with a median analyst estimate of $977.7 million.
AMC’s net loss increased to $287.7 million ($0.26 per share) during the fourth quarter from $134.4 million ($0.13 per share) in the year-ago period.
Still, the company expects “the recovery will continue apace in 2023, as Hollywood is expected to release approximately 75% more major movie titles than it did in 2022,” according to Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron.
The shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc closed 6.18% ($0.47) lower at $7.14 in New York on Tuesday, while marking the steepest single-session loss since February 10th.
The theater chain’s total market cap now stands at $3.665 billion.
The shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc have risen 75.43% so far this year, following an 85.04% slump in 2022.