PVR earmarks Rs 400 crore to add 125 screens in FY23

In the last fiscal, the company had opened 29 new screens across five properties but now the multiplex major plans to push the pedal to grab market share and increase reach.

The company expects to fund the expansion with internal accruals though it has available liquidity of Rs 667 crore – including undrawn working capital lines.

“We are doubling down on our investments, and if everything goes as planned, this year we will break our record of the maximum number of screens openings in a year in India,” said Ajay Bijli, CMD of PVR.

Chief financial officer Nitin Sood told ET that the company expects to spend Rs 350-400 crore in capital expenditure for the new screens this year.

“We will have a capex of around Rs 350-400 crore this year, which will be taken care of by internal accruals,” Sood said.

Talking about the company’s performance in the final quarter ended March 31, 2022, Sood said that while January and February were total washout months due to Omicron and unavailability of films, March has been extremely good in terms of admissions as well as food and beverages sales.

“We had 90 lakh admissions in March, which was our biggest ever month in the history and we had almost 22% operating margins during the month,” Sood explained.

For the quarter,

posted a revenue of Rs 553.56 crore, up from Rs 190.86 crore in the year-ago period, while EBITDA loss was reduced to Rs 17.69 crore, from Rs 118.21 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

PVR reported a net loss of Rs 95.57 crore for the quarter, as compared to a net loss of Rs 271.67 crore in the previous year.

The company also recorded its highest-ever quarterly average ticket price (ATP) of Rs 242 and spends per head (SPH) of Rs 122 on the back of strong content flow across Regional and Bollywood genres with movies like Valimai (Tamil), Bheemla Nayak (Telugu), Gangubai Kathiawadi (Hindi), The Kashmir Files (Hindi) and RRR (multilingual).

“The momentum has continued in April and May is also looking strong,” said Sood. “This will be the first full quarter of revenue and earnings post-Covid, and we are quite upbeat.”

PVR said that during the month of March, the company has booked a forex loss on loans extended to PVR Lanka, a 100% subsidiary of PVR in Sri Lanka, due to the sudden devaluation of the local currency given the political and economic turmoil in the region. Excluding these losses, the company has achieved an EBITDA margin of 22.5% for the month of March.

“While there is no actual cash-flow impact, we are hoping things will stabilize soon. We have a good property there with strong 20% operating margins. Because of the current situation, our recovery outlook, which was earlier for four years, may get elongated,” Sood explained.

During the last quarter, PVR had also announced a merger deal with the second-largest multiplex chain,

Leisure.

“I am extremely positive about the impending merger with INOX which will give additional firepower to the combined entity to invest and innovate in bringing world-class theatrical viewing experience for our discerning audiences,” Bijli said.

Sood added that the two companies have already filed for stock exchange approvals and will file for NCLT and other approvals.

“Typically, the whole process takes around 9-10 months, and our attempt would be to see if we can complete the deal by December 31,” Sood said.

PVR stock closed at Rs 1704.95 on Monday, 0.25% up on BSE.