Regulatory release
17 February 2017, 7 a.m.
2016 was an exceptional year of expansion for Kinepolis, with the opening of five new build cinemas in the Netherlands, Spain and France, and the successful integration of acquired cinemas. In spite of the less strong film offer, the European football championship and fewer holidays in 2016, the Group posted solid results, with a rise in REBITDA per visitor in virtually all countries.
Key figures 2016 vs. 2015:
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A 7.5% rise in visitor numbers to 23.8 million, due to the Group expansion.
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Total revenue increased by 7.7% to € 324.9 million, due to the rise in visitor numbers, higher sales per visitor and increased B2B and real estate revenue.
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Current EBITDA (REBITDA) rose by 4.0% to € 94.6 million. REBITDA per visitor increased in all countries except for France.
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Current profit decreased by 6.5% to € 40.4 million due to higher depreciations as a consequence of the expansion and a higher effective tax rate. Profit increased by 47.7% to € 47.6 million due to revenue from the sale of Utopolis and one-off tax expenses in 2015. Earnings per share were € 1.75.
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The net financial debt rose by only 4.8% to € 169.8 million in spite of heavy investments in expansion, which amounted to € 71.7 million for, among other things, the construction of the five new complexes, partly offset by the revenue from the sale of Utopolis Belgium, amounting to € 34.99 million.
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Free cash flow decreased by 18.8% to € 53.6 million due to higher interest and tax payments.
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The proposed dividend per share is € 0.87, a rise of 10.1%, on the basis of a 50% pay-out ratio and the number of shares entitled to dividend on 17 February 2017.
Kinepolis welcomed 7.5% more visitors in 2016 compared with the previous year, primarily due to acquisitions in 2015 that were included in the figures for the whole year for the first time, the acquisition of a cinema in Rouen (France) in January 2016 and newly opened cinemas in the Netherlands (Dordrecht, Breda, Utrecht), Spain (Granada) and France (Fenouillet). The film offer in 2016 was unable to match an exceptional 2015, which included `Star Wars: The Force Awakens`, `Minions` and `Jurassic World`, and local content also disappointed in most countries, except for France, due to the success of `Les Tuche 2`. The later Christmas holiday and the European football championship also played a role in the lower visitor numbers.
At 7.7%, total revenue increased faster than visitor numbers, thanks to the rise in revenue across all activities. Only Brightfish generated less revenue. Sales of beverages and snacks (In-theatre sales) rose by 9.6%, in spite of the negative impact of the country mix due to the lower share of Belgium. More products were bought per person in all countries and there was a relative increase in the number of shop visitors in Belgium and the Netherlands. At 7.3%, revenue from ticket sales (Box Office) rose a little less sharply than visitor numbers, primarily due to the changed country mix and the loss of part of the Virtual Print Fee (VPF).