PVR, multiple chain operator, is likely to report higher third quarter revenues, thanks to blockbuster releases during the quarter, even as the company is on an expansion spree.
"We have got Tamasha of Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika and December we have Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani and also a very big international franchise Star Wars in 3D in IMAX. So this is for the coming quarter but also a little snapshot and even January is looking good, we got Wazir, we got Ghayal, we got Airlift of Akshay Kumar. So even up to January, February, next year is looking good," PVR Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Bijli had said during a conference call with analysts last month.
On 28 December, the company opened its multiplex VR Mall, in Bangalore, which has nine screens. With this, the screen count now stands at 491, close to its target of 500 by the end of the current financial year.
"The opening of the prestigious Cinema (multiplex) is part of PVR's organic growth strategy of pan India expansion and increase presence in major cities," the company said in a regulatory filing with the BSE.
Earlier, on 11 December, PVR had opened a five-screen multiplex in Chennai.
PVR's second quarter numbers for the current fiscal showed high growth on a year-on-year basis. While revenues grew by 21% to Rs 481 crore, net profit soared 405% to Rs 41 crore, up from Rs 8.2 crore in the July-September 2014 period.
The growth was also aided by a 3% increase in ticket prices and an increase in footfalls of 20% to 18.8 million.
The food and beverages business grew 32%, helped by a 9% increase in average spend. Sponsored revenues grew 13%.
Ajay Bijli, during the call, said that regional and Hollywood films are increasingly contributing more to the company's revenues.
"If you look at this quarter alone, almost 50% of our contribution has come from regional and Hollywood films put together. This is like for the first time in our operating history, regional film contribution this quarter alone has been about 24% in terms of admissions and roughly about 29% in terms of revenue and Hollywood contribution has been close to 16% to 17%. So in terms of revenue contribution almost 46%- 47% has come from regional and Hollywood and 54% has come from local content which is films in Hindi content," he said.
"Baahubali has also been one of the key reasons to drive some of this," he added.
During the second quarter, five movies – "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", "Baahubali-The Beginning", "Welcome Back", "Drishyam" and "MI Rogue Nation" contributed 51% of the net box office revenues for PVR.
The spending per head went up from Rs 63 in Q2, FY2015, to Rs 68 in Q2, FY2016, an increase of 9%.
The PVR stock has witnessed a volatile movement during calendar 2015, from Rs 699.70 on 2 January to a low of Rs 622 on 29 June and high of Rs 861 on 2 November.
The stock closed at Rs 803.30 on Wednesday.
