Cineworld climbs as it looks forward to Hunger Games and Paddington

Cineworld has climbed more than 2% after rising ticket prices made up for a decline in admissions.

The cinema chain said admissions had fallen 0.9% in the 46 weeks to 13 November, mainly due to the phasing of film releases in the UK. But box office revenues rose by 0.7% thanks to growth in central and east European and Israeli admissions and a higher average ticket price across the group.

Cineworld said the remainder of the final quarter looked “promising” with The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part One and the latest Hobbit film.

The company - which has been involved in a pay and jobs dispute at its Ritzy cinema in London - said it was confident of meeting market expectations for its full year results.

Its shares have climbed 8.2p to 344.5p, and Nick Batram at Peel Hunt said:

Cineworld continues to trade resiliently against a very difficult backdrop for cinema in 2014. This provides an excellent platform for 2015 and beyond, where the recovery in cinema admissions could be materially greater than the market has generally factored in.

Canaccord Genuity was also positive:

Today’s third quarter statement revealed that Cineworld continues to trade ‘in line with market expectations’ and we are leaving our buy recommendation and 450p target price unchanged. Most impressive was the UK box office .... largely due to the ‘Unlimited card’ which drives 25% of admissions. Advertising in UK and Ireland was up 6.7% with Cineworld exploiting the flexibility derived from the digitisation programme. Currently, a slightly disappointing Interstellar is being offset by a strong opening for the Imitation Game with the Hunger Games and Paddington to look forward to this quarter.