PVR Q3 Results: Profit Beats Estimates, But Lower Than Best-Ever June Quarter
PVR's revenue rose 37% to Rs 940.7 crore, against an estimate of Rs 886.3-crore
PVR Ltd.'s third quarter profit rose beating estimates, as the Hollywood blockbuster 'Avatar: The Way of Water' pulled massive crowds to theatres, garnering around Rs 100 crore in box office collections.
The country's largest multiplex operator posted a net profit of Rs 16.15 crore in the quarter ended December, against a net loss of Rs 71.23 crore in the previous three months, according to its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 15.82-crore consensus profit estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.
However, the movie exhibitor failed to match its best-ever performance in the June quarter on the back of weak Bollywood releases.
PVR Q3 FY23 Highlights (QoQ)
Revenue rose 37% to Rs 940.7 crore, against an estimate of Rs 886.3-crore.
Ebitda rose 88% to Rs 228.78 crore, in line with analysts' projections.
Margin stood at 30.7% against 22.4%, higher than the estimate of 25.8%.
“After a dismal Q2, the performance of the quarter gone by demonstrates the swift recovery in the business as soon as good quality content is made available," said Ajay Bijli, chairman and managing director of PVR.
"With the regional movies' superlative performance continuing, it is only a matter of time before performance of Bollywood movies catches up... We are looking for a significant uptick in box office collections for next fiscal and a strong recovery in Bollywood and Hollywood film collections."
The content line-up for the January-March period includes four major Bollywood movies—Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan; Maidaan, starring Ajay Devgn; Tu Jhooti Main Makkaar, starring Ranbir Kapoor; and Selfiee, starring Akshay Kumar—which will decide how Q4 works out for PVR.
The gross box office collection was impacted due to underperformance of Hindi films, and low availability of Hollywood movies.
In Q3, the collections from regional movies increased 30% compared to 2019-levels. However, it fell 28% and 24% for Hindi and English films, respectively, the company said.
Avatar, along with Drishyam 2, Kantara, Ponniyin Selvan Part-1 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever were the top five hits during the quarter.
"Hindi content was not in sync with consumer tastes, and the quality of content is taking precedence over superstars," according to the company.
In Q3, admits or the number of people who visited the theatres stood at 2.2 crore, down from 2.6 crore in Q3 FY20 or pre-pandemic levels. It is also lower than the 2.5 crore visitors in the first quarter. However, it rose sequentially.
Key Highlights
Average ticket price and average spend per head were Rs 244 and Rs 133, respectively, in the October-December period.
Occupancy rate is still lower than pre-pandemic levels at 29% against 33% in the third quarter of FY20, according to the company’s presentation.
The company has reported advertising income of Rs 79.2 crore, which is 35% lower than the pre-pandemic level.
Sale of food and beverages stood at Rs 288.4 crore.
Sale of movie tickets were at Rs 435.5 crore, which is 4% lower than pre-Covid levels.
PVR has opened 20 screens in the third quarter and another 19 screens so far this year. It plans to open 47 more screens by the end of this fiscal.
Last week, the multiplex chain got approval from the National Company Law Tribunal to merge the operations of rival Inox Leisure in an all-stock deal. It expects the routine procedures to be completed by mid-February. Post that, the merger of Inox with PVR will take 2-3 weeks more.
"We intend to complete all the formalities within the current financial year," said Bijli.
Shares of PVR closed 0.43% higher after the quarterly results were announced, against a 0.32% loss in the NSE Nifty 50.