AMC has picked up another location, announcing today the acquisition of a the former ArcLight theater located at The Hub on Causeway, a large-scale mixed-use development at North Station in Boston. The 13-screen cinema is new — it opened in December 2019 and closed three months later due to Covid-19.
The purchase price wasn’t disclosed. AMC has acquired a handful of theaters out of the pandemic and said today it sees further consolidation with opportunities “to enhance our footprint by acquiring superb theatres without significant capital outlays while at the same time exiting under-performing locations.”
The giant theater chain also provided an update on its debt, cash position and others metrics in a financial update for investors, a move meant to reassure Wall Street amid reports of uncomfortable cash burn and possible trouble ahead. The volatile meme stock that’s widely held by retail investors is down in mid-morning trade.
CEO Adam Aron noted the chain’s “enhanced liquidity” after raising over $162 million of cash from the sale of APEs – or AMC Preferred Equity units. That’s a new currency it debuted earlier this year (after stockholders balked at the company issuing new, regular AMC shares to raise capital). That helped it pay down some of its hefty debt load. It cited total principal debt reduction of $107 million for the quarter and $180 million for the year.
AMC said it expects liquidity as of Dec. 31 to stand at between $725 million to $825 million, including $211 million of undrawn capacity under a revolving credit facility — “subject to operating performance during the remainder of the holiday period in 2022 and the timing of landlord concessions.”
“That implies an improvement in the net decrease in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash of between $110 million and $210 million compared to the third quarter of 2022,” AMC noted.
AMC shares are volatile and APE units have plunged in value since they were issued, which Aron acknowledged, but they still provided much needed cash, he said.
“Even though the APE units and our common shares are economically equivalent, it is disappointing that the APE units have since inception consistently traded at a significant discount to the AMC common shares. While the trading prices of the two securities seem to reflect distinct market and trading dynamics, the APEs are serving precisely the purpose originally intended for them. At a time when one or more of our competitors have been facing potentially devastating liquidity challenges, by contrast during the past 90 days, AMC has been able to raise $162 million of additional cash through the sale of equity thereby improving our own liquidity position markedly,” said Aron.
APEs are currently trading at about 70 cents – down 2.5%. AMC shares are off 5% to under $5. Investors are shrugging off box office coin from Avatar: The Way Of Water, which AMC highlighted in a separate release this morning.
“Based on the strength of premium formats, and a great desire by moviegoers to return to Pandora… the company finished materially ahead on U.S. and global admissions revenue and food & beverage revenue versus the same weekend in pre-pandemic 2019.” That weekend was led by the opening of Jumanji: The Next Level. Imax was a breakout with Avatar, and AMC has the lion’s share of Imax screens.