Cineworld's pretax profits soar

Pretax profits at the company behind the Cineworld multiscreen cinema complex on Parnell Street in Dublin more than doubled to €3.3 million last year, according to company accounts just filed.

Adelphi-Carlton's turnover rose by 4 per cent to €15.9 million during the year.

However, the directors of the company said the main risk faced by the business was a fall in cinema attendance.

The directors said the increase in turnover was due to "a 4 per cent increase in spend per head, though there was a minor fall in attendance of 1 per cent".

Although it operates just one multiplex in Ireland, Cineworld is one of the State's largest cinema operators. The head office of the company is based in London.

The Dublin cinema employs 150 people and has an annual wage bill of €1.9 million.

It was previously part of Richard Branson's Virgin Cinemas group, which was sold to the French cinema chain UGC in 1999.

Cineworld bought UGC's cinemas in Ireland and Britain in 2004.

Cineworld, which was floated in London in April, has a 24 per cent share of the British cinema market, making it the second-largest cinema chain in Britain behind Odeon.

US private equity firm Blackstone, which floated the company, still holds a major share in the business.

Pretax profits at the overall cinema group rose to £5.1 million (€7.3 million) during the first half of this year from a loss of £6 million a year earlier.

The company benefited from weak comparisons with trading in 2006, when hot weather and the soccer World Cup kept film fans out of cinemas.

The company said earlier this month that future instalments of film franchises such as Harry Potter, Batman and The Chronicles of Narnia raised confidence for its performance in 2008.

Cineworld chief executive Stephen Wiener, a director of Adelphi-Carlton in Dublin, said: "It has been a strong first-half performance from the group and we are making good progress in growing sales and profitability on all fronts.

"The second half of the year has started well for the group and we have some exciting new releases ahead of us in the remainder of the year and beyond." - ( Additional reporting: Reuters )