PVR Inox turns profitable in Q2 riding on success of 'Jawan' and 'Gadar 2'

In the statement, PVR Inox said it opened 37 new screens across seven properties during the quarter-on-quarter. “We're firmly on track to open a total of 150-160 new screens in FY24 and will fund this growth through internal accruals. Currently, our screen portfolio includes 1,702 screens in 358 cinemas across 115 cities in India and Sri Lanka,” the company said.

The second quarter of the financial year was the best quarter of all time for PVR INOX in terms of admissions, average ticket price and spend per head leading to highest ever revenue, profit after tax (PAT) and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), the firm said in a statement.

It said admissions during the quarter surged by 64% to 48.4 million from 29.6 million in Q2 FY23. Similarly, average ticket price and spend per head witnessed YoY growth of 25% and 15%, reaching ₹276 and ₹136, respectively, compared to ₹221 and ₹118 in Q2 FY23.

“This robust performance led to a 109% increase in ticket sales, an 89% rise in food and beverage sales, and a 41% boost in Ad sales when compared to proforma figures from Q2 FY23,” it added.

According to PVR Inox, the biggest highlight of the quarter was the record-breaking performance of the Hindi box office. 'Jawan' and 'Gadar 2' ranked amongst the highest-grossing Hindi films of all time, amassing over ₹750+ crore and ₹620+ crore at the box office.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Ajay Bijli, the Managing Director of PVR Inox, said, “We had blockbusters doing well and we also had mid-sized movies doing well. Hindi specially and also regional and also Bollywood - Oppenheimer, Barbie, Mission Impossible. Then in Hindi you had Gadar 2, Jawan the biggest movie, smaller movies like Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Dream Girl 2, Fukrey 3, so all sorts of movies the way they used to work pre-COVID have worked now as well.”

They were complemented by solid performances of mid-budget movies, with ‘Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani’ and ‘Oh My God 2’ grossing ₹150+ crore and ‘Dream Girl 2’ crossing the ₹100 crore mark. ‘Fukrey 3’ released near the quarter end also crossed ₹ 100 crore at the box office.

In Hollywood, 'Oppenheimer' and 'Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1' set a fantastic tone, grossing ₹150+ crore and ₹130 crore in India. 'Barbie' and 'Nun II' also performed well, crossing the 50+ crore mark.

On the regional front, 'Jailer (Tamil),' featuring Rajinikanth, stood out with an impressive box office collection of over ₹ 390 crore. Other regional successes such as 'Baipan Bhari Deva (Marathi)' and 'Carry on Jatta 3 (Punjabi)' secured substantial earnings, reaching ₹90+ crore and ₹44+ crore, respectively.

Nitin Sood, the CFO of PVR Inox, discussed the company's strategic goals post-merger. He shared insights, saying, "We provided market guidance, indicating that, once the integration process unfolds, we anticipate achieving merger synergy of around Rs 225 crore. We believe that an 18-month timeline is reasonable for us to reach this milestone."

He added, "In the first half of this year, we've commenced the integration process, and it's worth noting that we've already realized merger synergies in the range of Rs 125 to 140 crore. We are fairly confident that a substantial portion of the projected synergies will materialise within the first year of the merger."

Sood also highlighted the company's focus on attaining positive free cash flow by FY24.

Despite the strong results, PVR Inox shares were trading a percent lower at ₹ 1755.70 on BSE at 1:36 pm.