the times | Friday March 18 2022 43
Business
The chief executive of Cineworld
declared “a new chapter in cinema his-
tory” yesterday as he shrugged off fears
over the company’s financial position.
Mooky Greidinger said that the
fourth quarter of last year had “made it
clear that nobody is going to give up the
cinema experience” and he was confi-
dent the recovery was on its way.
He added that two of the five biggest
films of all time in the UK — the latest
Spider-Man and James Bond franchis-
es — had been released during the
quarter, which he said gave him confi-
dence in the future of the industry.
“If you look at the line-up until the
end of 2022 and beyond, we are confi-
dent that recovery is on its way. People
missed the cinema and we should be
optimistic provided there are no new
Covid surprises,” Greidinger, 69, said.
Cineworld expects to be back at
pre-Covid levels of trading by the end of
2023, although Greidinger said that,
given the strength of new films, the
company could hit 2019 revenues in the
remaining nine months of this year.
From this year’s scheduled releases,
he highlighted two Marvel films, Doc-
tor Strange in the Mulktiverse of Mad-
ness and Black Panther: Wakanda Forev-
er, as well as Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic
lined in yesterday’s auditor’s report.
The group’s statutory accounts were
unqualified although they included an
“emphasis of matter in respect of ma-
terial uncertainty around going con-
cern”. One scenario paints a picture
that would see covenants breached and
the group unable to repay its
$462.5 million revolving credit facility
or continue as a going concern.
In the year to the end of December, a
period that included temporary cinemaCineworld keeping
faith in recovery
despite legal woes
World Dominion and Avatar 2. “We’re
confident we can open a new chapter in
cinema history,” he said.
Cineworld, which started life in 1995,
is the world’s second’s biggest cinema
chain with 751 sites and 9,189 screens in
ten countries under the Cineworld and
Picturehouse brands. Having listed on
the stock market in 2007, it completed a
transformative deal in early 2018 to buy
Regal, the second-largest cinema chain
in America, for $5.8 billion, although
this has left it saddled with $8.9 billion
of net debt including lease liabilities.
Its financial position could become
even more perilous if it loses its appeal
against damages in a legal battle with
Cineplex, a Canadian rival.
Cineworld agreed a deal to buy Cine-
plex just before the pandemic but with-
drew and the Ontario Superior Court of
Justice awarded Cineplex damages of
C$1.23 billion (£740 million).
Cineworld said it was confident the
judge had erred but admitted yesterday
that there was “a material uncertainty
around the group’s ability to success-
fully appeal the judgment and avoid the
damages payment”. Greidinger said if it
lost its appeal, it did not have the money
to pay the sum. “If the decision is not re-
versed we’ll have to see what we do. I
don’t want to speculate right now.”
Cineworld’s financial woes are out-Dominic Walsh
closures from January to May 2021, rev-
enues more than doubled to $1.8 billion,
while underlying earnings swung to a
profit of $454.9 million from a loss of
$115.1 million. Admissions rose from
54.4 million to 95.3 million.
The current year started poorly due
to Omicron and a dearth of big movies,
while energy costs are being inflated by
the war in Ukraine, although some are
being hedged.
Cineworld shares fell 1¾p to 36¼p.A blockbuster line-up of releases, including Avatar 2, is drawing audiences backThe rare diseases business of Astra-
Zeneca is to pay $775 million to a
Japanese competitor after reaching a
patent settlement agreement.
Alexion, which AstraZeneca bought
for $39 billion last year in its biggest
takeover, has resolved patent disputes
with Chugai Pharmaceutical related to
Ultomiris, a rare blood disease drug.
The two sides have begun to with-
draw patent infringement proceedings
filed in Delaware in the United States
and Tokyo as part of the agreement.
Alexion will make the payment in the
second quarter of this year, but it will
not weaken AstraZeneca’s annual fi-
nancial guidance. Ultomiris generated
sales of $688 million last year.
The companies have been embroiled
in disputes since 2016, when Alexion
challenged the validity of five of
Chugai’s European patents and four in
Japan. In 2018 Chugai filed a lawsuit
against Alexion alleging that Ultomiris
infringed a US patent. It filed a second
the following year. Chugai also filed a
lawsuit in Tokyo in 2018.
Marc Dunoyer, Alexion’s chief
executive and former finance boss of
AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish com-
pany based in Cambridge, said the
settlement meant it would “continue to
advance Ultomiris development”.
Shares in AstraZeneca were up 145p,
or 1.5 per cent, at £95.61.AstraZeneca
settles patent
row with rival
Alex Ralph20TH CENTURY STUDIOS