Wanda Cinema Line, the theaters division of China’s Dalian Wanda group, saw its first half net profits increase by 28% to $120 million (RMB805 million.) Gross revenues increased by a larger 64% to $854 million (RMB5.72 billion.)
The company said that ticket sales in its theaters grew by 41%, with a value of $597 million (RMB4 billion.) That compares with the 21% box office growth in the wider Chinese market.
The net profit growth was below the estimates of a trio of analysts polled by Bloomberg. But Wanda Cinema Line shares barely budged in Tuesday trading, giving up 0.86% to close at RMB72.5 billion. At that price the company is valued at $12.7 billion (RMB85.2 billion.)
Earlier this year Wanda acquired “The Dark Knight” producer Legendary Entertainment. Plans to fully integrate it into Wanda Cinema Line were shelved at the beginning of this month, following regulatory intervention. At the end of the period it operated 320 cinema complexes with a total of 2,789 screens.