By Jaime Llinares Taboada
Cineworld Group PLC said Thursday that its first-half loss narrowed, although its underlying performance worsened, hit by Covid-19 restrictions.
The cinema operator booked a pretax loss of $576.4 million for the six months ended June 30 compared with a $1.64 billion pretax loss a year earlier.
However, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization swung to a $21.1 million loss from a $53.0 million profit as the business was hit by temporary closures from January to April-May due to Covid-19 restrictions. Revenue fell 59% to $292.8 million.
Chief Executive Moshe Greidinger said trading since cinemas reopened has been encouraging and increasingly improving. Cineworld anticipates a good performance in the fourth quarter due to a strong film slate and pent-up demand, subject to the Covid-19 situation.
Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT