Q2 2026 Kinepolis Group NV Earnings Call
There's a reason why companies like Paramount have been sold, and that right now, a lot is going on in trying to...
merge Paramount with Warner.
Um, and essentially, the solution for this situation is,
Um, as a streamer coming to the theater.
Though, uh, industry and, uh, trying to monetize your content in the theatrical window. And that's the reason why companies like Apple and Amazon have—who have nothing to do with our industry—but both had streaming platforms,
have been investing in, um,
Our.
Uh, industry. And Amazon recently was very successful with—
the project Hail Mary movie.
And, um, Amazon not only invested in the acquisition a couple of years ago of MGM Studios, but recently established Amazon Studios as well.
To invest more.
Apple. Um, it was very successful with the Formula 1 movie that—
was not only theatrically very successful but also on their platforms.
Um, recently—uh, and that's very recently—we were...
Updated on this. Uh, on the 12th of August, Netflix announced...
The second movie, in 2027, will have a full theatrical release window of 47 days.
And, more recently and very successfully, YouTubers are investing and working together to...
Release movies on the big screen.
Uh, Back Room and Obsession are still on. Our screens have been very successful.
And, uh, another demonstration of, let's say, uh, studios rediscovering the power of a theatrical window is the announcement in the month of, uh, April, if I'm correct.
Uh, from Universal, that they were extending.
Um, immediately, there is a 70-day window to 31 days.
Uh, in the US, and from next year on,
To 45, uh, days.
So, this is, um, what has been going on. This is the dynamic.
And this also means that we are getting more comments.
This is something that we have been announcing for a long time.
Um, and that we are only...
Uh, let's say we're on track for more and more content to come. And that's what I've been trying to do.
Could you explain and illustrate the dynamics behind all of this?
uh, has been
We started the third quarter as well. Very, very successful.
with Odyssey and with Spider-Man,
Uh, breaking new records in terms of box office revenue.
So this is what has been going on.
On the supply side.
On the demand side. Um,
We always we already.
Um,
demonstrated and witnessed before, even before the pandemic, that
Uh, there was more demand and more willingness to pay from the consumer side.
In, um, more experienced cinema becomes more.
Evidential.
Released.
In June.
Um, in 24 hours' time, we sold 20,000 tickets for—
A theater with a capacity here in Brussels of 400 seats—today, we made 87,000 tickets in...
theater and were sold out until the 22nd of
September.
So we can invite you for a seven M M experience.
We are negotiating with the studio to try to extend.
Uh, the uh, the show.
We see, as well, more and more interest from Gen Z, from a demand side. We see a much higher—
Visa frequency from essentially Gen Z, and...
the Millennials, and we
their Hollywood would, would would
Uh, producing movies related to the world of gamers and related to gaming. And
The first big movie with Minecraft.
It was a very smart and strategic move.
Um, but we see that those, uh, that generation is discovering and bringing their own.
Uh, idols, uh, and even for makers, and I'm referring again to
Uh, the Youtube, uh, dynamic.
Um,
Obsession that made 165 times.
In revenue, the investment into that, we—
I guess that, uh, feels and sounds like more.
Looking back to Kinepolis in, uh,
This background.
um,
I, uh,
I need to tell you that we are today—I think the champion of the break-even lowering exercise is discontinued.
Um,
when I look at,
the integration of imagine and
We?
For strategic reasons, we don't go into detail, but I can tell you that,
Um, the integration within MGR and within Kinepolis has never been as smooth.
As this integration.
And the contribution in four and a half months.
Of the acquisition.
It's, um, more than half of what the performance was last year in only four and a half months.
Knowing that the second half is always stronger than the first half.
So we can already today.
After.
Four months in, I would say that this is a successful integration acquisition.
We can continue to work on premiumization—something where we did that, not only the vision but, as well, the financial strength.
To invest into that.
and, quite exceptional, last year we told you
With 65%, with two-thirds of the movie offer, we made the same revenue—we made one-third more revenue per visitor.
We made an EVDA or an eval that was in the bandwidth of what we made in 2019, which was a record here.
Of course, in the background of a high operational leverage,
uh, yeah, that's what explains
The result that we are going to explain immediately to you.
Um, and um, we are working further on external expansion.
We are today bigger in the number of theaters than in Europe.
Um,
I can't tell you more to come, but we are working on it.
And we will close the deal with Showcase.
Um, in September.
And we are very excited about the acquisition. It's, um,
An underperforming asset for the time being, but
We know what we can do with our models and the potential for improvement.
And if you look at the real estate portfolio that we acquired there,
In, uh, zones of New York, Long Island, Massachusetts.
Uh, compared to what we paid for it, we are very excited. But there is some work to do in the structuring.
um,
the key financial results that are a bit negatively impacted by.
Uh, a vix uh, evolution.
So, we made 33.8% more visitors.
Including, of course, the acquisition of Imagine. Even excluding the acquisition of Imagine, there is more growth coming from—
Uh, the fact that we have more content than the contribution of, uh, the imaging acquisition.
Revenue in euros is up 32.6%, in flat, evicts—or at Flex Tveit—35.9%. So yes, we make more revenue with the extra visitors.
And per visitor. That's what I'm trying to explain.
Ebal, uh, going from 48 to 80.9 million.
Or an increase of 67.8%, 71 at flat VIX, and the net result is going from €8.8 million to €28 million.
Uh, tripling of our free cash flow and the net financial debt at a low level of €8.185 million.
In the background of, uh, an acquisition that we have been doing during, uh, Q1—the acquisition of, uh, Imagine.
Here. The key takeaways, um,
Yeah, what I think is that most of this I already...
uh explained uh, as such
What I would like to underline is, when you go—and we have another slide on that—country by country.
Where last year we were telling you, uh, we didn't have success.
um,
Local movies in France in 2025, which made the
Comparable with 2020 for a bit, uh, challenging.
Well, we started this year with Mari.
And in Spain, we had another big movie.
Uh, the big movie in Spain was, uh,
20% day that contributed as much as AAR.
Um, so yes, local content remains important.
And it explains as well why, proportionally, countries like Belgium and the Netherlands perform a bit less compared to last year, but...
The strong demand and the dynamic of more Hollywood content are visible in those countries.
As well.
Um, in the Netherlands, we closed two smaller theaters that didn't contribute, and we need that thing we explained before.
Um, the dynamic in the market in the Netherlands has been that, since the pandemic, there have been a couple of—
New openings: greenfields that have been built.
Uh, one that we opened. Let's dump.
Uh, one that. But they opened, even with one, that view opened in, um, in, uh, in.
And this means that, compared to pre-pandemic, there are 9% more screens, but the recovery of the market is...
Uh, on the same rhythm and at the same pace as what we have at the bottom.
Okay, I already highlighted a bit on the slide before what the results are at a flat FX rate. So, with 33.6%,
Thirty-five point nine, and it's something that I—
try to explain every year.
uh, that, um
Yeah, that's part of our 5% exercise. That's, uh, premiumization and that inflation coverage as well. And this time, with the country mix a little bit,
Uh, lowering the growth in revenue per visitor, since we had...
Two big local movies, as I just said, in France and in Spain, where the average ticket price and spend is a little bit lower than in the rest of the markets where we are.
But so, if you look, uh, country by country, you see premiumization, and premiumization, uh, pushing revenue per visitor even higher.
82.5 million compared to 48.2, or a growth of 71.2%. And the net, uh, adjusted result bottom line is going from 8.8 to 28.5 million euros.
5 movies.
Um,
Last year, we told you that, uh, Michael Jackson had been postponed.
And so, it will come in two parts of the movie. The first part was this year.
So, um, yeah. If you would have had, again,
Michael Jackson to the first half.
Um, yeah, that would have given a little bit different performance for 2020, uh, five.
Um,
But after all, still a very strong performance.
For uh, H1.
Analysts are, and I'm not going to make any predictions on that. We don't know.
But an analyst to observe what Hollywood is going to bring.
And now, regarding further growth in 2027 or the future, we have never given any guidance on that.
Um, but it's clear that Hollywood continues to work.
On more content, and that's what I try to explain as well.
We see that underneath this.
We have, as well, a very strong world where we had a very strong, uh, lineup of mid-sized movies.
Uh, the housemate neuron, for instance.
have been contributing in an important way and
Also for our teams, our booking teams as well. It always surprises how well they are doing.
perform. It's always easier to predict.
what Dune III is going to do than what the
Next mid-sized movie, Digger, for instance, is going to, uh, contribute.
Visitor dynamics. I already explained a bit.
um,
and here you see.
Then, uh, France, for instance, at 25.1%. Thanks to Mari.
You see Spain up 30%.
But you see on the other side as well, from the Excel, each time, what the growth in revenue is, and so this translates as well. And from there, you can deduct all the revenue profits.
uh,
Peter is going to go more in depth on that.
um, despite um, a
A little bit fewer visitors in, uh, the Netherlands. I told you about two closures of, uh, not really profitable teams.
Or send more Revenue.
And then, of course, the United States, where we have been adding to MGR. Imagine...
The next of the 10 years we already had, we had 14 theatres, resulting in 147.
Uh, percent growth, and this is only from the 12th of February on. So, um, yeah, very exciting.
I think we have now some, uh,
Marketing content that we, uh, we can show you, uh, from the different campaigns we have been doing.
Space. Space. You need space. We go to another galaxy, or you're amongst the stars. It's such an epic journey that it really was built for the big screen. It's not really—sometimes they aren't—but this still is.
Hey, hey, hey.
Fantastic overall.
The event is incredible. The kids are really, really happy.
Hey.
you have the
Here, you see the current footprint of the group, so, adding 14 theaters, 177 screens. And we plan now to close the deal with Showcase in the month of September.
For those who have been following us for a longer time, this is in line with our three pillars, or our three-pillar strategy.
Uh, that has been in since 2008.
But still as a potential.
And this is exactly what, uh, when we acquire new groups, new cinemas.
What we try to implement—so we come with...
An organization structure and management reporting focusing on financial results, but as well on customer satisfaction, people satisfaction, and ESG performance.
We measure this per theater.
Better.
and um,
Yeah. You will see as well that we are working on new things, often small things. But...
Given the number of visitors, you make, yeah, a couple of euro cents or dollar cents.
At the end of the year, it can make a huge difference in revenue.
and um,
This is one of the strengths.
Of the company. And two days ago, during our board meeting, I said this: it remains the mother of the value creation within our company.
A couple of highlights for Q1. So we already, uh, told you about the completion of the acquisition of the American movie theater chain.
Imagine Entertainment, the 12th of February.
The launch of Kinepolis Play was together with.
Uh, Tinette and Play Media, we, uh, launched or relaunched a, um, transactional VOD platform.
Um, and essentially, the only goal here is not immediately or directly financial. The only goal is to have more power.
To create more awareness about movies—new movies, new releases, and local releases.
And that's essentially what the goal of this initiative is, and it's quite successful. They make more volume, and we have more reach.
We are more on television. We are more in social media with new content.
Then, uh, you saw already some footage. We have a picture later— the Super Mario team screen, X auditoriums.
That, uh, we rolled out time to, uh, from Brussels to Long Madrid.
And it raised, and where we really saw that, by doing so—and we have been doing that for more movies—in the meantime, we really increased market share by adding more, um...
More experience for the customer initiative—that as well in our industry, as in the outside marketing world, has been recognized and has been admired.
Of course, publishing, like every year, our annual report,
In the second quarter, we announced the acquisition of 13 Showcase Cinemas in the US. I will come back to that in a second.
Uh, we organize for the third time our Kinepolis Innovation Lab Summit.
Uh, we explained to you before that, uh,
Two or three times a year, each country takes the initiative to organize.
operating review, where we bring all our colleagues who are responsible for
Um, certain aspects.
that are responsible for their own.
Profits, and there were those who were responsible over different years for the same profit center.
um, where they, uh, join to talk to each other, to exchange, to benchmark, and to come up with ideas that, later on in the year, we will need.
Uh, to fill the gap resulting from our 5% approach for our profit plan for the year to come.
But can you polish Innovation lab is more on uh, ideas? New products? New approaches that go over different profit centers.
And it's a little bit inspired by, uh, the Eurovision Song Contest.
You don't have to sing—you can, if you want—but it's essentially each country comes with, uh, its own idea that has been...
Elaborated and often already tested by the local team, and supported by local Country Management.
And so uh we see there, the the the teams growing nearby year, and as well uh ideas coming out of that that uh are going to support as well. Uh let's say premiumization but as well quality of service and
Uh, smarter operations for the future.
We announced in June the installation of the 70 mm IMAX projection here.
Uh, only a couple of them in Europe, which is the reason why, uh, customers fly in from other countries to come and—
Uh, watch, uh, Odyssey here in Brussels in 1970. Mm.
Uh, or chairman for the Global Cinema Federation, which, of course, opens for the group again.
Uh, a lot of new doors.
as well on, uh, studio levels as on, uh, the industry level, and
It probably is going to open doors and bring opportunities, potentially in M&A as well.
We are, uh, renovating as we speak. Kinepolis is at work again with a couple of new concepts.
For the first time, automatic access doors—a new generation, inspired to a certain extent by successful formulas in the North American market in the mega candy.
Uh, ready for Hot Cuisine and hot foods as well.
Um, in BEDA, we completely converted to TSF to recliners in response to...
Uh, the competition.
We are better.
And, um, we uh, announced a month ago, uh, in Partnership for a first all year, race equipment experience in NC.
Uh, NC is 1 of the theaters where we have increased competition from the new view theater. And where we at, let's say, uh, more space available, and so, or Les, uh, needs to be a new traffic generator next to, uh, the cinema, but as well, an experience for the movie go.
In offering a top-quality, um, uh, bar and restaurant experience.
We have now some footage from the 70mm IMAX here, so let's watch that together.
When we were proposed to bring back a 70mm IMAX projector here in Brussels within this iconic cinema, iconic screen, well, it was a no-brainer. The installation was quite complex. We had to rebuild the floor to cover the weight—it's a 1,000 kilo projector, 1,500 kilo platter. Uh, we also had to modify the electricity and install extra cooling, new air compressors. So, a lot of work.
We kind of started with the idea at the beginning of the year. We started prep work in March—uh, technical prep work. And then in April, early May, we started the construction, and it took us seven weeks to complete. Then, in the last ten days, we've been training and rehearsing together.
Heal the film. It was filmed. It was cinema, and it is also like a whole.
So, coming back on the 70 mm IMAX, uh, the movie The Pelle.
Uh, it's 300 kilos. So we need a couple of very strong colleagues to, uh, put the, uh,
Pelle: The movie on, uh, the projection system.
Here are some pictures of the, um, Cozy Relax seats that we just, uh, released.
Uh, in the IMAX theater in Breda, and that we will have in all the theaters—that we have in all the details in the meantime.
Here, the, uh, immersive Super Mario screen X experience.
Resulting in, uh, a much higher market share in all the markets where we have been, uh, installing this. And we do that in the meantime for other movies, uh, as well.
The acquisition of Showcase Cinemas.
13 luxury cinemas, uh, showcases as well. A top brand in the
United States.
Um, 1604 screens.
Almost 18,000 seats, and they made in 2025, 4 million visitors more this year.
Eighty percent is reclined, 100% in stadium seating. This is Stadium City.
That's something we used to do in Europe with Kinepolis, but that's not always the case.
Uh, offering announced food options and full bars, including cocktails.
We are essentially waiting for a liquor license, uh, to close the deal.
And, um, yeah, we don't sell a lot of alcohol here in Europe in our theaters. Uh, you can't go without it in the USA—it's just part of the cinema experience.
Showcase is for us, further expanding and diversifying our US footprint.
And where we are today in, um, the Midwest, going to the East Coast.
Uh, as well. And maybe one day to other coasts' future hotel.
The cinemas are very well maintained.
A strong brand, as I said,
But maybe didn't always get the management attention they needed.
And so, from a financial point of view,
Uh, there's a lot of work to do, but there's a lot of improvement potential.
And that's the reason as well why we have been able to buy this at an enterprise value of only €30 million.
But if you look at the underlying real estate position,
There’s a couple of times, the value of the enterprise value we paid, so...
I'm pretty convinced that we will have this up and running.
uh, in one or two years from now and contributing to
The result could even go faster, given the Visa trends—that, of course, helps here as well.
um, and uh,
I think that when we look back,
Uh, when they were with you too, uh,
This acquisition, I think this will be, probably.
The lowest multiple we will ever have been paid, based on the target performance.
So, um, I'm going to leave you now in the, uh,
Answer of Peter, and to go with you through the financial review.
Thank you, Eddie.
You're welcome to everybody in this theater in this beautiful theater and everybody. Welcome also online.
I'm very happy and proud to take you through the results of our first half of 2026, and the outstanding performance for 2026 already.
So, revenue-wise, maybe already mentioned, quite a big uptick in Investors: €19.1 million. Of course, also driven by Imagine, that we acquired since mid-February.
Resulting in a revenue of €342 million. So that's a big increase of around 33.8%. If we exclude the headwinds on the Canadian dollar and the US dollar, we would hit the €350 million mark.
Um, sales target of H1 2026, which is an absolute record for Kinepolis at all.
Taking you a bit more into detail on the dynamics, then our revenue performance. So, as you see, cinema operations, of course, remains the big contributor—87%.
Cinema is still coming and will remain the most important element. But also, if you look further down, B2B is also increasing significantly—something else we put a lot of focus on.
To diversify their almost 32 million of sales, so that's an uptick of roughly 19%.
If you look into the box office Dynamic itself, of course visitors, that's the main driver, uh, that pick up in visitors, 15.4% without imagine. So that gives us 25.5 million in, uh, increase in Revenue. But even more important is the other element as the 30.1 million increase, which is drives, which is driven by our focus on our premiumization. So the execution of our strategy
And on the other hand, also the inflation. We always try to compensate to make sure that we keep our margins going forward. Of course, the negative impact of the weakening of the dollar and Canadian dollar—€8.3 million within the cinema revenue. And, of course, also adding then Imagine acquisition, which is a nice add-on, with some other scope changes. We have...
Ticket sales.
Um, you see that increase in its so food. And beverage is significant significance. Uh, almost uh, 38.5. So, almost 40%, uh, what drives this is, what we see is that we see quite some increase in spend from from our customers. Uh, also adding the Imagine where we also see a higher spend per customer, but on top of that. Also, we do focus a lot on other elements, like the teased, uh, popcorn buckets, which are very successful and also contribute to the whole experience. We see when uh to with our movie goers
Also, if we look at box office per visitor, and its per visitor, also, the same Trend. So we compensate inflation. We we aim for that premiumization. So, picking up the box office, um, I spent per visitor and its per visitor, but even if you then exclude the, uh, the, the effects impact then you see that even on the ATP, so the ticket price per visitor, we go to Plus 3.2%
And even to plus 7.4% if we look at the IT spend per customer. So, very nice performance in H1 ’26 compared to last year, the first half.
More important, it's just, it's EBITDA. So, our operational performance and cash flow—also, since 2023, we went a bit down in 2024, a bit up in 2025.
My controlling our cost and aiming for that margin and that protection using that 5% exercise, which now pays off, and really kicks in with the operational leverage in 26, or we even go to almost 24%. So the 80.9 million of a doll, which is a very nice performance. Uh, certainly benefiting fully of that operational, leverage with increased visitors.
Returning in the end, an adjusted net result of €80.2 million, significantly higher than the last two years, but also than H1 2023.
Kex Investments.
Uh, we keep on investing, so rolling out the strategy requires capital. On the one hand, maintenance—making sure that our customers have the best experience they can have. So, uh, investing in renovation of our furniture, certainly also everything that has to do with sanitary, our halls.
Um, ICT is an important element today. Uh, we try to make sure that we are on top of things—projection and sound upgrades, and so on. So a lot of investments: €10.3 million in the first half of '26, a little bit higher than '25.
And then more importantly, that's the future. That's the internal expansion, where we invested €12 million in the first half, higher than last year. Of course, scope also has changed a bit—a lot of investments in that premiumization. IMX is, of course, one of them, but also Laser Ultra, ScreenX, IMAX recliners. So all investments, remodelings, all investments that will also bring us increased profit in the coming years and will protect us against potential—uh,
Let's say a margin loss, so...
Setting a focus on that, premiumization is key.
After KEX, the nice operational cash flow, we go to the balance sheet. Net debt—uh, not unimportant. So, we did the acquisition of Imagine.
That was a bit of money, €90 million, we spent. But we managed to keep our increase in net debt very, very limited—only an uptick of €54 million in our financial net debt, of course driven by a very good operational cash flow, almost €100 million. We managed our working capital very well.
Next to the investments, which of course also need to be paid—almost €22 million—we also pay a dividend in the first half, so that's also cash out. We have payment of the leases, which of course brings us to the €341 million.
Which is even more important is that if we look at our leverage and this is really uh, showing the the cash conversion and the cash generation of our group. At our leverage goes down from 2.1 to 1.85 at mid year which has a strong uh cash uh cash generation. We we managed even including this um the acquisition of Imagine
Cash available, uh, €195 million, and quite a significant headroom, €362.8 million, which of course will be needed as we have a bond that is maturing in December, which we'll have to pay back, uh, in mid-December 2025.
This is uh, no problem.
The maturity profile will, of course, then balance more once we've paid that back. Today, we have quite a short maturity profile, but once we pay back the 2025, we get more balanced going forward.
Summarizing.
Um, the piano. So
19.1 million visitors in the first half of the year, almost 34% more.
Uh, a nice performance returning. Also a nice increase in revenue to €3,341.8 million. So that's a 32.6% increase. Uh, without FX, we go to a 36% increase.
maybe Delta visited, uh,
An increase of more than 25%—we go from €3.38 to €4.24. So that's really a nice performance, and a shout out to all the teams who contributed to this throughout the group, bringing us to a net result of €28.1 million.
A nice free, cash flow financial debt, that's that's on control given the acquisition. We did and a nice return on Capital employed, maybe 1 Note also in the press release, there was an earnings per share noted for this year which there was an error and so there should be a correction. I noted that there was 1 euro and 27 cents per share for 20 for a half of 26. That should be 1 euro zero 5 for people who have noted this
Which brings us to the outlook. I'll give the word to Eddie.
Thank you, Peter Young.
So the outlook for the rest of the year—um, on paper, it's always "on paper"—it looks promising in terms of...
uh, content with, uh,
Yeah. Some uh,
Special movies are coming, Digger. You will see them later on. We will show you some footage.
uh, groups, uh
As an old overweighted, man.
Uh, in this movie, uh, but of course, coming and—
a lot of other, uh,
Titles that additionally are performing very strongly.
um,
You may have seen that.
Narnia.
Disappeared from November.
Narnia was foreseen for a limited release.
So, that's a Netflix movie, and it's from G.G.
Who was, uh, the maker of Barbie?
Um, and so, uh, it was foreseen, uh, to have a limited release only on IMAX and between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and so Netflix decided to give it a full theatrical window. So it, uh, is postponed until April. There were some technical issues on the set. It's postponed to April and we'll have a 47.
Uh, day window.
And another movie is announced by Netflix in the meantime. And I do have an appointment very soon with the zeros and...
Spencer, client, uh, who are responsible for all of this, uh, to continue our discussions on.
Um, yeah.
what this could mean for them, uh, in terms of box office revenue that is still open in box office, we didn't recover from
Um 2019, uh volume.
And so, if—and this is not a new slide—but it's still more than ever valid.
the further recovery of visitor numbers with more Hollywood content and more content as such.
Given the high operational leverage of the group.
'Um' is a very important driver of value.
We continue on eternal expansion and...
The question we often get is:
Uh, you are still inspiration.
Well, the teams do. Um, we are helped as well by...
uh, technology.
And I think that the 70 mm of, uh, IMAX...
is demonstrating, as well, the willingness to pay from our customers.
We saw those tickets at 31.
And in the second market, they have been sold at three times the price.
Always an unknown, uh, element that we are working on—opportunities.
There is no guarantee that we will succeed, but if you don't work on opportunities, it won't happen.
So, and these three drivers combined with
The, uh, firepower we have, uh, with the balance sheet, where we have only a, uh, 1.85...
Depth leverage makes that all look very positive for the future.
And, um, right now, the third quarter,
Is, uh, bringing again, uh, regard to results.
But more about that when we bring you the update on Q3 and on the full-year results.
So I propose that we watch now, um, some footage from what is coming up for the rest of the year, and then we are available for your questions. Thank you.
What are you doing? We're going to survive. That's the plan.
Small fits, you banger.
Wake up defend.
Give me something better than this—the dream.
Finding love is hard enough. Try doing it in one night here. Single people will legally be allowed to have sex.
I hate this night, Mom. I'm just going to stay in. No, you should go out.
It's nice and safe. I just want to find a good guy, to find true love on the least romantic men of the year. All right.
I'm not going to die out here. I got you. This place may seem like a paradise.
No, freaking cool, but The Mortal is dangerous.
He's a memory demon. The longer you're here, the more she'll take from you.
Fail, you hit it with the poop. Your hard poop. Bang. Bang. Bang. Woo.
Woo.
Even with my generous warning.
You're going to continue to transcribe my words.
But no 1 thing. Oh,
this is no way.
Sick of living in fear, just surviving.
We're not animals to kill for that entertainment.
May your visit be magical.
Maybe there's nothing wrong with me at all.
I'm not afraid to die.
But I must not die.
Yes.
Okay, now we are ready for your questions.
Yes, he seems. Okay, um, I have a question on the success of IMAX. Can you give us some insight into, let's say, the potential dynamics of IM going forward?
Especially for Kiest and also on, uh, yeah, the revenue, the profit generation of IMX. So is that a traditional, you know, 50/50 split, or is it a little bit more?
Beneficial for Kinepolis. Thank you. Split as well with IMAX.
We can disclose, uh, how much.
Um, and IMAX is essentially, it's... it's a
fantastic experience, but it's a strong brand as well, so you extend your catchment area with IMAX, so people
are willing to travel further.
Uh, for IMAX, an extreme indication of 70 mm IMAX.
Um,
And that's essentially—it’s a kind of...
Hybrid.
It's a sharing model: we do some of the investments, and they do some of the investments.
And on the incremental that you make, you share.
with them.
Um,
So that's how it works, and you always need—
a big catchment area, and, um,
You won't be able to see yours. All your customers for IMAX.
Um, so you always need a theater of a certain...
Precise.
And a certain catchment area and visitor potential before you invest in.
and IMAX, and IMAX makes that evaluation together with us because they co-invest.
So that's how the model, uh, works.
Um,
And this is one of the only, uh, IMAX screens even in Europe with the 4:3 aspect ratio. So, it's the aspect ratio of, of an iPad. A movie needs to be recorded in that format. Not all movies, not all IMAX movies are recorded in that format.
But, uh, you will be, um,
Obviously, yes, and so obviously, it's in 70 million, which adds.
18K resolution.
Um, while the max today in digital is 4K.
Uh, 8K exists, but there's not a lot of content. And, um,
On top of that. Um,
More movies will be recorded in 70mm in the future. But it needs to be recorded, so it's quite an investment for IMAX as well.
And what we gave this morning.
Today. So,
Uh, this is a 400-seat capacity screen.
and we sold after 24 hours in June,
20,000 tickets. We are today at 87,000 seats and we are sold out until...
The 22nd of September. So,
Quite amazing. And
Quite exceptional as well. It's always more successful, but this is—this is extreme.
Yeah.
Um, a couple of crashes on my side, and...
1 is on imagine, uh, because is there still an urn outcome of? I think that's all completed that the first question. No or not. No, okay, thank you. And then on the imagination as well, you gave the numbers. If I think 5 and a half million net profit contribution,
First, half of Indy, four months, consolidated now. I didn’t give any, uh, contribution, but we do so on, um, on a...
um,
but it's, it's, um,
It's already quite significant compared to the investment we made.
And you can assume that even though the contribution of Professor of Imaging is above group efforts,
Uh, it's in the higher ranking. Uh, as such, it's, um...
Yeah, yeah, and then I have a question on Showcase, and maybe that's more for our modeling, because you said, probably completion of the deal in September. But you have also indicated there is quite some work to do to get it at good, decent levels.
How quickly does that go, and could it mean maybe, normally speaking, fourth quarter could be their best quarter, but that there is still a negative contribution coming in from Showcase, MTV, that the work that has been done is only bearing fruit maybe next year?
No, I don't think that there will be a negative contribution since...
Uh, we already did, at the moment of the acquisition, a carve-out of the team that we want.
To keep the continuity—and that's already, let's say, inspired—what will we need?
So I don't expect a negative contribution.
I think it might go quite fast. I think that...
From 2028, we will probably be at cruising speed.
Uh, but you know, once we will be managing it in, in 2–3 months from now, we will have more clarity on this.
But there is clearly a plan with what the potential is.
And that is based on 2025 visitor numbers, so with the higher...
Visitor numbers, we are making today that's going to contribute as well.
um,
and so that's the reason why, uh, I said before that
In two years from now, we will probably be able to say, "Look, this was the..."
Cheapest acquisition ever, of course, less than—thanks to improvement potential.
uh, essentially because uh,
The multiple you pay on is not a big number today, but it's backed with a lot of real estate.
Yeah. That's uh
It has been a negotiation more than an, uh,
Business model, okay? But I'm pretty convinced about this, that it's—
and,
On the internet expense, I think by the top of my 24 million of around 8, and a half of 8, 8 and a half to 9 million is on the interest on leases.
It was, please compare to my estimate, quite a step up.
Or is this something in that? Because it gets out for the interest expense, which was very low.
So, what was in that number? What was driving that number so much up?
Yes, sorry. Um, of course, we did a bond in the end of '25, which has a higher interest rate than we are paying today. So, that's the main event there.
as we have been growing that one,
Also, we have an add-on, um, as we lease the real estate of Imagine. Also, there we have an add-on on interest expenses. Uh,
In light of the IFSC, these are the key elements why this shoots up. So, for the full year, should give you, Denis, room around.
50 million interest expense.
Um, yes, the net of the cash we have, of course, so—
thank you.
Welcome.
All good questions here.
We have some questions from our online audience. Yes. Um, from David Pakman from ING.
How do you see visitor numbers evolving in the second part of the year? Will that be up sharply, mildly, or flat? Can you give any guidance about the HQ attendance year on year?
I did it. Um, no, we can't. We can only say that—um, let's say, that we are so far.
Um, comparable to, uh, Q2.
Um, but I will, the movies that—
Uh, we will get to that later in the year.
For instance, Digger, which is, as I said before, another Tom Cruise movie, has six successful releases. Is that going to be...
To be honest, we don't know.
and,
the only thing that
We witnessed, always in that, that these...
Uh, now, showing in the fragrances, we are getting more and more competent.
But just like pre-pandemic.
We will have post pandemic. Now as all movies, that will fail movies, that will be exceptionally more successful than uh what we anticipate.
And we might have other quarters to come or months where we say, "Oh, this was a weak month."
Um,
And the press will always take that. "Oh, that's a trend of visa numbers going down again." We don't have a demand issue.
More content is coming. More supply is coming.
so,
My expectation is that, uh, and we are only at 80% of the pre-pandemic movie offer.
And that's why I explained at the beginning of the presentation that
there are more providers coming.
With YouTube, with Netflix, Apple, Amazon.
But as well, the elephants investing, uh,
The two studios combined on the grand, $20 billion.
Into movie production. I guess you are going to do something with that.
Um,
But in terms of guidance, look, uh,
Except if something goes terribly wrong in the world, I guess we will set a record here on a full-year basis as well.
Thank you. Uh, second question from David. Um, M&A. Uh, do you see sellers becoming, uh, more demanding? How is the market for M&A developing, and how hot is the M&A pipeline for people?
Um, we see more and more coming for a simple reason that, um,
Already pre-pandemic. We said that
Many.
Families, without successors.
Um, were waiting an exceptional year to sell their companies at an exceptional price.
They had an exceptional year in 2020, but not a month they were waiting for.
And now that the market recovers in terms of visitors, and that most of those theaters or groups make results again.
And given the fact that they are,
All of them are 6 to 7 years older now than in 2020—2019.
We see more coming to the market.
Um,
As such.
Would still.
A little bit fewer buyers around the table, so that's why we are.
Focusing today on expansion.
Um,
And you can focus on that. You can work on that.
It's only when you sign and close that it's still done.
and that we will be able to
We'll talk more about that and announce additional details, but yes, we are still working on expansion.
Okay, and a third question: can we get a rough KEX guidance for this year?
And today, we are more or less a little bit higher than last year. So if we roughly double that, I think that's a rough guidance given the scope extension we have also with the acquisition of Imagine. I don't think Showcase will yet contribute too much in Apex this year.
Thank you. And we have some questions from, uh, Berenberg.
Um, what is the financial impact from the early partnership?
Well, that's an investment that has a couple of million. Uh, that's not that high.
Um, if it's successful, that should have a—
Rather, uh, short.
The payback is not six months, of course, but a couple of years.
um,
for our investment levels as such,
or capex levels. Um, there was only a limited increase in Revenue per visitor, especially with regards to box office revenue, was this due to the high share of kids and family films? Should we expect a bigger increase in H2? Uh, given the success of the Odyssey in the impact from the higher Revenue per visitor at Showcase?
Um,
It's—it's—there's a couple of elements there. So I tried to explain that you have a country mix.
So, in the first half, we had rounds and...
Spain is proportionally doing better with the low Refuge ticket price and low spend. So, nothing new under the sun.
Uh, we had, proportionately, more mid-sized movies.
That typically consume a little bit less. The housemate, you don't need to sit in moving seats or in screenings or in IMAX.
Um, and yes, now, uh, of course, um, yeah, obviously is as well, is is—
More adults.
Um,
We then have, of course, the very positive exception here of the IMAX deals we have.
But, uh, with Spider-Man, we see suddenly, uh,
the demand for
Uh, premiumization. And the spend in our theaters is booming.
um,
yeah, with
With the round, 10% more even there. But look, that's not a guidance for H2, because—
Yeah, always bigger, and always you are going to behave.
Um, but I would say we're on track.
And then, of course, you have as well—you need to compare at flat fixed rate. That's another element.
Because you have the impact of the Canadian and the American dollars.
And that's something we will continue to have in the future, whether in a positive or in a negative way.
Uh, thank you. Then we have— but we do— to come back on that.
We, we don't see a
Visitor trend.
Uh, of visitors, choosing less.
For premium products, we still see the demand for premium products growing.
But it's it, there's a country mix, there is a product—a movie time—mix.
uh, and there is a
The currency impact—so that's what is playing a role here.
Thank you. Then we have some questions about the development of the new website. Um, you mentioned it earlier. Um, is the launch expected by the end of 2027, or still in 2026? The website is live today in Luxembourg.
So, on Kinepolis, you can already, uh,
See how it looks. We are still working.
Uh, and developing on extra.
Um, let's see. A functionalities.
We plan to do that later on in the year.
Um,
to release it in Belgium and other European countries. And then, after the new year,
In, uh, the North American markets.
Thank you. Are there plans to expand, uh, the iMac 17 mm to additional KIPO locations in the future?
Well, we plan to maybe expand to 70 mm, but...
You need to fight for the equipment and to be able to refurbish it, because there is no new.
Uh, projectors that aren't being produced any longer.
Uh, so that's, of course, a bottleneck for more—70. Mm.
And will there be other screenings after the 20th? The 22nd of September, uh, for the other CN IMAX 70. Mm. And also on the other scene, 17. Mm, watch. Uh, what is the impact or the uplift in sales? We are negotiating with studios about this, of course.
when the next,
Potential successful IMAX movie.
Will come. We might
Need to interrupt or to stop—even with Odyssey—but that's something we will only do.
further than which, of course, is—you know—then obviously, which is, of course, a good problem to have.
But we won't be able to double, um,
as we might go for an approach that we would say, look, uh,
One or two shows a day is obviously,
Well, that's one of the reasons why we had to reinforce.
The, uh, floor, because it's on a wheel that we can turn.
And so it's a little bit.
It's not as simple as I'm describing, but so you can...
Turn the wheel and have again these additional.
Digital IMAX projectors, and you turn the wheel plateau, and you have again the 70 mm.
But given the fact that, uh, the PICU has to go through.
uh, all the room, uh,
A little bit less. It's not as simple as I just described it, but it's possible.
Yeah, then we have someone who asks if we can provide an update on the plant while the baby boss.
Located in Madrid, including the expected opening date, number of screens, and these premium formats, and the estimated CapEx required to fit out this cinema.
We, um, the first progress that has been made in...
A permit that the, uh, developer of the shopping mall needs. And so we—
It's not an obligation that we have to build that theater. It's an—
an opportunity, a kind of
Right of first refusal—we start to work on it right now.
and um,
Yeah, we will evaluate the further potential, um, and if—if yes or no, we are going to...
build that theater.
Um, someone asked if you can give some comments, um, on the speed of integration of new cinema chains within Kinepolis, Paul's group, um,
And and yeah. What is the span of control? Um for the management of kidney polish. Uh how many Acquisitions can can you do at the same time? Yeah, well um
Today, Imagine is being integrated under our supervision by the MGR team, and...
that goes very smooth and
It's really.
Uh, I think one of the most
Smooth acquisitions. We have been doing this because we are putting the
Two headquarter teams, bringing them together.
Uh, and we create as well. We have been creating two regions.
a region that geographically combines theaters from MGR with, imagine, so that
Uh, the colleagues of MGR.
Uh, in, for instance, operating review, learn how to think, how to act, how to behave, and how to become.
Uh, kinepolis colleagues.
Um, what concerns were showcased there? The Canadian team from Toronto and Calgary.
Uh, will, uh, again under our supervision.
work on the execution of the,
Turnaround and integration plan.
Um,
And that's always an element. Um,
There's still a role to do integrations. Um, that's how we integrated.
Uh, Landmark in 2017, and later on, uh, MGR that was done by the—
European teams.
And so, the more the group grows, the more talented people that
uh translate, uh, the
Kpis.
Uh, daily life.
The more we grow, the more talented people we will need to do that.
Um,
We are feeling Europe. A couple of country managers that are really, uh,
In their daily life, real ambassadors in how to execute that strategy.
um,
I would say that they're getting more competition from their American and Canadian colleagues, so they are really up to speed.
um,
But it always takes some time to
To implement that budget ownership, to make that.
get used to it, and, and, and...
Yeah, that's something that you can't put a new software on, on employees. So that's a learning process.
um,
And then, of course, improvement potential based on premiumization.
Implementing mega candies and that kind of stuff?
Yeah, that takes some time. That's a matter of execution capacity.
Uh, and often, how fast can suppliers and constructors go?
Um,
But yes, we do have the capacity to grow further—absolutely.
Thank you. Um, since the beginning of the year, you have a new real estate manager. Um, any plans in the pipeline or first results, uh, resulting from that appointment?
Yes, the results to expect.
Of course, every transaction you do is based on...
The condition that someone gets building permits or something else. So,
Um, but yeah, a couple of transactions.
the team is working on it, and it's more optimizations. It's not the Big Bang—that's not their goal, neither to create the Big Bang, but rather to optimize and, uh,
We are focusing today, essentially, on what we call extramurals. These are projects that don't impact immediately the, uh, capacity of the theater.
Uh, that's the next step.
And look, with the, uh, the growing...
Content lineup, and with the G&Z going more frequently than ever.
than all the other groups we had in the past to the movies.
Uh, we will probably wait until we reach that saturation point.
But in the meantime, there is enough potential in extra moodles before we start removals.
Then we have the last question from Alicia reads from wet Bush. Um, to what extent do you think premiumization efforts so screens and concessions? Remaining in the us-based theaters can contribute to the upside and the uh the second semester results and Beyond relative to your European footprint? Yeah.
Hi Alicia. Well, there is certainly potential, but it relates a bit to what I just, uh, said. It takes time to install PLS, to install new seat concepts.
Uh, and so on.
But even in Canada, we still continue to roll out more capacity because we see that there is no saturation in the amount.
Today.
In Europe as well.
Uh, but Europe is ahead in terms of capacity.
Um, and Belgium is always a little bit the darkest level market.
um,
We still have capacity in MGR.
And, um, imagine, for instance, it doesn't have any cozy seat or any Premier seat to—
So, that's something that is coming as well.
and,
Yeah, I know for someone who wants to fill in a model, this is not the answer.
They, they, they want, but we still see that. Look, cozy seats. We all have time, have to add rows, because—
Once you have been flying business class at $3.50 or $3 in the US, you want it again next time. And so, within the growth of visitors, we see as well a proportionate growth in the demand of...
Uh, of this.
The only thing where we see a saturation is in 3D.
Okay, thank you. There were more questions from the online audience, but I think the key topics have been covered. Is there still a question in the theater?
Yes, thank you. Actually, two questions, if I might. One is, could you say a little bit more about this IFIC 21 accounting change, because that was €1.8 million, I think, moving to the N.
uh, up, let's say from
12 point something million to 30 point something million. I think that's only a 7% increase and only 3.9% of sales now.
If you're going to be more premiumized, etc.
Uh, is this then the right level you're looking for? Mhm.
I take it. Um, so the first one is more of a technical thing. So just to be clear, on a yearly basis, nothing will change.
It's just a fine-tuning of the results, and as for what you need to do, you have to book your real estate taxes in general.
And in that way, you load your first half of the year with the full cost of the real estate taxes, in a way, and adjust it to spread it over the year, as it is also a matching principle between, okay, how you—how you...
How do you report this? Just for your information, we also corrected the prior year.
So you have a good comparison with prior years. So, '25 was corrected and '26 was corrected. But, as such, on a year basis, you will have no impact. That's very interesting.
It adjusted? Yeah.
So in IFRS, you don't see a change—it's just an adjustment, where you say, okay, if you have a real cost allocation of the first half, then you just think that here. It's aligning Europe as well with the US and Canada because there it was already done. Yeah. It's...
And your second question on marketing and marketing. Yeah, yeah.
Well, that's—that's—let's say that. Uh, we never cost-saved on marketing.
um,
So, with the growth of the group, marketing will increase.
Uh, we do several deals with studios as well, where they intervene in our marketing costs since we are in a revenue-share model.
and since,
Of course, there is always an important hidden marketing cost in...
The film rental, we pay to them because, yeah, we are, as you know, in a revenue share model. Yeah. You expect next to, um,
The movie that you will get, you expect them to do marketing in the movie as well.
and often we have then collaborations where they
Uh, take premium products that we offer as well into the campaign that they reserve for your brand.
and so it's a mix of both of them, but
Yeah. Do I ever have a discussion with marketing that they need more?
Uh, more money. Yeah, that's—I think that's a marketing area, but, uh, within a 5% exercise, we never got savings on marketing. So—
Because that's the fuel on the engine.
um, and so, um,
That will grow with a group, but we are here at a level that, uh, allows us to be as successful as we are. And in most of the markets, we are growing our market share as well.
Of course, again, is this because of the fact that we offer...
Dealers that bring more experience, is it? Because of the marketing.
That's, that's hard to tell.
Um,
But I would say, expect that marketing is going to grow as a percentage of revenue with these levels.
Thank you.
Okay, well, I would like to thank everyone who joined online. Thank you very much. And for those who are in the theater, we still have a biscuit and a coffee—so not for the online at this time. But thank you very much, and, um,
We are very excited about what's going on in our market; the teams are very
Motivated for the future.
Me as well. So, uh, let's continue and maybe surprise you again next time we meet each other. Thank you very much.
