Cineworld Group PLC (LON:CINE) has arranged US$155mln of extra liquidity as it plans to reopen all of its cinemas by July.
The group, which owns 787 cinemas across ten countries, said it has arranged US$110mln (£90mln) of bank liquidity and plans to request US$70m from UK and US government loan schemes to give it sufficient headroom to support the group if cinemas remain closed until the end of the year.
Lenders also agreeing to loosen its covenant terms for this year, waiving the leverage test for June and increasing the December test covenant to 9.0 times net debt-to-EBITDA.
The FTSE 250 group said it is anticipating government coronavirus lockdown restrictions on cinemas to be lifted in each of its territories by July.
“Subject to this and confirmation of the schedule for film releases, Cineworld anticipates the reopening of all of its cinemas in July,” it said, with major releases including Disney’s live action remake of Mulan and Christoper Nolan’s Tenet.
One word: #TENET. The new trailer for Christopher Nolan's latest is here. ???? https://t.co/E3zBo9YODk pic.twitter.com/RqFSnX2Vr9
— IMDb (@IMDb) May 22, 2020
New procedures are being put in place “to ensure a safe and enjoyable cinema experience for its employees and customers”, the company said.
There was no comment on the planned US$2.1bn acquisition of Canadian operator Cineplex, which was announced in December.
Its share jumped 22% in early morning trade to 94.7p, where they are still down 57% since the start of the year.
Analysts at broker Peel Hunt said the absence of comment on the planned acquisition of Cineplex “we find difficult to interpret”.
With the shares up four-fold since the post-Covid-19 bottom, but still well off their highs, they added: “we believe there is probably more upside, but it will be easier to make that call once it becomes clear whether the Cineplex deal, priced before Covid-19, is to go ahead and on what terms”.