Vue: Cinema chain loses over £90m despite Deadpool & Wolverine boost
Cinema chain Vue lost more than £90m last year as the success of Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine failed to boost its bottom line.
The business has posted a pre-tax loss of £91.8m for the 12 months to 30 November, 2024, having also lost £73.7m in the prior year.
The latest total comes after Vue made a pre-tax loss of £253m in the year ending November 2022, £228.4m in 2021, £413.4m in 2020 and £52.8m in 2019.
Headquartered in Jersey, the chain has also reported a revenue of £737.9m for its latest financial year, down from £759m, new accounts filed with Companies House show.
At the end of its financial year, Vue operated 224 cinemas, down by one, across the UK, Italy, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Republic of Ireland and Lithuania.
Its operations in Taiwan were sold at the start of 2024.
Vue’s total Box Office revenue fell from £418.9m to £401m in the year as admissions declined from 72.3m to 70.1m.
Concession sales went from £236.3m to £232.5m and screen advertising went from £28.7m to £28m.
The chain said that its revenue performance was “ahead of expectations, although lower than the prior year due to a decrease in market size across all territories”.
It added that the fall was partially offset by the strong performance of Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.
In November 2024, Morning Wire reported that releases of Wonka, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part 2 had failed to boost sales at Vue during the first half of its financial year while its earnings were slashed.
A statement signed off by the board said: “Despite film production resuming in early 2024 following the Hollywood SAG-AFTRA actors strike (which halted film production for six months from July 2023 to December 2023), the impact of the strike has been at its most material in 202 and into 2025 due to a lower number of completed films being available for theatrical release.
“Accordingly, in Q1 FY24 the group undertook a further restructuring process with its external lenders to enhance liquidity, reduce its senior loans and enhance its capital structure.”
Vue incurred costs of £8.6m in the year, mainly related to its financial restructuring.
Vue eyes ‘very positive’ future
On its future, Vue said: “FY25 has started very strongly with key titles including Wicked, Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy all driving significant admissions.
“Highlights expected in Q2 FY25 include Minecraft, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning and Disney’s Snow White.
“Q3 FY25 looks exceptionally strong with Jurassic World; Rebirth, Fantastic Four: The First Steps, How To Train Your Dragon, Superman: Legacy and numerous strong supporting films.
“The disruption to film production caused by the Hollywood strikes of 2023 is expected to have unwound by the end of FY25 and the outlook for FY26 is very positive with Avatar 3, Wicked 2 and Zootropolis 2 all scheduled to be released in December 2025, driving a very strong start to FY26.”
Vue was set up in 1999 as Spean Bridge Cinemas by Stewart Blair, a former executive of United Artists Theatres and Tim Richards, a former executive of Warner Bros. International Theatres.
Richards, who serves as Vue’s CEO, was made a CBE in the King’s New Year Honours List.