PVR shares under pressure as Bollywood's underperformance takes a toll on multiplex firm's margins

PVR shares Limited (NSE: PVR) recovered from the morning lows to trade nearly 1.5 percent higher on Tuesday afternoon. The multiplex firm’s stock price gained a day after it posted Rs 71.49 crore decline in revenue (second quarter) owing to a string of poor performances by movies such as Laal Singh Chaddha, Liger, Raksha Bandhan.

“The quarter was marked by the continued underperformance of Bollywood movies. With the exception of Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva, most of the other big budget Bollywood movies performed below expectations like 'Laal Singh Chaddha', 'Raksha Bandhan', 'Liger'.,” the PVR said in an exchange filing.

Earlier on Monday, the company informed that it reported a narrowing of consolidated loss after tax at Rs 71.49 crore in the second quarter ended September with people returning to cinemas as the pandemic eases. The company had posted a consolidated loss after tax of Rs 153.27 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a regulatory filing.

Consolidated revenue from operations in the second quarter stood at Rs 686.72 crore as against Rs 120.32 crore in the corresponding period of previous year, it added. Total expenses were higher at Rs 813.33 crore as compared to Rs 460.68 crore, PVR Ltd said.

Reason for Bollywood's dry spill leading to weak box office collection

Variety of factors such as films not resonating with the customer's taste, quality of content, negative social media against stars are a few attributed factors for the underperformance of Hindi films. The company acknowledged and mentioned the same in the exchange filing.

PVR optimistic about 3QFY23 result! Here is why

Despite a weak Q2 result, the multiplex firm is optimistic for the next quarter, 3QFY23 result. With big releases such as Ponniyin Selvan: I, Vikram Vedha, Kantara Quarter 3 have already started off on a positive note.

The company expects revenue recovery to pick up from 3QFY23 on the back of good response witnessed till date and strong content pipeline of releases over the next three months, the multiplex firm said in exchange filing.

The star-studded releases such as Akshay Kumar's Ram Setu, Ajay Devgn starrer Thank God and Drishyam 2 , Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone's Pathan, Varun Dhawan starrer Bhediya and others big releases are in pipeline.

This, along with 110-125 screen addition target for FY23, should support revenue growth for the company.

The company said it recorded 1.8 crore visits of patrons at its cinemas during the quarter under review. There was an 11 per cent growth in average ticket price at Rs 224, while spending on food and beverages grew by 31 per cent per patron at Rs 129 compared to the pre-pandemic period of second quarter FY20.

PVR Limited share price has yielded a positive return of around 26 per cent to its investors in the past 10 months. The stock 52-week range is Rs 2214.85 to 1224.05. Currently, the company's market cap is around Rs 10303 crore, according to the NSE website.

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