Australia's Event: Citi says Chinese box office performance encourages recovery

EVT

14/05/2021 04:45

** Citi says strong Chinese box office performance over the
2021 May Day holiday is encouraging for recovery prospects for
global cinemas, including Australia's Event Hospitality  EVT.AX 
    ** Local films dominated the Chinese box office, with the
May Day holiday period grossing a record high of RMB 1.7 bln
($263.75 mln), up from the RMB 1.5 bln grossed in 2019 - Citi
    ** Brokerage considers this to be a favourable read-through
for Event's cinema business, given it indicates there is
consumer demand to see movies in cinemas once the COVID-19
disruption eases
    ** Says while it should take an extended period of time for
Event's businesses to return to pre-Covid profitability,
improving momentum will likely be taken positively
    ** Notes that COVID-19 pressures have indirectly provided a
catalyst for Event to finally begin unlocking some of its hidden
property value, which its sees as potentially providing upside
to the share price


    ($1 = 6.4454 Chinese yuan)
    

 (Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru)
 ((Arundhati.Dutta@thomsonreuters.com;))