Cineworld has shown that six theaters will close due to plans to cut jobs and save money, while the company deals with its debts.
Cinemas will close “at the end of September 2024” if cost-cutting plans are legally approved.
They are:
• Glasgow Park Head;
•Bedford;
•Hinckley;
•Loughborough;
• Yaté;
• Swindon – Regent Circus.
A document published on Saturday called them “commercially unviable. ”
“In a context of high and unsustainable operating costs, the company is about to launch a restructuring plan that will allow it to settle its lease portfolio and rental conditions with landlords in the United Kingdom. “
The chain hopes that it will “return profitability to our business” and “ensure a sustainable long-term for Cineworld in the United Kingdom,” it added.
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The theaters that are going to close will be “proposed, as far as possible, their relocation to nearby places” and the abandoned places through the chain absorbed by competitors.
He added that “the total number of sites involved cannot be shown until the procedure is completed. “
Sky News reported on Thursday that the restructuring plan could result in the closure of 25 UK cinemas.
The company is under pressure that “a restructuring plan is not a bankruptcy, but a legal process,” which will allow it to regain power and success.
Its outdoor cinemas in the UK are not affected.
Billions of debt have given rise to protection
Cineworld recently operates more than 100 sites in Britain, in addition to the Picturehouse chain, and employs thousands of people, although its public relations adviser declined to verify those figures.
Under the leadership of the Greidinger family, the company grew to become a global industry giant, acquiring chains such as Regal in the United States in 2018 and the British company of the same name four years earlier.
However, its mountain of multibillion-dollar debt plunged it into a crisis and forced the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy coverage in 2022.
It was delisted from the London Stock Exchange last August after seeing its percentage value fall amid fears for its survival.
As part of the deal reached last year, billions of dollars in debt were exchanged for equity, and a bunch of new money was pumped into the company through an organization of hedge funds and other investors.
After emerging from bankruptcy protection, he appointed a new control team, installing Eduardo Acuña, who led the operations of the Mexican cinema chain Cinépolis in the Americas, as lead executive.