IMAX Corp reports growth in Q2 2012 earnings call

For the second quarter, total revenues were $70.2m, adjusted EBITDA was $29m, adjusted net income was $14.1m or $0.21 per diluted share and reported net income was $11.1m or $0.16 per diluted share. This compares to Q2 2011 total revenues of $57.2m, adjusted net income of $4.6m or $0.20 per diluted share.

Turning to second quarter revenues by segment, total film sales generated $26.5m compared to $18.7m in Q2 2011. Production and IMAX DMR revenues were $19.7m against $12.4m for the same period a year ago.

Gross box office from DMR titles amounted to $173.5m in the second quarter compared to $107.7m a year ago and the average DMR box office per screen in the second quarter was $341,900 compared to $315,700 in the second quarter of 2011.

In the second quarter of 2012, revenue from joint revenue sharing arrangements came to $15.6m compared to $8.3m in the prior-year period. During the quarter, the company installed nine new theatres under joint revenue sharing arrangements compared to 23 in the year-ago period. As of Jun 30 2012 there were 274 IMAX theatres operating under joint revenue sharing arrangements, compared to 204 joint revenue sharing theatres open as of Jun 30, 2011.

IMAX systems revenue was $18m in the second quarter compared to $20.5m for the same period in 2011. IMAX said this was because it installed 11 full, new theatre systems in the most recent second quarter compared to a total of 18 systems installed in the second quarter of 2011, which included 11 full, new systems, one used system and six digital system upgrades.

In the six months ended Jun 30 2012 total revenues reached $125.8m, EBITDA was $45.5m, adjusted net income was $18.1m or $0.27 per diluted share and reported net income was $13.7m or $0.20 per diluted share. 

For the six months ended Jun 30 2011 total revenues were $102.4m, adjusted EBITDA $25.2m, adjusted net income $7.1m or $0.10 per diluted share and reported net income $0.8m or $0.01 per diluted share.

Gelfond said the results reflected growth driven by the “power and scale of our global network and the solid performance of a portfolio of films.”

He added that differentiation was the key and pointed to films like Prometheus and The Amazing Spider-Man that featured “various elements of IMAX differentiation”, noting that The Dark Knight Rises included a record 70-plus minutes shot on IMAX cameras. The CEO said the success of Christopher Nolan’s film would drive interest from other filmmakers to shoot in this way and maintain momentum of theatre signings. Both the Star Trek and Hunger Games sequels in 2013 will feature sequences shot on IMAX cameras.

“Global demand for The IMAX Experience is as strong as ever, as evidenced by our box office performance, our upcoming lineup of films and a robust pipeline of theatre deals,” Gelfond said. “We are still in the early stages of our network expansion, having recently increased the estimated number of worldwide IMAX zones by 10% to 1,700 theatres.”

IMAX said that starting in the third quarter 2012 it intended to adopt a revised definition of “adjusted net income” and “adjusted earnings per diluted share” to exclude all stock-based compensation and one-time items.  Adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per diluted share will be fully tax-affected.