Cineworld was on the verge of having to close down some of its multiplexes – but a package of new financial arrangements is keeping it going.
A few days after reports sprung up suggesting that the Cineworld chain was looking to permanently close some of its sites in the UK following a devastating year for its business, it may just have bought itself some time.
The firm has secured a new debt facility for a start, as well as a freeze on payments of its near $5bn global debt. Furthermore, it’s also managed to end its tax year early in the US to secure a rebate in 2021, and in all this package of measures – along with rent renegotiations – is believed to be enough to keep the company trading.
All with one big caveat: that cinemas are able to fully reopen by May of next year.
Cineworld will not be reopening its venues in the UK this side of Christmas, having announced – following the latest delay to James Bond film No Time To Die – that it’s closing them entirely until 2021. It looks like it all hinges on a half-decent spring for the company and, ultimately, the effectiveness of the assorted vaccines against Covid-19 that are being rolled out around the world.
More as we hear it.
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