Cineworld boosted by Potter magic

Prior to the launch of the final instalment of the boy wizard series, half-year revenues rose one per cent to £163.6m after fewer blockbuster and 3D releases impacted on average ticket prices and the amount spent on cinema visits.

With sharply higher finance charges and one-off items, Cineworld’s profits fell to £6.9m from £11.8m in the half year to June.

The group, which has 78 sites and more than 800 screens, increased its market share in UK and Ireland slightly to 26.4 per cent, from which it expects to generate healthy revenues from a string of potential blockbuster film releases over the rest of the year.

The final instalment of the Harry Potter series, Deathly Hallows: Part 2, has already taken £65m industry wide since its launch last month.

With a new film in the Transformers series and Cars 2 also released, Cineworld said the second half had started “very well”.