AMC CEO says first part of 2024 'a slog to wade through'

By James Rogers

"As I have said before, cash is king," says AMC CEO Adam Aron

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. CEO Adam Aron says that the first part of 2024 will be "a slog" for the movie theater chain and original meme stock, citing the ongoing impact of last year's Hollywood writers' and actors' strikes.

"The impressive forthcoming movie slate gives me increasing confidence in the potential for a solid industry box office later in 2024 and in 2025. But the first part of 2024 is just a slog to wade through, given that the 2023 strikes delayed movie releases from early this year," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, late Monday. "As I have said before, cash is king. The smartest thing AMC did to survive during these past four turbulent years was to make sure we had corporate oxygen available to us, that oxygen for AMC of course being cash in the bank."

"As noted during our last earnings call, AMC is focused on extending our debt maturities and ensuring that our cash reserves remain robust," Aron added. "This is the recipe for success."

Related: AMC delivers revenue beat helped by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, yet stock drops

During the conference call to discuss AMC's (AMC) fourth-quarter results last month, Aron highlighted the need for cash and pointed to the $418 million raised through the company's AMC Preferred Equity Units, which were converted to common stock in August 2023.

AMC's total cash and cash equivalents at the end of 2023 was $884.3 million, up from $631.5 at the end of 2022. The company's total debt including finance leases at the end of 2023 was around $4.56 billion, down from $5.01 billion at the end of 2022.

AMC has seen a decline in its share price in recent months and the stock has fallen 33.2% this year, compared with the S&P 500 index's SPX gain of 9.4%. The company's shares rose 1.1% in premarket trades Tuesday.

Related: AMC clinches deal with NBC to show live Olympics coverage in theaters

Earlier this month AMC clinched a deal with Comcast Corp.'s (CMCSA) NBC to show live daytime coverage of the Paris Olympics at 160 of the company's U.S. theaters.

-James Rogers

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-26-24 0804ET

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.