Shares of global movie-theater chains AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and IMAX Corp. have declined in recent weeks as fear of the coronavirus has intensified, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. AMC, the world’s largest cinema chain, has seen its stock fall close to 30 percent over the past two weeks, reducing its market value to $580 million. Meanwhile, the Kansas-based company’s $1.7 billion of bond debt has dropped to roughly 80 cents on the dollar, down by 10 percentage points from mid-February, according to MarketAxess. The fall in the company’s market value has come despite the fact that AMC recently posted better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter of 2019, indicating that while the virus hasn’t yet affected sales, investors are expecting it to, according to Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “Movies might start slowing down their releases, though a significant percentage of forgone ticket sales could be shifted later,” Pachter said. AMC recently said that it will temporarily shut down 22 of its movie theaters in northern Italy, where the virus outbreak has been particularly severe. However, the company isn’t anticipating widespread closures of its more than 1,000 theaters world-wide, Chief Executive Adam Aron said on the Feb. 27 earnings call. Read more.
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