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AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. struck a deal to refinance expensive debt it took on in the early days of the pandemic, as it vies to revive the investor enthusiasm that made the company a centerpiece of the meme-stock phenomenon, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. AMC yesterday received investor commitments for a new $950 million bond deal and will use the proceeds to pay off higher-interest debt borrowed in April 2020 as an emergency measure after closing the company’s nearly 1,000 theaters world-wide. The new bond will carry an interest rate in the range of 7.5%, compared with the 10.5% AMC has been paying, and extends the maturity by four years, to 2029, they said. Yesterday’s deal is expected to be the first in a series of refinancing transactions designed to reduce AMC’s interest burden. The company’s debt load stands at roughly $5.5 billion, and includes a number of other expensive loans and bonds taken on during the pandemic.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. rallied after a return of moviegoers and new releases spurred the theater to report preliminary results that topped expectations, Bloomberg News reported. The world’s largest movie-theater company expects fourth-quarter revenue of about $1.17 billion, surpassing the average analyst estimate of $1.09 billion. AMC sees adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to be between $146.8 million to $151.8 million, topping the highest analyst estimate for $137 million, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Leawood, Kansas-based company soared as much as 17% before trimming gains to 5% Tuesday. While shares remain up more than 25% over the past year, it has shed nearly three-quarters of its value from a June peak. The company’s total liquidity at the end of the year exceeded $1.8 billion compared with a quarterly cash burn of about $217 million, the statement showed.

Gyms, movie theaters and other businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic would receive state grants under a $185 million spending bill that won initial legislative approval yesterday, the Associated Press reported. The 96-6 vote in the House came more than a month after the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer enacted $409 million in aid for businesses that lost money — funded with federal discretionary COVID-19 aid. Applications for those grants are due by April 1 and must be disbursed by July 1. The next round of proposed grants, which also would be paid for with federal funds, would go to fitness centers, convention bureaus, community development banks, cinemas, and live music and entertainment venues. The bill would also offset lost revenue if separate legislation is passed to waive 2022 liquor license renewal fees and refund licensing fees for workers and restaurants hampered by past pandemic orders. The Senate will consider the legislation next.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. is stepping up its efforts to refinance some of its debt as the cinema chain’s shares and bonds have slumped, giving up most of their gains since the company became a meme-stock favorite, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. AMC is in advanced refinancing talks with multiple interested parties, according to people familiar with the matter who said the company has options to lower its interest burden and stretch out maturities by several years. Chief Executive Adam Aron said earlier this year that in 2022 he would like to refinance the expensive debt the company took on to outlast the pandemic. The selloff in AMC’s bonds might make refinancing more difficult, especially as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise rates, according to financial analysts. AMC’s stock has declined by 41% this year through Tuesday’s market close, a steeper drop than the broader market selloff hitting stocks and cryptocurrencies. While the company’s bonds had previously held up even as its shares slipped, on Monday the bonds dropped by several points. That indicates that even creditors, who enjoy a greater degree of protection from losses than stockholders, are getting skittish about the business.

New York City hotels are still suffering from the effects of the pandemic, but that hasn’t slowed the flow of new properties expected to open this year and in the years to come, the Wall Street Journal reported. Forty-eight hotels are scheduled to add an estimated 6,500 rooms to the New York City market in 2022, according to fourth-quarter figures released Jan. 23 from research firm Lodging Econometrics. That puts the city on track for the nation’s second-highest growth rate, just behind Austin, Texas, for hotel rooms added among the 50 biggest markets. Hotel operators and developers were drawn to the city’s strong economy and growing tourism sector in the years before COVID-19. In the decade leading up to the pandemic, New York City added more than 41,000 hotel rooms, increasing the city’s room count by 47%. Business travel and tourism cratered during the pandemic and many hotels are struggling to sell rooms. But even lackluster demand hasn’t derailed hotel construction. There were 121 hotels in the New York pipeline as of the fourth quarter, which would add more than 19,000 rooms in the coming years, Lodging Econometrics said.

A cruise ship that was supposed to dock in Miami has instead sailed to the Bahamas, after a U.S. judge granted an order to seize the vessel as part of a lawsuit over millions of dollars in unpaid fuel, the Associated Press reported. Cruise trackers show Crystal Symphony currently docked in the Bahamian island of Bimini. Some passengers were taken by ferry to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. The ferry ride was apparently “uncomfortable due to inclement weather,” according to a statement from a Crystal Cruises spokesperson. The company said guests were also taken to local airports, but wouldn’t comment on any “pending legal matters.” The lawsuit was filed in a Miami federal court by Peninsula Petroleum Far East against the ship under a maritime procedure that allows actions against vessels for unpaid debts. The complaint says Crystal Symphony was chartered or managed by Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises, which are both sued for breach of contract for allegedly owing $4.6 million in fuel. 

Moby SpA, the ferry company that connects Italy’s mainland with its islands, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. as it seeks to complete a troubled restructuring process at home, Bloomberg News reported. Moby, owned by the Onorato family, has been under pressure from increasing regulation, tougher competition and weak freight traffic volumes in the last years, and was further hit by the pandemic travel restrictions. In June 2020, the company petitioned a court in Milan for a court-supervised restructuring procedure, but its revenue grew above expectations this summer. The company reached a non-binding restructuring deal with a group representing more than a third of bondholders on Sept. 24, but needs a majority of them to support it at a meeting scheduled for Jan. 20. As part of the plan, the group could provide new financing. In November, a Milan Court ordered the seizure of 20 million euros ($22.8 million) of assets of Moby’s parent company, Onorato Armatori Srl, at the request of Tirrenia di Navigazione SpA, an insolvent company whose assets were bought by beleaguered Moby in 2011. The Onorato Group said at the time that the seizure order would be appealed. Moby’s 300 million euros of bonds were indicated at 76 cents on the euro on Jan. 14, up from a record low of 28 cents reached in April, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

U.S. restaurants stayed afloat during the pandemic thanks to outdoor heaters, elaborate patio spaces, and to-go drinks. But the creative workarounds weren’t enough to stem the losses from the recent omicron-fueled surge of Covid cases, Bloomberg News reported. Sales decreased at 98% of restaurants across the country in December, according to a poll of 1,169 restaurants conducted by the Independent Restaurant Coalition. Sales dropped by at least half at 58% of those surveyed, while 80% of restaurant owners said omicron impacted their operating hours. U.S. restaurants stayed afloat during the pandemic thanks to outdoor heaters, elaborate patio spaces, and to-go drinks. But the creative workarounds weren’t enough to stem the losses from the recent omicron-fueled surge of Covid cases. Sales decreased at 98% of restaurants across the country in December, according to a poll of 1,169 restaurants conducted by the Independent Restaurant Coalition. Sales dropped by at least half at 58% of those surveyed, while 80% of restaurant owners said omicron impacted their operating hours. The sharp hit to restaurants nationwide demonstrates the pandemic’s continuing blow to the industry, despite national efforts to avoid economic pitfalls from shutdowns this winter. The impact is particularly challenging for businesses that didn’t get funding from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a $28.6 billion federal effort to rescue struggling businesses that was part of the American Rescue Fund. Four out of five businesses that did not receive grants said they were in danger of permanently closing in 2022. The fund provided as much as $5 million per location for restaurant owners — or as much as $10 million per business — who could demonstrate their businesses experienced significant financial distress during the pandemic.

Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled sailings amid rising fears of Omicron-related coronavirus infections that have dampened the nascent recovery of the pandemic-ravaged cruise industry, Reuters reported. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd called off its Spectrum of the Seas cruise for Jan. 6 after nine guests on its Jan. 2 trip were identified as close contacts to a local Hong Kong COVID-19 case. The contacts have tested negative but the cruise ship will return to Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong on Jan. 5 to test all guests and crew who must take a second test on Jan. 8, the company said. A similar decision to cancel trips by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd was made against the backdrop of the U.S. reporting the highest daily tally of any country for new coronavirus infections on Monday.