(Reuters) -AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc reported second-quarter revenue marginally ahead of Wall Street estimates on Thursday, as big-ticket films such as “Top Gun: Maverick” drew crowds to movie halls, driving a surge in box-office collections at the world’s largest theater chain.
AMC also announced a special dividend in the form of preferred stock, to paid on Aug. 19. The company will issue one preferred equity unit for each of the 516.8 million class A common stock.
With COVID receding, consumers are increasingly returning to outdoor forms of leisure including going to the cinemas.
During the quarter, top-grossing releases including “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Jurassic World Dominion” helped cinema chains continue their recovery after COVID-related closures halted movie screenings until at least the middle of last year.
Revenue in the quarter ending June 30 rose to $1.17 billion from $444.7 million a year earlier, inching past analysts’ estimate of $1.16 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
