AMC Entertainment Ends 2011 With A Thud

The exhibition chain reports this morning in an SEC filing that it had a $72.8M loss in the last three months of 2011 — more than double its $32.8M loss in the quarter a year ago — on revenues of $557.3M, down 7.6%.  Attendance fell 8.7%. With a decline in the number of 3D and Imax films which come with higher ticket prices, patrons on average paid 1.4% less to get in than they did a year ago. Admission revenues at theaters open a year or more were down 9.7%. On top of that, the company took a $17.8M impairment charge on its RealD stock holdings, and lost $11M paying off and modifying its debt.  There are no analyst forecasts because AMC isn’t publicly traded: It’s owned by investment funds led by J.P Morgan Partners, Apollo Management, Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group, and Spectrum Equity Investors. Last year they filed paperwork at the SEC to take the company public, but that effort’s been on hold. At year end, AMC had 347 theaters with 5,048 screens. The filings come as AMC disclosed that it has taken out new loans to help it buy up to $160M of the outstanding $300M from Senior Subordinated Notes due 2014 on which it’s paying 8% interest.