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(Alliance News) - Cineworld Group on Monday confirmed that it will be temporarily suspending operations in the US and UK due to an "increasingly challenging theatrical landscape".
The closures involve all its 536 Regal theatres in the US and its 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theatres in the UK. They will be shut from Thursday this week.
These closures will impact around 45,000 employees, Cineworld said. Chief Executive Mooky Greidinger said this was not a decision taken lightly.
"Cineworld will continue to monitor the situation closely and will communicate any future plans to resume operations in these markets at the appropriate time, when key markets have more concrete guidance on their reopening status and, in turn, studios are able to bring their pipeline of major releases back to the big screen," said Greidinger.
The decision comes after the release of the latest James Bond film was pushed back again.
Daniel Craig's final outing as spy James Bond will not hit big screens until next April, it was announced on Friday. No Time To Die was originally scheduled for release in April 2020, but was first pushed back to November as a result of the pandemic.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 0.7% at 5,943.20
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Hang Seng: up 1.5% at 23,800.52
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.2% at 23,312.14
DJIA: closed down 134.09 points, 0.5%, at 27,682.81
S&P 500: closed down 0.96% at 3,348.44
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GBP: down at USD1.2923 (USD1.2939)
EUR: up at USD1.1725 (USD1.1717)
Gold: down at USD1,893.47 per ounce (USD1,906.50)
Oil (Brent): flat at USD39.98 a barrel (USD39.48)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
China Golden Week holiday continues. Financial markets closed in Shanghai, open in Hong Kong.
0930 BST UK CIPS/Markit services PMI
0900 BST UK SMMT registration figures
0915 CEST Spain Services PMI
0945 CEST Italy Services PMI
0950 CEST France Services PMI
0955 CEST Germany Services PMI
1000 CEST EU Eurozone services PMI
1100 CEST EU Retail trade
1100 CEST EU Quarterly balance of payments
0915 SAT South Africa Whole economy PMI
1000 EDT US ISM Report on business services PMI
0945 EDT US Services PMI
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a UK-EU trade deal is "there to de done" but highlighted the UK could "prosper mightily" if no deal is reached, as the two sides agreed to intensify talks. Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke via video conference on Saturday to take stock of progress in the negotiations following the final scheduled round of talks between Brussels and the UK this week. Following their conversation on Saturday, the pair have tasked their chief negotiators with working "intensively" to resolve the remaining differences in the post-Brexit trade talks.
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The UK passed 500,000 confirmed coronavirus infections on Sunday, official figures showed, in the latest grim milestone for the European country worst-hit by the pandemic. Health authorities blamed a technical glitch for a sudden spike in cases announced in evening figures that had kept several thousand cases from the last week of September off the official tally. Sunday's numbers showed 22,961 cases for the day, a rise of more than 10,000 on Saturday's figures. Officials said the issue had now been resolved and earlier cases missed in the official count would be included in future figures. The UK has now recorded 502,978 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with more than 42,000 deaths. In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the country faced a "very tough winter" in the battle against the disease, but said there was "hope" the situation could improve by Christmas.
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Japan's service sector improved marginally in September due to the easing rate of declines across the board, but remained in contraction levels, data from IHS Markit revealed on Monday. The au Jibun Bank services purchasing managers' index rose to 46.5 in September from 45.0 in August. A reading below the 50.0 mark shows a decline. During the month, incoming new business received by service providers fell for the eighth month in a row, as lockdown restrictions continued to affect client operations and market demand, however it was a softer decline compared to August. As a result of the services readout, the au Jibun Bank Japan composite PMI output index - a weighted average of the services and manufacturing prints - rose to 46.6 in September from 45.2 in August.
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Australia's services sector moved into expansionary territory in September, following the easing of restrictions put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19. The seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index rose to 50.8 in September from 49.0 in August. A reading above 50 signals expansion, while a reading below the no-change mark show deterioration. New order volumes returned to growth after a solid decline in August while business confidence rose to the highest for over two years, IHS Markit said. It also noted, despite the upturn in activity and sales, employment continued to fall amid an ongoing presence of excess capacity. On the price front, firms reduced their selling prices even as input costs continued to rise. The composite output index, which measures combined services and manufacturing output, rose to 51.1 in September from 49.4 in August.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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JEFFERIES CUTS JUPITER FUND TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('HOLD')
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JEFFERIES CUTS MAN GROUP TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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HSBC STARTS IWG WITH 'BUY' - PRICE TARGET 345 PENCE
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JEFFERIES INITIATES IG GROUP WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 960 PENCE
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JEFFERIES INITIATES CMC MARKETS WITH 'HOLD' - TARGET 340 PENCE
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PEEL HUNT RAISES 4IMPRINT GROUP TO 'ADD' ('HOLD') - TARGET 2200 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Weir Group said it has agreed to sell its Oil & Gas division to Caterpillar for an enterprise value of USD405 million. The proceeds will be used to reduce the firm's leverage and the deal is expected to complete by the end of 2020. "Alongside the previous sale of the Flow Control division and the acquisition of ESCO, it is a major milestone in transforming the Group into a focused, premium mining technology business," said Chief Executive Officer Jon Stanton.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Greencore said it saw an improvement in revenue and earnings in the fourth quarter of its financial year. Group proforma revenue in the fourth quarter, which ended September 25, was down 19% - though this marked an improvement on the 36% fall registered in the third quarter. For the full-year, Greencore expects to post revenue of GBP1.27 billion and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation of GBP85 million. For the year ended in 2019, revenue amounted to GBP1.45 billion and adjusted Ebitda GBP142.0 million. "The fourth quarter of our financial year has seen an ongoing improvement in demand for our products...We are realistic but also confident in our plans for FY21, and remain excited by Greencore's longer term prospects," said Chief Executive Patrick Coveney.
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Wizz Air reported a 59% drop in passenger numbers for September after a 41% fall in August. Capacity for September was down 40% and load factor reduced to 64.6% from 94.5%.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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French water, waste and energy giant Suez has reaffirmed its opposition to a "hostile" bid for a stake in the company by corporate rival Veolia Environnement SA, warning the deal threatened up to 10,000 jobs around the world. Veolia is attempting to buy a crucial 29.9% stake in the firm held by power company Engie SA, which is backing the move. But Suez has been trenchant in its opposition to the bid and its board made clear on Sunday that it still considered its competitor to be manoeuvring for a possible hostile takeover. Suez chief operating officer Jean-Marc Boursier told journalists his company had come up with its estimates of job losses in 2012 when the two companies had discussed plans for closer collaboration. Up to 5,000 of the forecast lost jobs would be in France, he added. In a brief letter to Veolia issued Sunday, the board of Suez made clear that it was still opposed to its purchase of the Engie stake. Veolia announced its intention to bid for its longtime rival in August. Last week, it upped its bid for Engie's stake to EUR3.4 billion, with the new offer on the table until Monday night. In order to get a deal over the line, Veolia had further expressed willingness to agree to a Suez demand to asset disposals of "around EUR5 billion" of international water service interests, including those of Suez in France. If a deal does ultimately go through, it could be the catalyst for a full takeover of Suez, which provides municipal water services in many countries around the world. But there seemed little sign that Suez would bend as it sought to "conserve in France a second player with global reach" in water and waste services, Varin wrote in his response to Veolia CEO Antoine Frerot and released to the media.
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Monday's Shareholder Meetings
Phimedix PLC AGM
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By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
