PVR Ltd expects biz to reach pre-pandemic levels in first quarter of FY23

Film exhibition major PVR Ltd expects business to reach pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2022-23 on the back of a slew of new film releases and more people coming back to cinemas.

The company is witnessing one of its best-ever months in March in terms of occupancy in theatres, riding on the release of new movies like Gangubai Kathiawadi, The Kashmir Files and RRR.

"As far as the pandemic is concerned good films have started to release...People are coming back to the cinemas now and that's a very heartening and gratifying position to be in.

"I think March is going to be one of our best months. It may even surpass our typical good month in pre-pandemic, whatever numbers we used to do before the pandemic, it's going to be better than that," PVR Ltd Joint Managing Director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli told PTI.

When asked about expectations for the upcoming fiscal, Bijli said, "First quarter of FY23 is also looking very solid with the movie flows. We have some great films and great movies lined up in April, May and June. We're pretty hopeful that we'll be able to bounce back basically to our pre-pandemic numbers in the next quarter".

The company's consolidated loss after tax narrowed to Rs 10.2 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2021, mainly due to the easing of Covid-19 related restrictions.

Its total income in the third quarter stood at Rs 709.71 crore against Rs 320.13 crore in the year-ago quarter.

In terms of Covid-19 related restrictions, he said, "There are a few states still where there is a 50 per cent capacity gap".

PVR had last week launched its movie non-fungible token (NFT), 'PVRRR' in association with DVV Entertainment, the producers of the upcoming movie RRR, as it looks to add another avenue for promoting movies.

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