PVR earmarks Rs 160-cr for setting up bowling alleys, screens

"We plan to invest Rs 100-crore to add 60 more screens by end-this fiscal and open our five bowling alleys in the next calendar year," PVR Blu-O's Director, Pramod Arora said. Presently, PVR Cinemas has 108 screens nationwide. With the addition of these 60 screens, the company will have a total of 168 screens.

PVR Blu-O, the retail entertainment wing of PVR, will invest Rs 60-crore to set up five bowling alleys of which two would be set up in south Delhi and south Mumbai, respectively. The fifth one would be set up in Pune. PVR Blu-O is a joint venture company of PVR and Thailand-based Major Cineplex. The company plans to grow its bowling alleys significantly by setting up 60 new alleys in the next two-and-a-half-years.

"60 new alleys will come up in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Cochin in the next two-and-a-half-years alongwith our screens," Arora said, adding "there are also plans for skating rinks at select locations."

Presently, Blu-O has one 24-lane bowling alley in Ambience Mall, Gurgaon, and it alone has posted a revenue of Rs 15-crore, Arora said. PVR earned a Rs 270-crore revenue in FY 09 from its cinemas and projects a 40 per cent growth this fiscal. From its bowling alleys alone, it expects a 100 per cent growth this fiscal and a whopping 500 per cent growth next financial year.

"We (PVR) posted a loss only in the first quarter this year. The second quarter saw an improved performance and we expect to make profits in Q3 and Q4," Arora said. PVR incurred a loss of Rs 10-crore in the first quarter due to the stand-off between multiplex operators and film producers.

PVR Cinemas currently operates 26 cinemas with a total of 108 screens in Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ludhiana, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Indore, Aurangabad, Baroda and Latur.