Reading International Reports Fourth Quarter 2020 Results and COVID-19 Business

CULVER CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Reading International, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDI), an internationally diversified cinema and real estate company with operations and assets in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, today announced its results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2020 and certain first quarter events anticipated to have a material impact upon the Company going forward.

President and Chief Executive Officer, Ellen Cotter said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on our business. Unquestionably, this crisis has been the most difficult time in the Company’s history and has proven to be a true testament to Reading’s ‘two business/three country diversified strategy.’ Throughout the temporary closures of our global cinemas, we relied on our real estate assets as well as our cinemas in Australia and New Zealand, where the pandemic was more controlled, to support us through this challenging period. Throughout the pandemic we took aggressive and proactive actions to manage our balance sheet and liquidity needs, positioning us well to capitalize on the pent-up demand we see in movie-goers and to emerge as a stronger, more efficient company.”

“Today, we are happy to report that 100% of our cinemas in New Zealand (except Courtenay Central which remains temporarily closed due to seismic concerns), 92% of our cinemas in Australia, and 79% of our cinemas in the U.S. are open and operating and guests are returning to the cinemas. And, we continue our policy of cautious growth: on December 22, 2020, we opened a new six-screen Reading Cinemas featuring a TITAN LUXE with DOLBY ATMOS immersive sound, recliner seating, and a newly curated enhanced food and beverage offering in Jindalee, Queensland, Australia. Though the pandemic resulted in major studios either postponing their Hollywood movies to dates beyond 2020 or moving them to streaming platforms, we are very encouraged by the number and quality of movies that are lining up in the last half of 2021 and beyond.”

“In 2020, we evaluated our real estate portfolio in light of carrying costs, anticipated operating cash flow and capex needs, and local market conditions. We elected to monetize our raw land holdings in Manukau, New Zealand and Coachella, California. These transactions closed in the first quarter 2021 at prices substantially above pre-COVID-19 third-party estimates. Our 70.4-acre of raw land holding in Manukau/Wiri in New Zealand sold for NZ$77.2 million (US$56.1 million), recognizing a gain on sale after costs to sell of NZ$56.3 million (US$41.0 million) over our NZ$18.7 million (US$13.5 million) Net Book Value. And, our 202-acre raw land holding in Coachella, California sold for $11.0 million, recognizing a gain on sale after costs to sell of $6.3 million over our $4.4 million Net Book Value.”

“We are also marketing for sale our Royal George Theatre in Chicago and our Auburn Redyard Centre (including the Telstra building and 114,000 square feet of undeveloped land) located in a growth corridor of Sydney in New South Wales. We anticipate leasing back and retaining our Reading Cinema at Auburn Redyard. Going forward, we will be developing a new capital allocation strategy and focusing on building value in our real estate assets in Wellington (NZ), Cannon Park (QLD), Newmarket Village (QLD), and our Cinema 1,2,3 property in NYC, and Viaduct properties in Philadelphia.”

“After considering a variety of alternatives, we determined that it would be in the best interests of our Company and our stockholders generally not to dilute equity by issuing stock in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic and not to mortgage our future with high cost debt. Accordingly, we are taking this opportunity to monetize those assets that are not subject to distressed market conditions or fire sale pricing. We believe that we have in fact achieved premium prices with respect to the real estate assets monetized to…