Despite big releases such as Tubelight and Half Girlfriend going for a toss, both PVR and Inox showed double-digit growth in income from operations, and growth in profit after tax. Growth in the advertising and food and beverage (F&B) revenues gave a boost to their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) and profit after tax (PAT) eventually.

However, both companies saw a decline in footfall- Inox by 2 per cent and PVR by 7 per cent. Inox witnessed a 2 per cent increase in footfall after it added four screens in the first quarter of FY18. As far as PVR is concerned, footfall increased by
1 per cent after it added around 8 screens in the same period. F&B revenues for Inox grew 9 per cent from Rs 80.7 crore to Rs 88.2 crore, while PVR saw its income grow by
12 per cent, from Rs 147.5 crore to
Rs 164.6 crore, from the segment.

The average spend per head on F&B for Inox grew by 6 per cent in the first quarter of FY18, while for PVR,
it increased by 10 per cent.
Looking forward, both exhibitors hope to make the most of the festive season in the month of August through an array of big releases that will help both players capitalise on the keenness expressed by the audience.