Theater owner’s earnings plunge

Movie theater operator Regal Entertainment Group said Thursday that second-quarter profit fell 74% on costs related to its purchase of Consolidated Theatres and debt payments.

Net income dropped to $13.8 million, or 9 cents a share, from $52.7 million, or 33 cents, a year earlier, Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal said. Sales declined 1.1% to $675.8 million, missing the $681.3-million average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Regal, whose chains include United Artists and Edwards theaters, completed its $210-million acquisition of Consolidated in April, adding 28 theaters with 400 screens. U.S. cinema operators have increased ticket prices in a bid to counter a decline in ticket sales.

Shares of Regal, controlled by billionaire Philip Anschutz, rose 19 cents to $16.37 after the earnings news. The shares have dropped 9.4% this year.

Regal’s net income included an after-tax loss of $11.1 million in the quarter to retire debt. A year earlier, the company had a $17-million after-tax gain from the sale of its interest in Internet ticket seller Fandango Inc.

The company, which has 6,776 screens in 39 states and Washington, D.C., said in May that it would equip 1,500 screens to show three-dimensional films, a format becoming more popular with studios.