AMC Leisure posted a web lack of $ 4.59 billion for 2020 because the coronavirus pandemic compelled most of its theaters to shut for a lot of the previous yr.

The nation’s largest movie show chain additionally mentioned in a earnings report Wednesday evening that it misplaced some $ 946 million within the final quarter of 2020 alone.

Even earlier than the pandemic disrupted the financial system, the film business was already beneath strain amid the rise of streaming companies.

Regardless of what he calls “essentially the most troublesome market situations within the firm’s 100-year historical past,” AMC CEO Adam Aron has expressed optimism for the way forward for the film channel because the restrictions eased and the deployment of a vaccine finally put an finish to the pandemic in sight. .

“As we sit right here immediately we see that vaccinations are taking place in america at a speedy fee, our theaters in New York have lastly opened with theaters in Los Angeles prone to open quickly as effectively, the Blockbuster film titles are at the moment scheduled to be launched in important quantities within the coming months, and we’ve over $ 1 billion in money readily available, ”Aron mentioned in a press release.

“Taking these info collectively, we’ve purpose to be optimistic about AMC’s capability to maneuver to the opposite facet of this pandemic,” he added.

Aron additionally famous that the corporate is working exhausting to resolve its reported liquidity points that raised alarm bells for traders and the general public final yr.

“As of March 2020, we’ve raised roughly $ 2.2 billion in gross money proceeds from new debt and fairness, securing over $ 1 billion in concessions from collectors and homeowners, elevating over $ 80 million by means of asset gross sales and securing $ 600 million in convertible notes. convert debt to fairness, ”Aron mentioned.

He continued, “I’m assured that the steps we’ve taken have positioned us effectively to capitalize on pent-up demand for movies as vaccine roll-out accelerates.”

The corporate additionally mentioned that in October 2020, it had resumed operations in practically 80% of its nationwide theaters, however new mandates in response to a resurgence of COVID-19 have compelled many to shut at new. On the finish of December 2020, AMC mentioned it had resumed operations with restricted capability in round 67% of its nationwide theaters.

AMC inventory, which at one level was among the many so-called “meme shares” touted by the Reddit discussion board r / wallstreetbets, climbed practically 5% on Thursday morning on the heels of the earnings report.