The stock of the country’s largest multiplex company is on a roll after Stree 2, released on August 15, garnered over Rs 229 crore at the box office on a budget of Rs 50 crore, making it a super hit movie of the otherwise dull monsoon season. Another major success, which has surprised the trade circuit, is the English film Deadpool & Wolverine. The film collected Rs 131 crore at the box office in India.
The line-up of films in the coming quarters also holds promise of good collections at the box office. Producers had postponed releases of a number of films from the June 2023 quarter to the second half of the present fiscal year because of the general elections and IPL cricket tournament. In the second half of FY25, big budget films such as Transformers one, Sky Force, Metro…in Dino, Pushpa 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Singham Again, and Sitaare Zameen Parareslated for a release. If they succeed at the box office, it will lift the performance of PVR Inox given its dominant share in box collections among multiplexes.
Another positive factor for the company is a well-calibrated expansion in the southern region. It launched 50 screens in the southern region in the June 2024 quarter. This augurs well given that southern films have been more successful at the box office than Hindi films in recent times. The share of regional films in the country’s total box office collections jumped to 56.8% in the June 2024 quarter from 40.3% in the year-ago quarter. On the other hand, the share of Hindi films has dropped to 35.1% from 41.3% by similar comparison.
On the valuation front, the company’s enterprise value is 8.3 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) compared with the two-year average valuation of 14.7. On Tuesday, the stock fell by 1% to Rs 1,505 on the BSE from the previous day’s close.
