Cineplex Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Cineplex EPS Results

• Actual EPS: C$0.12
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Cineplex Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $383.72 million
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Cineplex Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/11/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Cineplex (TSE:CGX) is a diversified media company that operates chains of movie theaters. The company has four reporting segments: film entertainment and content; media; amusement and leisure; and location-based entertainment. The film entertainment and content segment includes revenue from theater attendance. The media segment includes cinema media and digital place-based media operations. The amusement and leisure reporting segment manages the operation and distribution of gaming and vending equipment. Formerly housed in the amusement and leisure segment, the location-based entertainment business derives revenue from entertainment restaurant chains like The Rec Room and Playdium. The film entertainment and content segment generates most of its revenue from audiences located entirely in Canada.

Cineplex Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Record quarterly performance: Revenue rose 9.8% year over year to CAD 383.7 million, attendance increased 9.3% to 12.7 million guests, and adjusted EBITDA grew 20.4% to CAD 40.8 million. Management attributed the gains to a broad, diverse film slate and operating leverage.
• Positive Sentiment: The company highlighted strong momentum in premium theatrical experiences, including record demand for IMAX, UltraAVX, 4DX, ScreenX and VIP formats, alongside a robust second-half slate. Management said the domestic industry is tracking toward approximately CAD 10 billion in 2026 box office revenue.
• Positive Sentiment: Guest monetization improved, with record concession spending of CAD 10.26 per patron and merchandise sales up 45% year over year. Cineplex also reported growth in Cineplex Pictures distribution, Scene+ engagement and CineClub membership, supporting recurring visitation and additional revenue streams.
• Negative Sentiment: Location-based entertainment remained pressured by macroeconomic conditions and discretionary-spending constraints, with revenue down 3.7% and segment adjusted EBITDA falling to CAD 1.7 million from CAD 4.4 million. Management also acknowledged competition at select successful locations.
• Positive Sentiment: Cineplex ended the quarter with CAD 116.8 million of cash and no revolver borrowings, while leverage declined 1.5 turns over the past 18 months. Management expects to reach its 2.5x–3.0x target leverage range by the end of 2026 if the industry reaches its projected box office, potentially enabling share repurchases and/or dividend reinstatement.

Presentation

[Operator]

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to Mahsa Rejali. Please go ahead.

[Mahsa Rejali, VP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations at Cineplex]

Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to Cineplex's second quarter 2026 earnings release conference call. I'm Mahsa Rejali, Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations at Cineplex. Joining me today are Ellis Jacob, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Gord Nelson, our Chief Financial Officer. I'll remind you that certain statements being made are forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions regarding information currently available. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Information regarding factors that could cause results to vary can be found in the company's most recently filed annual information form and management's discussion and analysis. Following today's remarks, we will close the call with our customer question and answer period. I will now turn the call over to Ellis Jacob.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Thank you, Mahsa, and good morning, everyone. I am extremely excited to be speaking with you today at a defining moment for Cineplex. We have just come off the highest grossing week in our company's history. Box office results were more than 20% ahead of our previous record set during the release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in December 2015, which is the highest grossing film of all time at the domestic box office. That achievement speaks to the exceptional strength of the current film slate and the positive momentum we are seeing in our business. Against that backdrop, I'm pleased to share Cineplex's tremendous second quarter 2026 results, which demonstrates how we are effectively translating the current content environment into strong financial results. We delivered total revenue of CAD 383.7 million, resulting in a new second quarter revenue record and growing nearly 10% year-over-year.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

We also delivered significant EBITDA growth of more than 20% and improved cash flow generation. This quarter's success was not dependent on a single blockbuster or a small number of tentpole releases. Instead, consumers embraced a broad range of compelling content across multiple genres and formats. These trends reinforce what we have long believed. When audiences are provided with quality content on a consistent basis, moviegoing becomes part of the cultural conversation and a recurring entertainment choice. The steady flow of diverse, compelling content we are seeing today creates a healthy and more durable industry environment, giving us continued confidence in the long-term growth outlook for theatrical exhibition. What gives us further conviction is Cineplex's unique position within the industry.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

We are Canada's market leader with more than 150 theaters nationwide, leading premium formats, a proprietary cinema media platform, a growing film distribution business through Cineplex Pictures, one of the country's strongest loyalty ecosystems through Scene+, and leading location-based entertainment brands with The Rec Room and Playdium. These assets create multiple earning streams, deepen our relationship with guests, create robust data opportunities, and provide competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate. Together, these assets position Cineplex to convert improving industry conditions into sustainable long-term growth, stronger profitability, and increasing cash flow generation. Let's get into what drove our record performance in the quarter. The second quarter showcased one of the strongest and most diverse content slates we have seen in years. Family films were a significant driver of performance. The Super Mario Bros. Movie became the first film of 2026 to surpass $1 billion globally.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Toy Story 5 delivered a new franchise opening record and subsequently joined the year's billion-dollar releases. This demonstrates the appeal these beloved characters have across generations and show how compelling stories can bring audiences to theaters at scale. At the same time, audiences are also eager for original storytelling. Michael became the highest grossing biopic of all time, whereas Obsession and Backrooms exceeded industry expectations, ultimately becoming two of the highest grossing horror films in Cineplex history. Obsession has now generated more than CAD 250 million at the domestic box office, a remarkable achievement for an independent horror film. Backrooms was equally notable, illustrating how content that originates on digital platforms can successfully transition to theatrical exhibition when paired with the right audience. One of the most encouraging trends we observed is the return of the Gen Z audience, a demographic many questioned would fully embrace moviegoing.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

That trend was certainly evident in the performance of Obsession and Backrooms. This demographic contributed meaningfully to our second quarter results and continues to demonstrate that moviegoing remains a highly relevant and valued social experience. Together, these films reflect the growing influence of our new generation of filmmakers who are connecting with audiences in new and exciting ways. The Devil Wears Prada 2 outperformed the original film and delivered one of the strongest VIP Cinemas performances in Cineplex's history, while films such as Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu further demonstrated continued demand for premium large-format experiences. As the market leader in premium formats, Cineplex is well-positioned to capture the growing demand behind this trend. Guests also choose to enhance their movie-going experience through our expanded food and beverage offerings and merchandise programs.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

During the quarter, we delivered record theater food service revenue and an all-time quarterly concession per patron record of CAD 10.26. Merchandise continued to be an important contributor, with sales increasing 45% year-over-year and reaching a new quarterly record. Popular items tied to major releases included themed collectibles from The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu, as well as the iconic red popcorn purse inspired by The Devil Wears Prada 2. These offerings helped drive incremental spending, deepen guest engagement, and further capitalize on the excitement surrounding major film releases. Overall, the quarter demonstrated healthy consumer demand across a wide range of content, genres, and audience segments. As that demand continues to grow, we are increasingly well-positioned not only as an exhibitor but also as a distributor of content through Cineplex Pictures.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Michael became the highest-grossing film ever distributed by Cineplex Pictures and was the second highest-grossing film at the box office during the quarter. Its performance reinforces the growing scale and relevance of our distribution business and demonstrates our ability to successfully connect quality content with Canadian audiences. Together with our upcoming film slate, including Godzilla Minus One and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, we remain confident in the continuing growth opportunity for Cineplex Pictures. Alternative programming and events. Beyond traditional films, we continue to give Canadians more reasons to visit our theaters. Cineplex is a clear market leader in international content and continues to outperform the domestic market. We continue to view our theaters as premium destinations for shared entertainment experiences of all kinds. During the quarter, we proudly partnered with TSN to present select FIFA World Cup matches in theaters across Canada.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Cineplex was the only exhibitor in Canada offering fans the opportunity to watch these matches on the big screen and one of only a handful of exhibitors across North America providing this type of premium viewing experience at scale. The response was extremely encouraging and demonstrated the broader opportunity for Cineplex to be part of large cultural moments. Through major sporting events, concerts, live performances, or specialty content, we see the potential to attract new audiences, create incremental revenue streams, and further maximize the value of our theater network. Media. Turning to cinema media, during the quarter, we delivered year-over-year revenue growth despite a particularly strong prior year comparison. The prior year benefited from elevated spending from the pharmaceutical category ahead of patent expirations for certain products. Our cinemas continue to provide advertisers with a premium high-attention environment.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Recent Canadian research conducted for Cineplex Media and launched at our recent media showcase further reinforced the effectiveness and value of cinema advertising. The findings demonstrated strong audience attention, advertising recall, and brand impact. Our media platform also provides meaningful access to Gen Z consumers, one of the most sought-after, yet increasingly difficult demographics to reach through traditional media channels. As young moviegoers continue to return to theaters, we are uniquely positioned to help brands connect with this audience. Combined with improving attendance, this positions our media business well for continued growth. Location-based entertainment. In location-based entertainment, the industry continues to face macroeconomic headwinds impacting discretionary consumer spending. Our same-store performance has generally tracked in line with the results being experienced by our peers across the industry. We remain focused on driving visitation, optimizing operational execution, and driving productivity at our LBE locations.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Despite these near-term challenges, we remain confident in the long-term fundamentals of the business. Consumers continue to demonstrate a strong desire for social and experiential forms of entertainment, and our Playdium and The Rec Room brands are well-positioned to meet that demand. In June, we expanded our LBE presence with the opening of Playdium at Vaughan Mills, one of Canada's most visited shopping destinations. The venue features four exciting attractions, including Gel Blasters, a team experience that combines the best of laser tag and paintball, alongside an extensive game salon, a wide variety of food and beverage offerings. The new venue is delivering strong results in its early days of operation, reinforcing our confidence in our offering. Guest engagement and loyalty. Our loyalty ecosystem remains an important competitive advantage and continues to strengthen our relationship with guests. During the quarter, Shell launched nationwide with the Scene+ program.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

With the ability to earn and redeem points across groceries, entertainment, dining, travel and now fuel, Scene+ continues to increase its relevance and frequency of engagement for members. For Cineplex, Scene+ and its more than 15 million members remain a powerful tool to strengthen guests' relationships, drive repeated incremental visitation, and deliver more personalized experiences. Complementing Scene+ is CineClub, our movie subscription program, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. With more than 270,000 members and visitation rates that are approximately 4x higher than non-members, CineClub continues to strengthen loyalty, encourage more frequent moviegoing, and reinforce Cineplex's position as one of the most affordable and compelling out-of-home entertainment options available to Canadians. As we look ahead into the back half of the year, industry momentum and optimism remain strong. Earlier this year, the domestic box office surpassed CAD 5 billion faster than in any year since 2019.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

This milestone highlights the improving fundamentals of the industry and provides a solid foundation for the balance of 2026 and beyond. More recently, the opening of "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" have further demonstrated the strength of premium event filmmaking and Cineplex's ability to bring these cultural moments to life through exceptional theatrical experiences across our circuit. "The Odyssey" opened to $124 million domestically, with Cineplex over-indexing the market and operating three of the top 20 theaters in North America. Demand for premium experiences has been exceptional, including sold-out IMAX 70mm presentations throughout the film's run. Cineplex operates eight of the world's 41 IMAX 70mm screens, reinforcing the strategic value of our premium format footprints and our ability to attract moviegoers seeking the highest quality theatrical experience.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Released on July 31st, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" delivered a record-breaking $360 million domestic opening and has already surpassed $1 billion at the global box office. Together with the sustained performance of "The Odyssey," these films helped drive outstanding results across our circuit. They also generated record-breaking results across our industry-leading premium formats, including UltraAVX, 4DX, ScreenX and VIP, further highlighting consumer demand for premium theatrical experiences and Cineplex's unique ability to meet that demand at scale. Looking further into the second half of the year, the slate remains exceptionally strong and highly diversified.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Family audiences will be well-served by anticipated releases including "The Cat in the Hat," "Hex" and "Jumanji: Open World." Comedy fans can look forward to "Digger" and "Focker-in-Law," while horror remains one of the industry's most resilient genres with "Clayface" and "Werwulf." Science fiction is particularly compelling with the much-awaited Doomsday in December with the opening of both "Avengers: Doomsday" and "Dune: Part Three." Both films are generating significant consumer anticipation and should represent one of the biggest opening weekends of the year. Beyond these categories, highly anticipated titles such as "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" and "Godzilla Minus Zero," both distributed by Cineplex Pictures, and "The Social Reckoning" further contribute to one of the deepest and most diversified release schedules we have seen in years. We are also encouraged by the growing commitment from non-traditional studios.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Amazon MGM Studios continues to expand its theatrical ambitions with upcoming releases including Verity, How to Rob a Bank and I Play Rocky. At the same time, Netflix continues to increase its engagement with the 49-day theatrical window for Narnia in 2027. Non-traditional studios increasingly recognize the value theaters create in building awareness, cultural relevance and long-term audience demand. These developments reinforce a trend we have discussed for several quarters. Theatrical exhibition continues to be the engine that drives the train and remains the most important distribution channel for content, helping maximize its success across all platform and windows. With the industry's continued resurgence, we believe Cineplex is entering this next phase with a solid foundation for growth. The momentum we are seeing in the business is translating into stronger profitability, cash flow generation and balance sheet flexibility.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

We believe the strength of our business and the opportunities ahead are not yet fully reflected in how Cineplex is currently valued. I will now turn the call over to Gord Nelson, our Chief Financial Officer, to walk through the financial results in more detail.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Thanks, Ellis. I am pleased to present a condensed summary of Cineplex's record second quarter 2026 results. As Ellis mentioned, we're coming off the highest box office week in the company's history, making this an especially exciting time for our industry and our business. For further reference on our second quarter results, our financial statements and MD&A have been filed on SEDAR+ and are also available on our Investor Relations website at cineplex.com. Our MD&A and earnings press release include a complete narrative on the operational results, so I will focus on highlighting select items in addition to providing commentary on liquidity, capital allocation priorities, and our outlook. For my comments on operations, all amounts following will be from continuing operations unless otherwise stated.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

The second quarter reflected continued momentum in our exhibition business, supported by a stronger film slate that drove higher attendance and a meaningful growth in revenue per patron metrics, adjusted EBITDA and cash flow. Total revenues for the quarter were CAD 383.7 million, an increase of 9.8%, driven primarily by a 9.3% increase in theater attendance to 12.7 million guests. Notably, our revenue represented the highest second quarter revenue in the company's history, underscoring both the strength of the content environment and Cineplex's ability to translate attendance growth into profitable revenue generation. Our consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was CAD 40.8 million, up 20.4% from CAD 33.9 million in the prior year. The disproportionate growth in adjusted EBITDA relative to revenue reflects the operating leverage in our business and demonstrates the significant earnings and cash flow potential associated with incremental attendance. Let's take a closer look at the segments.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

In the film entertainment and content segment, attendance increased by approximately 1.1 million guests. The increase in attendance contributed to box office revenues increasing 11.2% to CAD 176.2 million, representing our second highest quarter box office revenue since 2019. Performance was supported by a balanced mix of successful franchise releases and compelling original content. The breadth and consistency of film supply remain key drivers of exhibition performance as a diversified film slate encourages repeat moviegoing and helps offset the natural variability in performance across individual titles. Box office revenue per patron reached an all-time quarterly record of CAD 13.91, up 1.7% from the prior year. The increase reflects inflationary and strategic pricing initiatives, partially offset by fewer promotions and a lower premium format mix as the film slate skewed towards 2D releases. Theater food service revenue increased 11.8% to an all-time quarterly record of CAD 130 million.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

These results demonstrate our continued ability to drive guest engagement and monetize attendance through premium food, beverage, and merchandise offerings. Concession revenue per patron reached an all-time quarterly record of CAD 10.26, an increase of 2.2% year-over-year. The increase reflects strategic pricing initiatives, higher purchase incidents, and strong growth in merchandise sales. Merchandise contributed roughly one-third of the CPP growth and achieved a new quarterly revenue record, highlighting the significant growth potential of this category. Other revenue increased 20.9% year-over-year, reflecting increased online booking fee revenues associated with stronger attendance, as well as higher distribution revenues from Cineplex Pictures. During the quarter, Michael was our second highest grossing film and became the highest grossing film ever distributed by Cineplex Pictures. Cash rent paid or payable was slightly lower than the prior year due to portfolio optimization initiatives and ongoing lease management efforts.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Other occupancy costs remain generally consistent with the prior year. While theater payroll and theater operating expenses increased compared to the prior year, growth in those costs remain below attendance and revenue growth, reflecting effective expense management by our team. Segment adjusted EBITDA for film and entertainment and content increased 32.8% to CAD 48.2 million. This result marks our highest second quarter segment adjusted EBITDA since 2019, driven by higher attendance, record per patron metrics, and strong operating execution. In the media segment, revenues increased 4.4% year-over-year to CAD 20.2 million. This performance reflects higher demand for advertising placements with strength across several key customer categories, despite a difficult comparison against elevated pharmaceutical advertising spend in the prior year. Cinema media per patron was CAD 1.59 compared to CAD 1.67 in the prior year.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Despite the modest decline, improving attendance and greater consistency in film supply continue to support advertiser demand and position the business for future growth. Adjusted EBITDA for the media segment was CAD 15 million, remaining flat relative to the prior year. Location-based entertainment revenues for the quarter were CAD 32 million, a decrease of 3.7% compared to the prior year, reflecting the broader economic headwinds and discretionary spending pressures experienced across the industry. Adjusted store-level EBITDA was CAD 3.9 million, compared with CAD 5.8 million in the prior year. Adjusted store-level margin was 12.2%, down from 17.5% in the prior year. Excluding the 2024 new builds, same-store adjusted store-level EBITDA margin was 15.3%. At the segment level, adjusted EBITDA was CAD 1.7 million, compared to CAD 4.4 million in the prior year. Despite the softer revenue environment, we are focused on operational discipline and improving profitability within our LBE business.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

We remain confident in its long-term potential. During the quarter, we opened Playdium Vaughan, marking the 17th location in our LBE portfolio, and the location has delivered strong results since opening. G&A expenses for the quarter were CAD 24.2 million, compared to CAD 21.9 million in the prior year period. The increase was primarily due to the timing of recognition of LTIP and increased LTIP costs associated with changes in Cineplex's common share price. This was partially offset by reduced restructuring costs relative to the prior year. We ended the quarter with CAD 116.8 million of cash on the balance sheet and no drawings under our CAD 100 million covenant light revolving credit facility. In addition, approximately CAD 92.5 million remained available under the facility after letters of credit. With improved operating results, our strong cash position provides us with additional capacity to execute on our capital allocation priorities.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged and include maintaining our assets, strengthening the balance sheet, and achieving our target leverage ratios, providing shareholder returns through share repurchases and/or dividends when appropriate, and selectively investing in attractive growth opportunities. Net capital expenditures for the quarter were CAD 7 million and included investment related to the opening of Playdium Vaughan. Our full-year capital expenditure guidance remains at approximately CAD 50 million. Over the last several years, we have taken deliberate actions to strengthen the balance sheet and improve our financial flexibility. These actions have included the sale of non-core assets, the refinancing and extension of our debt maturities, and a continued focus on operational execution during a period of attendance volatility. With sustained momentum in attendance and profitability, leverage has declined one and a half turns over the past year and a half.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

As a result, we have improved visibility toward achieving our long-term target leverage ratio of 2.5x-3x, which we believe is achievable in the near term. As our leverage profile continues to improve and earnings continue to grow, our financial flexibility increases. Higher earnings generation expands our builder basket capacity, and together with continued de-leveraging, enhances our ability to return capital to shareholders. This includes opportunistic share repurchases under our normal course issuer bid, and upon achieving our target leverage ratio, the reintroduction of a dividend. We remain encouraged by the performance and outlook of both the industry and our business. Recent releases have continued to drive strong attendance, record guest spending, and improving profitability across our circuit, reinforcing the positive momentum we are seeing in the business.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Looking ahead, we remain encouraged by the balance of the 2026 release calendar and the continued commitment to theatrical exhibition from both traditional and non-traditional content creators. As attendance and profitability continue to improve, we see a clear path toward our target leverage range, while also unlocking growth opportunities across each of our business segments. We remain focused on executing against these opportunities and creating long-term shareholder value. With that, I will turn it back to the operator for questions.

[Operator]

If you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press star one one on your touchtone phone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Adam Shine with National Bank of Canada.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Hello. Good morning. Hopefully, you can hear me. One question for you, Ellis, and one for Gord with a few parts to it. Ellis, it's been, I think, 13 and a half months since the press release say that you were going to be leaving at the end of this year. And obviously, you'd be highlighting on recent calls that the board continues with the effort in regards to the succession planning. But just curious, any updates in regards to what's going on? No details in anything we've seen today in that regard, and curious if there's a potential extension out to the first half of next year, potentially in the cards. For you, Gord, notwithstanding all the positive elements at the top line that were referenced, your EBITDA was a bit light.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Maybe it's on us, on The Street for having pushed a bit too high, but when we go back to some of the calculations you addressed in a question on the Q1 call, you were still comfortable with that CAD 13.50 per patron exhibition, CAD 1.50 per patron media. In theory, that would have been CAD 60 million up on EBITDA. I think your exhibition business came in +12, which was actually very strong. But my question to you really is the three-parter in regards to, we saw the lower margin in LBE. We saw the JV loss related to marketing spend for the new Shell Canada partnership. And then I think there was some higher G&A, which surprised a little bit, and some of that maybe was referenced to LTIP timing.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Really just curious if some of these things improve, going into the back half, the JV loss, whether the marketing spend continues at or below that level, and whether G&A steps down, going into the Q3. And I'll leave it there. Thank you.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Thank you, Adam, for your question about my retirement. I am preparing to retire by the end of the year, and the board is managing the process, and it is well underway. Our focus continues to remain on strengthening and growing the business, and I am proud of what we have accomplished, and I think the year is going to be quite strong for us at Cineplex.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Okay. Thank you for that, Ellis.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Yeah. Adam, of course. Let me take you through a couple of the items. You called out a number of them, so let us focus. The exhibition business was the strong performer of the quarter. What we saw really in the other businesses and one-time costs, which I will elaborate a little bit on. With respect to the LBE business, typically the second quarter is the lowest traffic quarter of the year. If you look at the results in the quarter, obviously we called out FIFA a little bit, so there was some success related to FIFA viewership in the theaters.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

When you look at the revenue mix in that business, we did see food and beverage increases in the quarter, and as you would expect, as people coming out and enjoying and watching some of those events. Amusement was down.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Yeah.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Focus on the events. Amusement is the highest margin revenue category in that business. We got a little bit of a mix shift with respect to the revenue side, which impacted the overall margin of where you saw that. EBITDA, same store, was down about CAD 2 million, which as we look forward, you expect that to reverse a little bit. You called out a couple of one-timers, so let me go through those. The Scene JV costs. Scene would typically operate on a relatively close to breakeven level. In quarters where we are doing something like a national launch of Shell as an example, there would be some additional costs, implementation costs as well as marketing costs to launch new members.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

That would be, I am calling that as a more of a one-time quarterly expense that you would not expect to see on a go-forward basis. In the G&A category, I am going to call out a couple of things here. If you look at, as we disclose it in our MD&A, the base category, you are going to see just a little bit of timing, and that is in some of our technology initiatives, to be honest. If you look at our year-to-date number for what we would call base G&A, as in our MD&A, it is only up 1.9% on a year-to-date basis. Roughly CAD 700,000.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Yeah.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Whereas in the quarter, it is up CAD 2 million, it is up 10%. It is purely timing. This quarter was impacted more than other quarters. I am going to just call out LTIP too. LTIP, the accelerated share price. As we call it out in the MD&A, there is a little bit of a change, which is going to impact the 2026 results related to what I am going to call retirement-eligible employees, where there is an acceleration of the expense related to them, but not the vesting. There is no change to the vesting, but retirement-eligible employees have the ability to have the full grant available to them over the appropriate vesting period. That would be about a CAD 6 million hit for 2026, which will be really a one-time event for this year. I think I hit.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

You definitely did.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Oh, I am done.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

No, you definitely did. Of the CAD 6 million in 2026, how much have we already seen in the first half?

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

That will be sort of roughly CAD 3 million, half of it.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Okay. One last follow-up, if you do not mind, and that is there seem to have been some resolution, a finality to some of the tax AMC related item. Curious, because you called out in the MD&A, some of that was already refunded. Curious how much is still left to go of the, call it CAD 26 million+, and whether any intention to use any of that beyond just deleveraging. Would you do any buyback related to that or not at all? Thank you.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Yeah. First of all, that relates to a tax litigation matter related to the losses that were acquired on the acquisition of AMC back in mid-2013 or so. We were successful in that litigation. The CAD 26 million is the quantum of the losses that were at dispute, so not the tax impact. Our effective tax rate is roughly 26%. We did get roughly, I am going to say, 26% of CAD 26 million back as a refund because we had put that on account. There was sort of a deferred payout to AMC of roughly CAD 3 million related to the final resolution of all tax matters related to that acquisition. There was a net inflow, Adam, but it is not of the magnitude that you described there.

[Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada]

Got it. Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Drew McReynolds with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

[Drew McReynolds, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Yeah, thanks very much. Good morning. Thanks, Gord, for that OPEX breakdown. Very helpful. One follow-up to that just on the film cost percentage. It just feels, certainly from our perspective, it continues to creep up and clearly a diversified slate that did not appear to be a lot of concentration. Just any thoughts on whether anything has structurally changed there underneath the hood? On the LBE outlook, again, appreciate the detail there. In the MD&A, you talk about competition. Wondering if that was a transitory comment just with respect to, obviously, all the sporting events that were ongoing. Or is there kind of something new that you are flagging there?

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

On the film rental itself, the bottom line is as the box office improves and the movies do better, there is an adjustment in the film rent. But overall, there hasn't been a change in the film rent moving forward.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

On the LBE question, yeah, look, we did highlight competition. There are certain locations in our portfolio that have been extremely successful. We're seeing alternative concepts in select locations come up, which does impact our business to a certain degree in those locations. It's not widespread, but we are seeing where we have successful locations, there have been some entrants.

[Drew McReynolds, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Okay. Thanks, Gord and Ellis for that. Just additionally, we can go back and scrub this but you typically have a good line of sight on this. Clearly August is going to be very strong at the box office. Is there anything from last year, whether that's in August or September, that you'd call out as either particularly easy or tough comps from a slate perspective? Then maybe the bigger picture question here is as the industry comes back, and as you're seeing Q2 and Q3 play out, I know it's never a perfect visibility here, but can you update us on just what your working assumptions would be in terms of how you hope attendance will track somewhat on an annualized basis going forward here into 2027, just as a percentage of 2019 levels?

[Drew McReynolds, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Just trying to tie in whether there's been any kind of change in the broader working assumption of what you can get back to, again, on an annualized, normalized basis, just notwithstanding quarterly volatility. Thank you.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Hey, Drew, it's a good question. Just looking at the year to date, we've already had five movies that have crossed CAD 1 billion. You've got The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Michael, and Toy Story 5. The good news is we are close to covering the month of August in the first 10 days compared to last year. That's a result of both The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. We expect that to continue for the next number of weeks. We've got PAW Patrol also opening this week, and that should help us. The industry is tracking at the CAD 10 billion of box office that we were discussing and getting to that number. There's a lot of good films for the balance of the year, which is exciting and should continue to do well for us.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

One of the things that I should say is when I look at the second quarter and you look at some of the differences, in the month of June, we end up with schools closing much later than the U.S., but in the month of August, we start later and they already have started to go back to school. So that should help us on the numbers comparison.

[Drew McReynolds, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Got it. Thank you. I appreciate it.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Cheryl Zhang with TD Cowen. Your line is now open.

[Cheryl Zhang, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Hey, good morning, Ellis and Gord. Congrats on a very strong quarter. Happy to see the box office results and improvement. I would like to double-click on CPP. I think you called out its record number from strategic pricing and also higher purchase incidents. Wondering if you can elaborate on that and what you are seeing in terms of consumer purchasing decisions considering the film content.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Yeah. Cheryl, we also called out sort of a category of merchandise, and Ellis called out the red purse from "The Devil Wears Prada," which was like a sellout immediately. We are seeing a really strong demand for movie-related merchandise as part of the concession purchase. We called it out as being a record with growth, and representing roughly a significant portion of the overall CPP growth. We generated just around CAD 4 million of sales from merchandise in the second quarter. For us, as we have always described is, we look at pricing in this business is, we typically look to pass on food cost inflation in through price. CPI kind of growth in pricing, but it is about broadening the basket, and so merchandise sales is a great example of kind of broadening that product basket, and then increasing the incidents, so the frequency of purchasing.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

I would say in the second quarter, this broadening of the basket is what generated roughly 1/3 Of the CPP growth during the quarter.

[Cheryl Zhang, Analyst at TD Cowen]

That's great color. Thank you.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Sorry, just to add on to that, because of the demand for merchandise in the theaters, we've also added an online platform so consumers can buy the merchandise content if it is sold out at the theater.

[Cheryl Zhang, Analyst at TD Cowen]

That's great. Just to follow up on that, what are you seeing in terms of concession-related sales as related to The Odyssey and Spider-Man performance thus far?

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

It continues to be strong, and there's good demand as we're going through with those two films.

[Cheryl Zhang, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Okay, thank you, Ellis. Maybe just one more, on media, I think you called out there is still strong demand from advertising. I am wondering, based on your conversation with the advertisers, are there any changes in their thinking of the spending budgets, in light of the softer macro backdrop?

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Yeah, Cheryl, that is a good point. Look at as we looked at the second quarter as an example, our media revenue went up. When you look at the overall media market, we definitely saw sort of a shift in category spending. The out-of-home market had tremendous success in the second quarter. That includes billboards, stadiums, and sort of street furniture. You would expect that people were putting their money into FIFA-related campaigns that wanted to be all over the cities, particularly where those events were held. As we look forward, you are bang on, it is a challenging kind of macro environment, which is impacting advertising spend.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

That is in part why we did two things during the quarter and it impacted our OpEx to a certain degree in our media business. One is we held an upfront event to really showcase the content that is coming out over the next 12 months. In addition to that is we launched our research study into sort of the intention statistics through Amplified. Those are two costs that we incurred in the quarter. Again, looking to kind of gain traction in a tougher media environment over the short or the shorter near term.

[Cheryl Zhang, Analyst at TD Cowen]

That is very helpful. Thank you so much.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Thank you.

[Operator]

As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press star one one on your touchtone phone. Our next question comes from Maher Yaghi with Scotiabank. Your line is now open.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Great. Thank you for taking my question, and welcome back, Mahsa. I wanted to ask you, so "The Odyssey" is generating a lot of demand for premium seatings. How should we think about the contribution specifically to Q3 from that movie? Will it have an impact on your film cost? Is there a different metric that we should think about when forecasting the movie costs in Q3 that would be different in any way compared to previous quarters?

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

No, the film cost basically is based on the performance of the film. If the film gets stronger and does better, the film cost is slightly higher. But, overall, there shouldn't be a significant impact from the movie delivering the box office.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. Sometimes specific films do have a higher marginal cost related to the tickets themselves to the studios. Is there anything specific to The Odyssey on that we should be aware of?

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

No, there's no change, so there's nothing that you should be concerned about.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. It seems like we have good momentum going into Q3. As you mentioned, August has so far been very strong. What would you flag in terms of the cash generation that we should think about when looking, forecasting Q3 and Q4 that would allow you to reach your maybe target leverage at an earlier possible time to allow you to reengage in stock buybacks?

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Yeah. We're very encouraged by the results for the back half of the year and where things are going, particularly with the momentum that's coming out of the month of August, as Ellis described. There's a technical calculation of how these builder baskets work, which I will, at an extremely high level, provide the test, but I encourage you to, you'd have to go down and do the calculations in detail. But roughly, if you go back to January 1 of 2024 and look at the cumulative EBITDA from that point in time, it needs to cover, the basket opens up to the extent that it covers more than 1.75x sort of the fixed interest charges. And the fixed interest charges are a rough calc is about CAD 60 million a year. So that's the interest charge on our high yield debt and our convertible debenture.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

So part one of your question is that calculation opens up the basket at some point in time. The second part of your question is on leverage, and in my comments, as I said that we're confident and comfortable that. As we look at the near term, that target of 2.5x-3x is well within our reach now.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. Can you maybe help us or give us some reference as to when you think you'd be in those target leverage ranges?

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Okay. Most industry participants are forecasting or projecting a domestic box office of about CAD 10 billion for this year. If that's the case, and the industry delivers on that amount, then you'd expect that we would be in that range, in our target range with the reporting of the Q4 results.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay, great. Just to continue that discussion. You mentioned earlier the dividend optionality, and you have the buyback optionality. Given where the stock is and long-term projections that you have, which way you're leaning more on going forward to be your preferred method to return cash to shareholders?

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Yeah. Look, we always, I would say, we describe the NCIB program as sort of being what I would call opportunistic and looking for opportunities to drive value. As we just approach and as we cross that kind of target leverage ratio range, we will then make a more focused discussion on where our priorities are with respect to those two items. I would say both of them are on the table, and then as we look forward and create more significant free cash flow generation in 2027, things could open up more in one of those options. But at this point in time, I am just going to say that both of those are on the table and a focus, but we are not going to provide the levels between the two of them at this point.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. That is fair. Maybe one just question on theater screens, and I am sure it is a good problem to have when you have such a high demand for a movie on IMAX. But it seems like the capacity in many of the big cities in Canada are slightly supply-constrained for that difficult format. Would you consider in the future to add more IMAX screens, or at this point, the movie slates are not necessarily requiring a big change in how you have your design set up?

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

It is a good question, but you have to remember, as I mentioned in the commentary, we have eight of the top 41 locations in the world, and we will continue to evaluate as things move forward. So when you look at it and we have 20% of the total number in the world, that is pretty significant.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

I agree. But for now, we should not think about CapEx. How should we think about CapEx for the rest of 2026 and maybe 2027? If you had to give us an idea on where you are going to land on CapEx, that would be helpful. Thank you.

[Gord Nelson, CFO at Cineplex]

Yeah. So for as required, I provided comments that our guidance for 2026 is about CAD 50 million. Then as we look into next year, and we have the one, obviously, LBE location that opened in 2027. We have no further commitment at this point in time, but our guidance for 2027 would be roughly CAD 60 million.

[Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Great. Thank you. Thank you for taking my questions.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Thank you.

[Operator]

That concludes today's question and answer session. I would like to turn the call back to Ellis Jacob for closing remarks.

[Ellis Jacob, President and CEO at Cineplex]

Just want to thank you again for joining us this morning. We remain quite excited about the future of Cineplex and confident in the long-term opportunities ahead. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.

[Operator]

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Mahsa Rejali, VP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations
• Ellis Jacob, President and CEO
• Gord Nelson, CFO

Analysts

• Adam Shine, Analyst at National Bank of Canada
• Drew McReynolds, Analyst at RBC Capital Markets
• Cheryl Zhang, Analyst at TD Cowen
• Maher Yaghi, Analyst at Scotiabank