AMC 電影院 (AMC) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the AMC Entertainment Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call.

女士們、先生們，下午好，歡迎參加 AMC Entertainment 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。

(Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded on Tuesday, August 8, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Mr. John Merriwether. Please go ahead.

（操作員說明）本次電話會議於​​ 2023 年 8 月 8 日星期二進行錄音。我現在想將電話會議轉給 John Merriwether 先生。請繼續。

Thank you, Kelsey. Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome everyone to AMC's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Webcast.

謝謝你，凱爾西。下午好。歡迎大家觀看 AMC 2023 年第二季度收益網絡廣播。

With me this afternoon is Adam Aron, our Chairman and CEO; and Sean Goodman, our Chief Financial Officer.

今天下午和我在一起的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Adam Aron；以及我們的首席財務官肖恩·古德曼。

Before I turn the webcast over to Adam, let me remind everyone that some of the comments made by management during this webcast may contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's current expectations. Numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those that might be expressed today. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in our most recent public filings, including our most recently filed 10-K and 10-Q. Several of the factors that will determine the company's future results are beyond the ability of the company to control or predict. In light of the uncertainties inherent in any forward-looking statements, listeners are cautioned against relying on these statements. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events.

在我將網絡廣播交給 Adam 之前，讓我提醒大家，管理層在本次網絡廣播中發表的一些評論可能包含基於管理層當前預期的前瞻性陳述。許多風險、不確定性和其他因素可能導致實際結果與今天可能表達的結果存在重大差異。我們最近提交的公開文件中討論了許多風險和不確定性，包括我們最近提交的 10-K 和 10-Q。決定公司未來業績的幾個因素超出了公司的控製或預測能力。鑑於任何前瞻性陳述固有的不確定性，請聽眾不要依賴這些陳述。公司不承擔因新信息或未來事件而修改或更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

On this webcast, we may reference non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA and constant currency, free cash flow, operating cash generated, among others. For a full reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to GAAP results, please see our earnings release posted in the Investor Relations section of our website earlier this morning.

在此網絡廣播中，我們可能會參考非公認會計準則財務指標，例如調整後的 EBITDA 和固定匯率、自由現金流、產生的運營現金等。如需了解我們的非公認會計準則衡量指標與公認會計準則結果的全面對賬，請參閱今天上午早些時候發佈在我們網站投資者關係部分的收益報告。

After our prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. This afternoon's webcast is being recorded, and a replay will be available in the Investor Relations section of our website at amctheatres.com later today.

在我們準備好的發言之後，將進行問答環節。今天下午的網絡廣播正在錄製中，今天晚些時候將在我們網站 amctheatres.com 的投資者關係部分提供重播。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Adam.

這樣，我會將電話轉給 Adam。

Thank you, John. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today.

謝謝你，約翰。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。

When I think of our second quarter 2023 results and our start to the third quarter, I want to share this with all of you. In plain English: AMC blew it out of the water in the second quarter of 2023. And I might add that the third quarter of 2023 is starting out to be roaring hot too. Around here, the metaphors we often use to describe our circumstances involve famous movie quotes. Our recent results in Q2 and so far in Q3 of 2023 bring to my mind Bruce Willis as Lieutenant John McClane in the Die Hard movies, when he would say, "Yippee-ki-yay." He would then add a colorful expletive that I cannot repeat on this call. I think the closest I can get to it would be, "Yippee-ki-yay, mother ducker." So yes, that's the second quarter of 2023.

當我想到 2023 年第二季度的業績和第三季度的開局時，我想與大家分享這一點。簡而言之：AMC 在 2023 年第二季度取得了巨大的成功。我想補充一點，2023 年第三季度也開始變得異常火爆。在這裡，我們經常用來描述我們的處境的隱喻涉及著名的電影台詞。我們最近在2023 年第二季度和第三季度的結果讓我想起了布魯斯·威利斯(Bruce Willis) 在《虎膽龍威》電影中飾演約翰·麥克萊恩中尉，當時他會說“Yippee- ki-yay”。然後他會添加一句我無法在這次通話中重複的色彩豐富的髒話。我想我能說的最接近的話就是“Yippee-ki-yay，鴨子媽媽”。是的，那就是 2023 年第二季度。

Without being too dramatic. The stakes are high and we're surrounded by some uncertainties and risk, but it's certainly encouraging for us all to take a moment this afternoon and celebrate our immensely positive results in the most recently completed quarter. AMC's results in Q2 2023 were well ahead of last year's second quarter and well ahead of the market's expectations. Indeed, AMC exceeded consensus market expectations across the board, generating post-pandemic records for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, net income and earnings per share. We now have posted 3 consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA. And this quarter, for the first time since Q2 of 2019, that's 4 years ago, we generated positive earnings per share, yet another milestone in our path towards ongoing recovery. While we still have much work ahead of us on this front, AMC's glide path to eventual recovery continued with significant pace in the second quarter of 2023 as our results set new records and represent AMC's strongest second quarter in 4 full years.

又不會太戲劇化。風險很高，我們面臨一些不確定性和風險，但今天下午花點時間慶祝我們在最近完成的季度中取得的巨大積極成果，這無疑令人鼓舞。 AMC 2023年第二季度業績遠超去年第二季度，也遠超市場預期。事實上，AMC 全面超出了市場普遍預期，在收入、調整後 EBITDA、淨利潤和每股收益方面創下了疫情后的記錄。我們現已連續 3 個季度實現正調整 EBITDA。本季度，自 2019 年第二季度（即 4 年前）以來，我們首次實現了正每股收益，這是我們持續復甦之路上的又一個里程碑。儘管我們在這方面還有很多工作要做，但AMC 在2023 年第二季度繼續以顯著的速度實現最終復甦，因為我們的業績創下了新紀錄，並代表了AMC 四年來最強勁的第二季度。

Following an impressive start to the year in the first quarter of 2023, the second quarter yet again showed great progress. AMC saw more than a 12% growth in attendance, more than a 15% growth in total revenue and a 71% increase in adjusted EBITDA compared to the second quarter of 2022 last year. Indeed, adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2023 was $182.5 million, the highest such quarterly figure for AMC since the fourth quarter of 2019.

繼 2023 年第一季度取得令人印象深刻的開局後，第二季度再次取得了巨大進展。與去年第二季度相比，AMC 的觀眾人數增長了 12% 以上，總收入增長了 15% 以上，調整後 EBITDA 增長了 71%。事實上，2023 年第二季度調整後 EBITDA 為 1.825 億美元，這是 AMC 自 2019 年第四季度以來的最高季度數據。

Our ongoing progress is obvious and ever so encouraging. Combining AMC's commitment to innovation with a notable increase in both the number and the quality of movie titles from our studio partners, movie theaters are once again captivating audiences and driving audience and attendance back to theaters in general. And especially at AMC, we're driving audiences and attendance back to AMC theaters. Our theaters across the globe welcomed more than 66 million guests in the second quarter of 2023, up 12.2% over the prior year's Q2. And it was our highest quarterly attendance number also since the fourth quarter of 2019.

我們不斷取得的進展是顯而易見的，而且非常令人鼓舞。將 AMC 對創新的承諾與我們工作室合作夥伴的電影數量和質量顯著提高相結合，電影院再次吸引觀眾，並推動觀眾和上座率重返影院。尤其是在 AMC，我們正在推動觀眾和上座率重返 AMC 影院。 2023 年第二季度，我們遍布全球的影院接待了超過 6600 萬名觀眾，比去年第二季度增長 12.2%。這也是自 2019 年第四季度以來我們最高的季度出席人數。

Let's use the second quarter domestic industry box office as a proxy for the size and the improving health of our industry overall. Looking at domestic injury box office for the second quarter: Ticket sales grew by nearly 15% compared to the same quarter last year, benefiting from 6 movies that grossed more than $100 million each. Anchored by Super Mario Bros.; and franchises such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, Fast & Furious, Transformers and The Little Mermaid, these titles provided compelling moviegoing experiences. Year-to-date through today in 2023, 19 films crossed the $100 million mark in gross ticket revenues compared to only 12 during the same period in 2022. That is a 58% increase. And the total number of wide-release films grossing more than $5 million also continues to rise from 24 in Q2 of 2022 to 36 in Q2 of 2023. That's a 50% increase.

讓我們用第二季度的國內電影票房來衡量整個行業的規模和健康狀況的改善。從第二季度國內傷害票房來看：票房收入比去年同季度增長近15%，受益於6部票房過億的電影。由《超級馬里奧兄弟》主播；以及《銀河護衛隊》、《蜘蛛俠》、《速度與激情》、《變形金剛》和《小美人魚》等系列電影，這些影片提供了引人入勝的觀影體驗。 2023 年至今，共有 19 部影片的總票房收入突破 1 億美元大關，而 2022 年同期只有 12 部影片。增幅為 58%。票房超過 500 萬美元的廣泛發行電影總數也繼續從 2022 年第二季度的 24 部增加到 2023 年第二季度的 36 部。增幅為 50%。

One area that has far exceeded pre-pandemic norms has been AMC's per-patron revenue. AMC moviegoers are consistently seeking out the most immersive sight and sound experiences, especially important to AMC as we offer more premium large-format screens than any other exhibitor. You know what premium large-format screens are, IMAX; Dolby Cinema; and our various house brands, including PRIME at AMC and iSense in Europe, among others. Demonstrating how significant these premium large-format screens are to AMC's success, the so-called PLFs represent only 5.3% of our total screens globally but an astounding 19% of our second quarter ticket revenues.

遠遠超過大流行前標準的一個領域是 AMC 的每位觀眾收入。 AMC 電影觀眾一直在尋求最身臨其境的視覺和聲音體驗，這對 AMC 尤為重要，因為我們提供比任何其他放映商更多的優質大屏幕屏幕。你知道什麼是優質大屏幕，IMAX；杜比影院；以及我們的各種自有品牌，包括 AMC 的 PRIME 和歐洲的 iSense 等。所謂的 PLF 僅占我們全球銀幕總數的 5.3%，但卻占我們第二季度門票收入的 19%，這證明了這些優質大尺寸銀幕對 AMC 的成功有多麼重要。

AMC's imaginative offerings at our concession stands and in our dine-in theaters also helped AMC to generate, in the second quarter, for food and beverage revenues per patron $7.36 a head. That is within $0.01 of our all-time-high watermark for food and beverage spending per patron. Considering the enormous operating margins in our food and beverage business, this is contributing meaningfully to AMC's improving profitability, but to me perhaps the most surprising second quarter statistic of all is this one: Because of our determined and sustained pandemic-era cost reduction efforts, along with ticket pricing initiatives and soaring food and beverage revenues, comparing Q2 2023 to Q2 of 2019, 4 years ago pre pandemic, AMC's overall profit per patron, after the costs of goods sold, improved by an impressive 40%, 4-0 percent, in the United States; and 22% internationally in constant currency. Put those together. That's a 36% total global increase in our profitability per patron in constant currency.

AMC 在我們的小賣部和堂食影院提供的富有想像力的產品也幫助 AMC 在第二季度為每位顧客創造了 7.36 美元的食品和飲料收入。這距離我們每位顧客的餐飲支出歷史最高水位不到 0.01 美元。考慮到我們食品和飲料業務的巨大營業利潤，這對AMC 盈利能力的提高做出了有意義的貢獻，但對我來說，也許最令人驚訝的第二季度統計數據是這個：由於我們在大流行病時期堅定而持續地削減成本，隨著門票定價舉措和食品和飲料收入的飆升，將2023 年第二季度與4 年前大流行前的2019 年第二季度相比，AMC 扣除銷售商品成本後的每位顧客的總體利潤提高了40%、4-0%，令人印象深刻，在美國；國際上按固定匯率計算為 22%。把它們放在一起。按固定匯率計算，我們每位顧客的盈利能力在全球範圍內總共增長了 36%。

And if the Q2 domestic industry box office wasn't enough to lift our spirits and bolster our path to recovery: The month of July, the first month in Q3, was the highest-grossing month for AMC in 12 years. And it was the second highest-grossing box office month ever in our 103-year history. As you know, this performance in July was driven by the resounding success of titles such as Sound of Freedom; Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One; Oppenheimer; and for all of you dressed in pink, Barbie, among other titles. In the United States, the July box office represented a 5.8% increase compared to the pre-pandemic July of 2019 and a 20% increase compared to last year's July. For AMC globally, these milestones translated into July of 2023 being the highest-revenue month for our company in our entire 103-year history. The first week of August is continuing with an incredibly strong showing, with the domestic industry box office about double that of last year. This all speaks to what we at AMC have said time and time again. Studios are masterful at storytelling. And when they have great stories to tell, they are best showcased, in the words of Nicole Kidman, as dazzling images on our huge silver screens. Here at AMC, those stories are perfect and powerful. And audiences are flocking to our AMC theaters in the United States and our Odeon cinemas in Europe and our AMC cinemas in the Middle East as a result.

如果第二季度的國內電影票房還不足以振奮我們的精神並支撐我們的複甦之路：7 月份，即第三季度的第一個月，是 AMC 12 年來最高票房的月份。這是我們 103 年曆史上第二高的票房月。如您所知，七月份的演出是由《自由之聲》等作品的巨大成功推動的；碟中諜 - 航位推算第一部分；奧本海默；以及所有身著粉紅色衣服的人，芭比娃娃，以及其他頭銜。在美國，7月票房較2019年7月疫情前增長5.8%，較去年7月增長20%。對於全球 AMC 而言，這些里程碑意味著 2023 年 7 月將成為我們公司 103 年曆史上收入最高的月份。八月的第一周繼續呈現出令人難以置信的強勁表現，國內電影票房約為去年的兩倍。這一切都印證了我們 AMC 一次又一次說過的話。工作室擅長講故事。當他們有精彩的故事要講時，用妮可·基德曼的話說，它們最好在我們巨大的銀幕上以令人眼花繚亂的圖像的形式展示。在 AMC，這些故事是完美而有力的。因此，觀眾紛紛湧向我們在美國的 AMC 影院、歐洲的 Odeon 影院以及中東的 AMC 影院。

Looking forward to the rest of 2023, we have a slew of exciting movies yet to be released this year. They're coming. And barring complications to the timing of film releases due to the uncertainties arising from the writers' and actors' strikes currently well underway, unfortunately, we have good reason to believe that the second half box office will continue to show real strength this year. Even so, we will not get to 2019 pre-pandemic levels for this full year 2023, but there is a clear trajectory upwards. Our hope is that COVID-19 is but a bad ancient memory by 2024 or 2025. Even though as much as some of you hate it when I say the words COVID, we are still dealing with the aftermath of that pandemic.

展望 2023 年剩下的時間，今年我們還有大量激動人心的電影尚未上映。他們來了。不幸的是，除非由於目前正在進行的編劇和演員罷工所帶來的不確定性而使電影上映時間變得複雜，否則我們有充分的理由相信今年下半年的票房將繼續展現出真正的實力。即便如此，2023 年全年我們仍無法達到 2019 年大流行前的水平，但有明顯的上升趨勢。我們希望到2024 年或2025 年，COVID-19 只會成為一段糟糕的古老記憶。儘管當我說“新冠肺炎”這個詞時，你們中的一些人很討厭它，但我們仍在應對這場大流行的後果。

Now at this point, I'll pass the webcast over to our CFO, Sean Goodman, to provide more details on our financial results, after which I'll return to talk about some of our ongoing initiatives and AMC's plans for the future as well as taking some of your questions.

現在，我將把網絡廣播轉交給我們的首席財務官肖恩·古德曼(Sean Goodman)，以提供有關我們財務業績的更多詳細信息，之後我將返回討論我們正在進行的一些舉措以及AMC的未來計劃回答你的一些問題。

Sean?

肖恩？

Thanks, Adam. Thanks, everyone, for joining us this afternoon.

謝謝，亞當。謝謝大家今天下午加入我們。

So before I begin my comments on our second quarter financial performance, I would like to just take one moment to provide a little bit of context behind our earnings release and 10-Q issuance this morning rather than our customary after-the-market issuance. As you know, the Delaware court is currently in the process of reviewing our proposed shareholder litigation settlement. A ruling by the court prior to the issuance of our 10-Q could constitute a post-balance-sheet event that might require an adjustment to our financial statements and thereby a possible delay in our regulatory filings and earnings release, so to avoid any such risk of a delay and the possibility of thereby missing our filing deadlines, we decided to release our results for the second quarter before the market opened this morning.

因此，在我開始對第二季度財務業績發表評論之前，我想花點時間提供一些有關我們今天早上的收益發布和 10 季度發行而不是我們慣常的盤後發行背後的背景信息。如您所知，特拉華州法院目前正在審查我們擬議的股東訴訟和解方案。在我們發布 10-Q 之前法院做出的裁決可能構成資產負債表後事件，可能需要對我們的財務報表進行調整，從而可能延遲我們的監管文件和收益發布，因此要避免任何此類事件由於存在延遲的風險以及因此錯過提交截止日期的可能性，我們決定在今天早上開市之前發布第二季度的業績。

Okay, so now on to our results for Q2, our strongest quarter post pandemic and a clear sign of our ongoing recovery. 2023 has continued to see box office recovery, $1.7 billion in Q1 and now $2.7 billion in Q2. For the first half of 2023, the box office is now up approximately 20% from the same period last year. And remember the first half of '22 was up almost 4x from the same period in 2021. With attendance growth of 12.2% and revenue growth of 15.6% compared to the second quarter of 2022, we grew our adjusted EBITDA by 71% to a post-pandemic record of $182.5 million. This illustrates the operating leverage that is inherent in our business model. For the quarter, we achieved positive earnings per share for the first time since Q2 of 2019. Now granted it's a small positive number, but for those of us who have been working tirelessly for AMC to recover from the depths of the pandemic, it is yet another milestone along our recovery.

好的，現在我們來看看第二季度的業績，這是大流行後最強勁的季度，也是我們持續復甦的明顯跡象。 2023 年票房繼續復甦，第一季度為 17 億美元，第二季度為 27 億美元。 2023年上半年，票房較去年同期增長約20%。請記住，22 年上半年比2021 年同期增長了近4 倍。與2022 年第二季度相比，觀眾人數增長了12.2%，收入增長了15.6%，調整後的EBITDA 增長了71%，達到了-大流行病創紀錄的1.825億美元。這說明了我們業務模式固有的運營槓桿。本季度，我們自2019 年第二季度以來首次實現了每股正收益。現在看來，這只是一個很小的正數，但對於我們這些一直在為AMC 從大流行的深淵中復蘇而不懈努力的人來說，這是值得的。我們康復過程中的又一個里程碑。

In the North American business, total revenue increased by 19.8% compared to Q2 of 2022. This was driven by an attendance increase of 15%; admissions revenue per patron increase of 2.2%; and food and beverage revenue per patron increase of 9.2% to a record all-time high of $8.22, surpassing the previous record that was set just last quarter and an amount that is 47.3% above pre-pandemic Q2 2019.

在北美業務中，總收入較 2022 年第二季度增長 19.8%。這是由於出席人數增加了 15%；每位觀眾的入場收入增長 2.2%；每位顧客的餐飲收入增長 9.2%，達到 8.22 美元的歷史新高，超過了上季度創下的紀錄，比 2019 年第二季度大流行前增長了 47.3%。

In the international business, on a constant currency basis, total revenue increased by approximately 1% compared to Q2 of 2022. This was driven by an attendance increase of 4.6%, admissions revenue per patron decrease of 1% and food and beverage revenue per patron increase of 6.5%. International food and beverage revenue per patron for the quarter was 34.5% above pre-pandemic Q2 of 2019. It's worth noting in the international business that, during the quarter, we saw a 27.6% decline in other revenue. This decline is associated with relatively high levels of gift card and package ticket expirations and also relatively high theater rental income all in the prior year period and associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.

在國際業務中，按固定匯率計算，總收入較2022 年第二季度增長約1%。這是由於出席人數增加4.6%、每位顧客的入場收入下降1% 以及每位顧客的餐飲收入所致增長6.5%。本季度每位顧客的國際餐飲收入比 2019 年第二季度大流行前增長了 34.5%。在國際業務中值得注意的是，本季度其他收入下降了 27.6%。這種下降與去年同期相對較高的禮品卡和套票到期時間以及相對較高的劇院租金收入有關，並且與 COVID-19 大流行對我們業務的影響有關。

As the industry box office continued on its recovery trajectory, our revenue growth in the quarter was advanced as guests responded favorably to our targeted marketing campaigns and increasingly adopted our industry-leading app. In addition, our creative food and beverage options such as movie-themed cocktails and unique collectible items encouraged frequent visits to the concession stands, all contributing to both revenue growth and our overall profitability of the business. Furthermore, visually stunning and action-packed films inspired audiences to experience our premium large-format offerings. Premium large format revenue, including 3D, represented 30.1% of domestic admissions revenue in Q2 of '23 compared to 26.7% in the second quarter of 2022. And in our international markets, premium format revenue represented 16.3% of admissions revenue compared to 15.7% in the second quarter of 2022.

隨著行業票房繼續走上復甦的軌道，我們本季度的收入增長也有所加快，因為客人對我們有針對性的營銷活動反應良好，並越來越多地採用我們行業領先的應用程序。此外，我們的創意食品和飲料選擇，例如電影主題雞尾酒和獨特的收藏品，鼓勵人們經常光顧特許攤位，所有這些都有助於收入增長和我們業務的整體盈利能力。此外，視覺震撼、動作豐富的電影激發觀眾體驗我們的優質大畫幅產品。包括3D 在內的優質大格式收入在2023 年第二季度佔國內入場收入的30.1%，而2022 年第二季度為26.7%。在我們的國際市場，優質格式收入佔入場收入的16.3% ，而2022 年第二季度為15.7% 2022 年第二季度。

Moving to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with liquidity of $643 million comprised of $435 million of cash and cash equivalents and $208 million of undrawn credit facilities. Operating cash generated, this is a non-GAAP measure representing cash from operating activities after deducting capital expenditures and before both debt-servicing costs and deferred rent payback, was a positive number of $100 million for the quarter. This is almost double the operating cash generated in Q2 of 2022.

轉向資產負債表。截至本季度末，我們的流動資金為 6.43 億美元，其中包括 4.35 億美元的現金和現金等價物以及 2.08 億美元的未提取信貸額度。本季度產生的運營現金（這是一項非公認會計準則指標，代表扣除資本支出、償債成本和遞延租金償還之前的運營活動現金）為正數 1 億美元。這幾乎是 2022 年第二季度產生的運營現金的兩倍。

Our top 2 capital allocation priorities remain, one, liquidity; and two, strengthening the balance sheet. During the second quarter, we continued to make progress in this regard. We raised $34.2 million of gross equity capital. We repurchased $42 million of debt at an average discount of 34%. And we repaid $27.1 million of deferred rent. The deferred rent balance at the end of the second quarter was $96.5 million, and we plan to reduce this balance by another approximately $40 million by the end of this year.

我們的兩大資本配置重點仍然是：一是流動性；二是流動性。第二，強化資產負債表。第二季度，我們在這方面繼續取得進展。我們籌集了 3,420 萬美元的總股本。我們以 34% 的平均折扣回購了 4200 萬美元的債務。我們償還了 2710 萬美元的遞延租金。第二季度末的遞延租金餘額為 9650 萬美元，我們計劃到今年年底將這一餘額再減少約 4000 萬美元。

So this year-to-date, we've raised $189 million of gross equity capital. We've lowered the principal value of our debt by $245 million through debt repurchases or exchanges of debt for equity, and we have repaid $61 million of deferred rent. Adding that all up, we've reduced our liabilities by $306 million thus far in 2023 and a total of $689 million since the beginning of 2022. In addition, we began the third quarter of 2023 with a purchase of yet another $24 million of debt during the month of July at a discount of approximately 28%.

今年迄今為止，我們已籌集了 1.89 億美元的總股本。通過債務回購或債轉股，我們將債務本值降低了 2.45 億美元，並償還了 6100 萬美元的遞延租金。總而言之，我們在 2023 年迄今為止已減少了 3.06 億美元的負債，自 2022 年初以來總共減少了 6.89 億美元。此外，我們在 2023 年第三季度開始時又購買了 2,400 萬美元的債務7 月份期間，折扣約為28%。

CapEx for the quarter net of landlord contributions was $46.6 million. And we expect net CapEx in 2023 to be in the range of $150 million to $200 million. During the second quarter, we also continued to actively manage our theater portfolio. We added 2 new theaters and we closed 16 theaters, so this brings the total number of locations closed since the pandemic began to 152 locations and the total new locations opened to 57, for a net reduction of 95 locations. And note that the combined 57 new locations continued to outperform the 152 closed locations prior to their closings.

扣除房東繳款後，本季度的資本支出為 4660 萬美元。我們預計 2023 年的淨資本支出將在 1.5 億至 2 億美元之間。第二季度，我們還繼續積極管理我們的影院投資組合。我們新增了 2 家影院，關閉了 16 家影院，這使得自疫情開始以來關閉的影院總數達到 152 家，新開業的影院總數達到 57 家，淨減少 95 家。值得注意的是，57 家新門店的綜合業績繼續優於關閉前 152 家已關閉門店的表現。

The pandemic almost crippled our business. Since then, we have made enormous progress in enhancing the moviegoing experience at AMC. This has resulted in very meaningful improvements to our per-patron profitability metrics. At the same time, we've also maintained strict cost and capital expenditure discipline. And because of our actions and a rapidly recovering industry box office, our revenue and our adjusted EBITDA have shown strong growth. And we have also been very active in the capital markets. We've taken opportunities to strengthen our balance sheet and to prepare AMC for a bright future.

疫情幾乎讓我們的生意陷入癱瘓。從那時起，我們在增強 AMC 的觀影體驗方面取得了巨大進步。這使得我們的每位顧客盈利指標得到了非常有意義的改進。與此同時，我們還保持嚴格的成本和資本支出紀律。由於我們的行動和快速復甦的行業票房，我們的收入和調整後的 EBITDA 都顯示出強勁的增長。我們在資本市場也非常活躍。我們抓住機會加強我們的資產負債表，並為 AMC 迎接光明的未來做好準備。

With the post-pandemic record-breaking second quarter behind us, our recovery to date is clear. However, we're not yet ready to declare victory. The box office remains around 16% below pre-pandemic levels. And there's some downside risks with the ongoing screenwriters' and actors' strikes. And with our fixed cost structure and relatively high debt-servicing costs, these are exacerbated by interest rate increases over the last 17 months, we continue to burn cash on the bottom line. Based on what we know today, we're optimistic about the remainder of the year and we believe that the 2023 box office could exceed 2022 by more than 20%. However, if the strikes are prolonged or if our ability to access the capital markets is constrained, then our ongoing recovery glide path and our ability to continue to take the necessary actions to strengthen our balance sheet and to ensure a full and sustained recovery may be in jeopardy.

隨著疫情后創紀錄的第二季度的過去，我們迄今為止的複蘇是顯而易見的。然而，我們還沒有準備好宣布勝利。票房仍比大流行前水平低 16% 左右。編劇和演員持續罷工也存在一些下行風險。由於我們的固定成本結構和相對較高的償債成本，過去 17 個月的利率上漲加劇了這些成本，我們繼續在利潤上燒錢。根據我們今天所了解的情況，我們對今年剩餘時間持樂觀態度，相信 2023 年票房可能會比 2022 年增長 20% 以上。然而，如果罷工時間延長，或者我們進入資本市場的能力受到限制，那麼我們持續的複甦之路以及我們繼續採取必要行動加強資產負債表並確保全面持續復甦的能力可能會受到影響。在危險之中。

And now I'll hand the webcast back over to Adam.

現在我將把網絡廣播交還給 Adam。

Thank you, Sean.

謝謝你，肖恩。

I'd like to give you all a brief update on 7 specific items related to some of our thinking as well as our exciting ongoing initiatives and our current plans.

我想向大家簡要介紹與我們的一些想法以及我們正在進行的令人興奮的舉措和當前計劃相關的 7 個具體項目的最新情況。

First, on liquidity. We've made many public statements throughout this year and again in recent weeks that AMC has still fully chartered our way through turbulent waters at a time when several of our most important competitors failed and that we watch our liquidity position very closely. We've made it clear that our strategy, first, is to survive; and then to thrive. Of course, we are heartened by the fact that we had $643 million of liquidity at the end of the second quarter of 2023, but some who follow us closely nonetheless underestimate the potential for cash burn in the seasonally weaker winter months. This is especially true given the uncertainties of the writers and actors' strike since no one knows when they will end. We intend to make sure that AMC does not run out of cash by continuing to seek the flexibility to raise fresh capital on the best possible terms. Our highest obligation to stakeholders is to avoid the pitfalls that sank others in our industry into financial ruin.

首先，關於流動性。我們今年和最近幾週多次發表公開聲明，表示在我們的幾個最重要的競爭對手都倒閉的時候，AMC 仍然完全為我們開闢了渡過動盪水域的道路，並且我們非常密切地關注我們的流動性狀況。我們明確了我們的戰略，第一是生存，第二是生存。然後蓬勃發展。當然，我們對 2023 年第二季度末擁有 6.43 億美元的流動性感到鼓舞，但一些密切關注我們的人仍然低估了季節性疲軟的冬季月份現金消耗的可能性。考慮到編劇和演員罷工的不確定性，這一點尤其正確，因為沒有人知道罷工何時結束。我們打算繼續尋求靈活性，以盡可能最好的條件籌集新資金，以確保 AMC 不會耗盡現金。我們對利益相關者的最高義務是避免讓我們行業中的其他人陷入財務破產的陷阱。

Second, on balance sheet management. In the second quarter, we methodically raised $34 million of equity and retired $42 million of debt. Sean, in his remarks, gave a lot of other statistics, various time frames of how much equity we raised and how much debt we retired. I am particularly intrigued by this statistic which you haven't heard yet on the call: Since the creation of the APE, preferred equity, units in August of 2022, about a year ago, AMC raised $418 million of equity; and retired $548 million of debt, including deferred rent, needless to say this is very helpful as we contemplate our current liquidity profile.

二是資產負債表管理。第二季度，我們有條不紊地籌集了 3400 萬美元的股本並償還了 4200 萬美元的債務。肖恩在講話中提供了許多其他統計數據，以及我們籌集了多少股本和償還了多少債務的各種時間框架。我對你們在電話會議上尚未聽到的這項統計數據特別感興趣：自 2022 年 8 月（大約一年前）創建 APE（優先股）單位以來，AMC 籌集了 4.18 億美元的股本；並償還了 5.48 億美元的債務，包括遞延租金，不用說，當我們考慮當前的流動性狀況時，這非常有幫助。

Third, on so-called PLF screens, premium large-format screens. As I mentioned earlier, a PLF screen grosses about 4x a regular non-PLF screen, so it's kind of obvious that we're happy that we have more PLF screens than any other movie theater company in the world. And assuming that we have sufficient cash reserves to invest in growth initiatives in a big way -- which at the moment we do not, but we could, looking a little further forward. Assuming we have sufficient cash reserves to invest in growth initiatives, we would intend to add a significant number of additional premium large-format auditoriums to our system.

第三，在所謂的 PLF 屏幕上，即高級大尺寸屏幕。正如我之前提到的，PLF 屏幕的總收入約為普通非 PLF 屏幕的 4 倍，因此很明顯，我們很高興我們比世界上任何其他電影院公司擁有更多的 PLF 屏幕。假設我們有足夠的現金儲備來大規模投資於增長計劃——目前我們還沒有，但我們可以，展望更遠的未來。假設我們有足夠的現金儲備來投資增長計劃，我們打算在我們的系統中增加大量額外的優質大型禮堂。

Fourth, on innovative theater programming. Over the past 2 years, we have experimented with sports programming and have featured great musical artists on our big screens. We will continue to look for opportunities to expand those innovative efforts.

第四，創新戲劇節目。在過去的兩年裡，我們嘗試了體育節目，並在大屏幕上展示了偉大的音樂藝術家。我們將繼續尋找機會擴大這些創新努力。

Fifth, on popcorn. Our new lines of ready-to-eat and microwave popcorn for the home are literally flying off the shelves at Walmart stores throughout the United States and on walmart.com. They were launched in March and April of 2023. And we would describe sales as being brisk and pleasantly ahead of our expectations, so much so that we are now looking seriously to expand into other grocery chains and other retail outlets. Once we get to a full national rollout in multiple channels, which could take a while, to be fair -- but based on the early results, so far, I would not at all be surprised if this turns out to ramp up, perhaps becoming up to $100 million per-annum revenue source for AMC Entertainment.

第五，關於爆米花。我們的新系列即食和微波爐爆米花在美國各地的沃爾瑪商店和 walmart.com 上幾乎已經售罄。它們於 2023 年 3 月和 4 月推出。我們認為銷售活躍且令人愉快地超出了我們的預期，以至於我們現在正在認真考慮擴展到其他雜貨連鎖店和其他零售店。一旦我們在多個渠道上進行全面的全國推廣，公平地說，這可能需要一段時間——但根據早期的結果，到目前為止，如果這最終會加速，也許會成為現實，我一點也不會感到驚訝。 AMC Entertainment 每年高達 1 億美元的收入來源。

Next, on premium gourmet candy. Our popcorn line has been so successful that we are now confident that we should keep going in the area of food, so much so that I expect that, later this year or early next, AMC will definitely introduce a private label line of various AMC theaters branded premium gourmet chocolate candies and gummies. I'm eating some samples right now as we speak on this call. The taste and the packaging are wonderful, in my opinion. And speaking of the taste: These chocolate-covered pretzels are like to-die-for good. Like, John, like, move them away. I can't...

接下來是高級美味糖果。我們的爆米花系列非常成功，以至於我們現在有信心在食品領域繼續前進，以至於我預計，今年晚些時候或明年初，AMC 肯定會推出各個 AMC 影院的自有品牌系列品牌優質美味巧克力糖果和軟糖。當我們在電話會議上發言時，我正在吃一些樣品。在我看來，味道和包裝都很棒。說到味道：這些巧克力椒鹽捲餅簡直讓人欲罷不能。就像，約翰，就像，把他們搬走。我不能...

(inaudible).

（聽不清）。

No more. Calories, calories, calories.

不再。卡路里，卡路里，卡路里。

We believe we will be successful with the candy lines as we've been successful with the popcorn line. It goes without saying, of course, that we will still sell Hershey's and Nestlé products in our theaters, but just as, a year or so back, we asked the late Orville Redenbacher to make some room on shelves for our popcorn, so too we will ask the long-gone Milton Snavely Hershey and the long-gone Heinrich Henri Nestlé for their understanding that premium AMC candies coming to AMC theaters are now in the works as well.

我們相信我們的糖果生產線將會取得成功，就像我們在爆米花生產線上取得的成功一樣。當然，不言而喻，我們仍然會在我們的劇院銷售好時和雀巢產品，但正如大約一年前，我們要求已故的奧維爾·雷登巴赫在貨架上為我們的爆米花騰出一些空間，所以我們將向已故的米爾頓·斯內夫利·赫爾希(Milton Snavely Hershey) 和已故的海因里希·亨利·雀巢(Heinrich Henri Nestlé) 詢問他們對即將登陸AMC 影院的優質AMC 糖果目前也在製作中的理解。

And the last item, on merchandise. Early in the period where retailers -- where retail shareholders took control of AMC, which basically started in earnest in January 2021, through suggestions that came in on Twitter and other channels, retail investors directed our attention to the possible profits that can come from the sale of movie-themed merchandise and AMC-branded merchandise. We've had meaningful successes in this area, especially with our collectible popcorn vessels sold, almost weekly, in quantities of between 25,000 and 100,000 units almost each weekend at prices that have ranged from about $20 to about $65 each. We plan to significantly expand our merchandise efforts in 2024 and beyond with a greater variety of items and a larger available quantity of items for sale. It is not uncommon today for us to sell out of some of our movie-themed merchandise in the opening weekend of a movie's release. Movies run a lot longer than the first 72 hours, and I think our merchandise business would expand if we have greater supply to sell.

最後一個項目是商品。在零售商——散戶股東控制AMC（基本上是從2021年1月開始）的早期，通過Twitter和其他渠道的建議，散戶投資者將我們的注意力轉向了可能來自於AMC的可能利潤。電影主題商品和AMC 品牌商品的銷售。我們在這一領域取得了有意義的成功，特別是我們的收藏型爆米花容器幾乎每週都會售出，數量在25,000 到100,000 件之間，幾乎每個週末的價格在每件約20 美元到約65 美元之間。我們計劃在 2024 年及以後大幅擴大我們的商品銷售力度，提供更多種類的商品和更多的待售商品數量。如今，我們在電影上映的首周末就售空一些電影主題商品的情況並不罕見。電影的播放時間比前 72 小時要長得多，我認為如果我們有更多的供應來銷售，我們的商品業務將會擴大。

In closing these remarks, I'd like to address directly the millions of our AMC shareholders, so many of whom pay attention to what I say on Twitter and to these earnings calls. In a tweet yesterday, I expressed my sincerest possible gratitude for all of your support. If you read my Twitter feed, though, as I do, you'll see there's a lot of [likes] but also a lot of heat directed my way. That's okay. I have broad shoulders. And the variety of views comes with the territory when there are so many voices and so many opinions.

在結束這些講話時，我想直接向數百萬 AMC 股東致辭，他們中的許多人都關注我在 Twitter 上所說的話以及這些財報電話會議。在昨天的一條推文中，我對大家的支持表示最誠摯的謝意。不過，如果你像我一樣閱讀我的 Twitter 動態，你會發現有很多[喜歡]，但也有很多熱度指向我。沒關係。我有寬闊的肩膀。當有如此多的聲音和如此多的意見時，不同的觀點就會隨之而來。

As I read these inbound comments, I see that some who care about our company deeply still don't get the nuance of our current circumstances or wish that I would just cheerlead only the good news, but that's not what CEOs are supposed to do. The success we have seen this year in our theaters, especially including Q2 and Q3 results so far, is what makes us optimistic that we are on the right road; and that by 2024 or 2025, we will look back on the decade of the 2020s with amazement and pride as to how well at AMC we dealt with the most challenging hands of cards ever directed our company's way in the century-plus of its long existence, but despite that medium-term confidence, in the short term -- and some of you don't like to hear this, but in the short term, AMC has some serious liquidity issues to solve. We should not oversimplify that it will be easy to overcome the obstacles and hurdles in our path. However, this AMC management team has proven over the past few years that AMC is highly able in liquidity management, so I have every confidence that we will continue to execute well to do what is needed. To the extent humanly possible, I am determined that at AMC we will rise to every and to any challenge.

當我閱讀這些入站評論時，我發現一些深切關心我們公司的人仍然沒有理解我們當前情況的細微差別，或者希望我只為好消息歡呼，但這不是首席執行官應該做的。今年我們在影院取得的成功，特別是迄今為止第二季度和第三季度的業績，讓我們樂觀地認為我們走在正確的道路上；到 2024 年或 2025 年，我們將驚訝而自豪地回顧 2020 年代的十年，我們在 AMC 處理了有史以來一個多世紀以來指導我們公司前進的最具挑戰性的牌手的表現，但儘管有中期信心，但在短期內——你們中的一些人不喜歡聽到這個，但在短期內，AMC 有一些嚴重的流動性問題需要解決。我們不應該過於簡單化，認為克服我們道路上的障礙和障礙是很容易的。然而，AMC的管理團隊在過去幾年中已經證明AMC在流動性管理方面具有很強的能力，因此我完全有信心我們將繼續出色地執行所需的工作。在力所能及的範圍內，我決心在 AMC，我們將迎接每一個挑戰。

Thank you for listening. Sean, let's now move to questions both from shareholders and from industry analysts on the call.

感謝您的聆聽。肖恩，現在讓我們回答股東和行業分析師在電話會議上提出的問題。

Thanks, Adam. So quite a few questions from shareholders here. And first question relates to our strategic direction, and the question is what are the top priorities for AMC both today and in the future. Are we considering M&A opportunities?

謝謝，亞當。股東們提出了很多問題。第一個問題涉及到我們的戰略方向，即AMC現在和未來的首要任務是什麼。我們是否正在考慮併購機會？

So some of you have asked me on Twitter, like, why are we still talking about COVID. And that's because in the -- we are because, in the movie theater industry, the industry-wide box office, which is the basic size of our industry, is still below 2019 levels. And that's a lingering problem because, if you look at the box office 2017, 2018, 2019, this industry was sized for about an $11.5 billion box office. And in 2020, it was $2 billion. 2021, it was $4.5 billion. 2022, it was $7.5 billion. This year, I hope it hits $9.5 billion. It might hit more, might hit less. We won't really know till the end of the year. It's going to be a lot more than 2022, but we're still down below pre-pandemic norms. And if -- I remember when we shut our theaters in March of 2020 and people were predicting we'd be back [as in] normal in 4 to 6 weeks. Our theaters were shut for 5.5 months. Some of our theaters were shut for almost a year. And the box office fell by more than 80% that year. And it still was way below pre-pandemic levels even now 3 full years later, so we've had to adjust our strategy because the movie theater industry has come back slowly. And so our strategy has become survive then thrive. We have had to take the steps to make sure this company survives, and not all companies in our industry can say that. Other companies with big brand names, both big chains that you would recognize and small chains that had a cult following in some markets in Texas and California, they went bankrupt. And a lot of their theaters didn't reopen, so first, we have to survive.

你們中的一些人在推特上問我，比如，為什麼我們還在談論新冠病毒。那是因為，我們是因為，在電影院行業，全行業的票房，也就是我們行業的基本規模，仍然低於2019年的水平。這是一個揮之不去的問題，因為如果你看看 2017 年、2018 年、2019 年的票房，就會發現這個行業的票房規模約為 115 億美元。 2020 年，這一數字達到 20 億美元。 2021 年，這一數字為 45 億美元。 2022 年，這一數字為 75 億美元。今年，我希望達到 95 億美元。可能打的多，也可能打的少。直到今年年底我們才能真正知道。這將比 2022 年多得多，但仍低於大流行前的標準。如果——我記得 2020 年 3 月我們關閉影院時，人們預測我們會在 4 到 6 週內恢復正常。我們的劇院關閉了 5.5 個月。我們的一些劇院關閉了近一年。而當年票房跌幅超過80%。即使在三年後的今天，它仍然遠低於大流行前的水平，所以我們不得不調整我們的策略，因為電影院行業已經緩慢恢復。因此，我們的戰略是生存然後發展。我們必須採取措施確保這家公司生存下來，但並不是我們行業中的所有公司都能這麼說。其他擁有大品牌的公司，無論是你認識的大型連鎖店，還是在德克薩斯州和加利福尼亞州的一些市場上擁有狂熱追隨者的小型連鎖店，都破產了。他們的很多劇院都沒有重新開放，所以首先我們必須生存。

And as I said, we like the results. And April, May, June, July and August of this year are fabulous, so I think we're going to start to move from the survive phase to the thrive phase. To make sure we get there, and you've been hearing me say this as a broken record for 2 years now but especially in the last year, we must be able to raise capital if we need to because the dumbest thing we could ever do in the company is run out of cash. And other companies in this industry have run out of cash. And some of the armchair quarterbacks on Twitter would give me advice every day. If I had followed their suggestions, we would have run out of cash a long time ago. Or if I follow their suggestions now, we'll run out of cash soon. So the most important thing as part of the strategic direction of this company is make sure that we have ample cash reserves to outlast the aftermath of the pandemic. Because I've already said, in 2024 or 2025, it's going to look pretty bright, but if we were to run out of cash before we get to 2024 or 2025, that would be a disaster. And that's a disaster that I simply will do everything in my power to make sure that this company avoids, so when we talk about strategic direction, I think that we've got to make sure that we put this company in a position to be able to raise capital. That's what the shareholder vote in -- on March 14 was all about.

正如我所說，我們喜歡這個結果。今年的四月、五月、六月、七月和八月非常好，所以我認為我們將開始從生存階段轉向繁榮階段。為了確保我們實現這一目標，兩年來你一直聽到我說這是一個破紀錄，但特別是在去年，如果我們需要的話，我們必須能夠籌集資金，因為這是我們能做的最愚蠢的事情公司的現金已經用完。而這個行業的其他公司已經耗盡了現金。 Twitter 上的一些紙上談兵的四分衛每天都會給我建議。如果我聽從他們的建議，我們的現金早就用完了。或者如果我現在聽從他們的建議，我們很快就會耗盡現金。因此，作為該公司戰略方向的一部分，最重要的是確保我們擁有充足的現金儲備，以度過疫情的餘波。因為我已經說過，在 2024 年或 2025 年，它看起來會相當光明，但如果我們在 2024 年或 2025 年之前耗盡現金，那將是一場災難。這是一場災難，我將盡我所能來確保這家公司避免，所以當我們談論戰略方向時，我認為我們必須確保我們使這家公司能夠籌集資金。這就是 3 月 14 日股東投票的目的。

Next. [As] we have sufficient cash to survive till the glory days of 2024 or 2025, there are a lot of things that we can do with that cash because right now -- and Sean said we've taken our CapEx spending down to $150 million to $200 million a year. 3 or 4 years ago, we were investing $500 million in CapEx a year in our business. Right now it's prudent to husband cash, to save cash so that we don't run dry, but there will be a time that we have much more cash reserves than we have currently either because we will generate it from operations or because we'll raise it. And then the question is what do you do with that cash, and here is my list: First, we need to spend some money to effect what I'll call deferred maintenance on some of our theaters. We got -- we pulled our CapEx spending way down during the COVID-impacted years. And we've seen examples of leaking roofs and breaking air conditioners and boilers that provide heat in the winter that are towards the end of their life cycle and they're just breaking. They need to be repaired. We have thousands of our screens where the movie projectors are getting towards the end of their useful life and we are going to need to invest capital to replace those projectors. The good news of that, however, is we've already made the decision that, when we replace these projectors, we're putting in laser screens -- laser projectors. And laser lighting is but a -- it's a much brighter, sharper picture on the screen; and it's quite an environmentally friendly initiative too.

下一個。 [由於]我們有足夠的現金來生存到 2024 年或 2025 年的輝煌歲月，我們可以用這些現金做很多事情，因為現在 - 肖恩說我們已經將資本支出降至 1.5 億美元每年 2 億美元。三四年前，我們每年在業務上投資 5 億美元的資本支出。現在，謹慎地管理現金、保存現金，這樣我們就不會枯竭，但總有一天，我們的現金儲備會比目前多得多，要么是因為我們將從運營中產生現金，要么因為我們將舉起它。然後問題是你如何處理這些現金，這是我的清單：首先，我們需要花一些錢來對我們的一些劇院進行我所說的延期維護。在受新冠疫情影響的幾年裡，我們大幅降低了資本支出。我們已經看到了屋頂漏水、冬季供熱的空調和鍋爐損壞的例子，它們的生命週期即將結束，而且剛剛損壞。它們需要修理。我們有數千個屏幕，電影放映機的使用壽命即將結束，我們需要投資資金來更換這些放映機。然而，好消息是我們已經做出決定，當我們更換這些投影儀時，我們將安裝激光屏幕——激光投影儀。激光照明只是——它在屏幕上呈現出更明亮、更清晰的圖像；這也是一項非常環保的舉措。

Next. There are growth initiatives within our theaters. I've already mentioned on this call premium large-format screens. In the State of New York, until just recently, like in the past 12 months, it was illegal for movie theaters -- most movie theaters to sell alcohol. The New York legislature recently changed that law, but that means that we have a whole bunch of theaters where we probably should build full alcoholic bars into our theaters. One of the things that I'm interested in is putting more variety of food items into our concession stands, which might -- because our food and beverage sales are at a record high. That might require putting in $10,000 to $20,000 of equipment in a concession stand. $20,000 doesn't sound much -- like much until you realize we've got to put it in 575 theaters. All of a sudden, it's $10 million.

下一個。我們的影院內有一些增長計劃。我已經在這次電話會議中提到了高級大尺寸屏幕。在紐約州，直到最近，就像過去 12 個月一樣，電影院——大多數電影院——出售酒類都是非法的。紐約立法機關最近修改了這項法律，但這意味著我們有一大堆劇院，我們可能應該在我們的劇院裡建造完整的酒精酒吧。我感興趣的事情之一是將更多種類的食品放入我們的特許攤位，這可能是因為我們的食品和飲料銷售量創歷史新高。這可能需要在特許攤位上投入 10,000 至 20,000 美元的設備。 20,000 美元聽起來並不算多——直到你意識到我們必須在 575 家影院放映它。一下子就變成了1000萬美元。

Next. We have had some circumstances where we've been able to add theaters to our network and we're able to bring them into our system very inexpensively. When I say very inexpensively, I'm saying we've been -- all in, purchase price, transition costs, we've been able to bring some theaters into our system at 3x to 4x expected EBITDA. That is such a bargain. We've got to do that all day long if we can find opportunities to bring good theaters into our network inexpensively. There is M&A opportunity. And there are 2 kinds of M&A opportunity, right? There's just buy some movie theater chains if we can do so -- and I want to emphasize this, if we can do so at a bargain basement price. I have no desire to pay up to bring movie theater chains into our network, but if we can get a cheap price, that's value creation for our shareholders. And we raised a lot of cash. Maybe we can do some transformative M&A as well where we can look to expand to being something more than just a pure movie theater play. So that's sort of a strategic road map of where we might invest our monies if we have more money than we have today.

下一個。在某些情況下，我們能夠將影院添加到我們的網絡中，並且能夠以非常便宜的價格將它們引入我們的系統。當我說非常便宜時，我是說我們已經全力以赴，購買價格，過渡成本，我們已經能夠以 3 到 4 倍預期 EBITDA 的價格將一些影院納入我們的系統。真是太划算了。如果我們能找到機會以低廉的價格將優質劇院引入我們的網絡，我們就必須整天這樣做。有併購機會。併購機會有兩種，對嗎？如果我們能做到的話，我們就買一些連鎖電影院——我想強調這一點，如果我們能以便宜的基礎價格這樣做的話。我不想花錢將連鎖電影院納入我們的網絡，但如果我們能獲得便宜的價格，那就是為我們的股東創造價值。我們籌集了大量現金。也許我們也可以進行一些變革性的併購，我們可以尋求擴展到不僅僅是純粹的電影院。因此，這是一個戰略路線圖，說明如果我們有比現在更多的錢，我們可以將資金投資到哪裡。

Yes. Thanks, Adam. I think that addresses that question very nicely. There are some questions here about our theater footprint, so -- and what are the expansion opportunities with that footprint, both U.S. and internationally? And what are the opportunities to continue to close theaters, underperforming theaters; and improve our overall profitability? And also how does premium large format fit into those plans?

是的。謝謝，亞當。我認為這很好地解決了這個問題。關於我們的劇院足跡存在一些問題，那麼，該足跡在美國和國際上的擴張機會是什麼？繼續關閉影院、表現不佳的影院還有哪些機會？並提高我們的整體盈利能力？優質大幅面如何融入這些計劃？

So on the theater footprint. We've managed this like maniacally over the last 3.5 years. You gave the stats in -- earlier that we opened 50-something theaters and we closed 150-something theaters. We didn't open any of the 50 lightly. We didn't close any of the 150 lightly. We have -- when you look at a company that has almost 1,000 theaters globally: We've got some theaters that are brand new. We've got some theaters that are 25 years old. We've got some buildings in great shape. We've got some buildings sort of at the end of their useful lives. We've got theaters where we've got great rent deals with landlords and we've got theaters where we have terrible rent deals with landlords. We've got some theaters in unbelievably successful malls and other theaters in unbelievably unsuccessful malls. And so we have a whole department here, our real estate department, our development department, that's paying attention to every single one of these theaters, every single one of our landlord relationships. And where the theaters are successful, we cheerfully pay the rents. Where the theaters are not successful, we enter into cooperative dialogue with the theater landlord to see if they are willing to lower our rent to keep us around and continue to drive traffic to their other properties nearby. And in many cases, we're quite successful in getting landlords to adjust rents. In addition to that, I would say we have spectacular relationships with all of the large mall operators in the United States, the Simons, the Brookfields, the Westfields; and a whole slew of other theater owners. And I could name another probably 10 REITs who have anywhere from 5 to 50 of our theaters. I think we maintain excellent relationships with each.

所以在劇院的足跡上。在過去的 3.5 年裡，我們瘋狂地管理著這個問題。您提供了早些時候的統計數據，我們開設了 50 多家劇院，關閉了 150 多家劇院。這50個我們都沒有輕易打開。我們沒有輕易關閉這 150 家中的任何一家。當你看到一家在全球擁有近 1,000 家影院的公司時，我們會發現：我們有一些全新的影院。我們有一些已有 25 年曆史的劇院。我們有一些狀況良好的建築物。我們有一些建築物的使用壽命即將結束。我們有一些劇院與房東有很好的租金協議，也有一些劇院與房東有很糟糕的租金協議。我們在令人難以置信的成功購物中心中擁有一些劇院，而另一些劇院則在令人難以置信的不成功購物中心中。所以我們這裡有一個完整的部門，我們的房地產部門，我們的開發部門，負責關注每一個劇院，每一個房東關係。凡是劇院成功的地方，我們都會高高興興地支付租金。如果劇院不成功，我們會與劇院業主進行合作對話，看看他們是否願意降低我們的租金以留住我們，並繼續為附近的其他物業帶來客流量。在很多情況下，我們非常成功地讓房東調整租金。除此之外，我想說我們與美國所有大型購物中心運營商都建立了良好的關係，包括西蒙斯 (Simons)、布魯克菲爾德 (Brookfields)、韋斯特菲爾德 (Westfields)；以及許多其他劇院老闆。我還可以舉出另外大約 10 個擁有 5 到 50 個劇院的房地產投資信託基金。我認為我們與每個人都保持著良好的關係。

And one of the things -- because our relationships are so good, as they build new malls, they often want us to come along for the ride. Westfield just opened up a beautiful, new mall in Topanga to the northwest part of Los Angeles. And that theater that we opened there is already 1 of the 20 most profitable theaters we have in the United States. It opened in the past year. 1.5 years back -- I think it's 2 years back now. We brought in The Grove and Americana at Brand in L.A. and in Glendale in Southern California.

其中一件事是——因為我們的關係非常好，當他們建造新的購物中心時，他們經常希望我們一起搭便車。 Westfield 剛剛在洛杉磯西北部的 Topanga 開設了一家美麗的新購物中心。我們在那裡開設的劇院已經成為美國最賺錢的 20 家劇院之一。它於去年開業。 1.5 年前——我想現在已經是 2 年前了。我們在洛杉磯的 Brand 和南加州的格倫代爾引入了 The Grove 和 Americana。

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At Rick Caruso's retail establishments, The Grove is now the third most profitable theater in the entire United States for AMC. So that's an example of a theater that we brought into the network just in the past 2 years. And we continue to talk to landlords all over the place that we're ready, willing and able to bring theaters into our system if we can do so on good economic terms. And as an example of that, literally just in the last 2 weeks, we brought a theater into our system in Reading, Pennsylvania. It's not exactly as big a market as Downtown Los Angeles, but that's a theater where the seats were already reclined. And that theater enjoyed a 65% market share of its surrounding communities, and we got a very attractive price that brought that theater into our system quite reasonably. So we are continuing to look at pruning our system downwards where we have underperforming theaters and can't renegotiate rents. We're looking to keep our theater network the same size it is today by renegotiating rents. And we're looking to grow our theater network as our theater landlords want to take us where they go. And then of course, I mentioned there is always M&A opportunity as well, but there is nothing immediately on the horizon to report on that front.

在里克·卡魯索 (Rick Caruso) 的零售店中，格羅夫 (The Grove) 影院目前是 AMC 在全美利潤第三高的影院。這是我們在過去兩年內引入網絡的劇院的一個例子。我們繼續與各地的房東交談，表示我們已經準備好、願意並且能夠將劇院納入我們的系統，如果我們能夠以良好的經濟條件這樣做的話。舉個例子，就在過去的兩周里，我們在賓夕法尼亞州雷丁市的系統中引入了一家劇院。它不像洛杉磯市中心那麼大的市場，但那是一個座位已經傾斜的劇院。那家劇院在周邊社區佔有65%的市場份額，我們得到了一個非常有吸引力的價格，相當合理地將那家劇院納入我們的系統。因此，我們正在繼續考慮對錶現不佳且無法重新協商租金的劇院進行向下修剪。我們希望通過重新協商租金來保持劇院網絡的規模與目前相同。我們正在尋求發展我們的劇院網絡，因為我們的劇院業主希望將我們帶到他們去的地方。當然，我提到也總是存在併購機會，但目前還沒有任何關於這方面的報導。

Thanks, Adam. Let's talk a little bit about food and beverage. There are quite a few questions about that because it's been enormously successful for us post pandemic, a question here about plans to potentially expand the menu offering at theaters or plans to open restaurants at a theater or take food orders directly from [the seats in theater].

謝謝，亞當。我們來談談食物和飲料。關於這一點有很多問題，因為它對我們來說在大流行後取得了巨大的成功，這裡的一個問題是關於可能擴大劇院菜單供應的計劃或計劃在劇院開設餐廳或直接從[劇院座位上接受食物訂單] ]。

So look. This is something I -- this is something near and dear to my heart. I'm an eater, [if any of you have] seen me sideways. I'm not the slimmest guy around, although I weigh a lot less than I did 20 years ago -- and yes. And no more chocolate-covered pretzels or the chocolate-covered almonds...

所以看。這是我最親近的事情。我是一個食客，[如果你們中有人]側身看過我。我不是周圍最苗條的人，儘管我的體重比 20 年前輕了很多——是的。不再有巧克力椒鹽捲餅或巧克力杏仁......

They're pretty good...

他們還不錯...

Anyway, I think AMC was leading the way, before the pandemic, in having the biggest variety at our concession stands. Remember we introduced something called Feature Fare...

不管怎樣，我認為在疫情爆發之前，AMC 在我們的特許攤位上擁有最多的品種，處於領先地位。請記住，我們引入了一種稱為“功能票價”的東西......

Yes.

是的。

All across the system here in the United States, where we made a lot of progress in variety. We put in as a brand standard for all AMC theaters in the United States Coke Freestyle machines. I counted. More than 140 flavors come out of those Coke Freestyle machines. I think that's an enormous advantage for us over theater chains which still are offering 8, 12 or 14 flavor choices. Those Coke Freestyle machines don't come cheap, but I think that was a very smart investment for us. But then COVID hit. And when we came out of COVID, we came back with a very limited menu which we tried to grow back to sort of the Feature Fare levels, but then came supply chain shortages and then came labor shortages. And all of a sudden, some of our more complicated items were difficult for our staff at the concession stands to execute, which then would slow down delivery, which would lengthen lines at the concession stand. And you're always trying to balance a variety of items against speed of purchase in a concession stand because no one wants to wait in a long line. I don't blame them for that. And I'd say where we are today is we're back up to about 80% of the Feature Fare variety at the height of where we were in 2018.

在美國的整個系統中，我們在多樣性方面取得了很大進展。我們將 Coke Freestyle 機器作為美國所有 AMC 影院的品牌標準。我數過了。這些 Coke Freestyle 機器可生產出 140 多種口味。我認為，與仍然提供 8、12 或 14 種口味選擇的連鎖影院相比，這對我們來說是一個巨大的優勢。這些可口可樂 Freestyle 機器並不便宜，但我認為這對我們來說是一項非常明智的投資。但後來新冠疫情襲來。當我們走出新冠疫情后，我們回來時菜單非常有限，我們試圖將其恢復到特色票價水平，但隨後出現了供應鏈短缺，然後出現了勞動力短缺。突然之間，我們的一些更複雜的商品很難讓我們在特許攤位的工作人員執行，這會減慢交貨速度，從而延長特許攤位的隊伍。而且您總是試圖平衡各種商品與小賣部的購買速度，因為沒有人願意排長隊。我不會為此責怪他們。我想說的是，我們今天的情況是，我們的特色票價種類已恢復到 2018 年最高水平的 80% 左右。

And in talking with our food and beverage department. They'd like to see our variety of items get -- to expand up to Feature Fare levels within 12 months from today. But that was [just about] variety of menu items, but when you look at the success of our food and beverage efforts, remember -- let's use United States numbers. Pre pandemic in 2019, we were doing $5 a head in per-patron food and beverage spending. In the United States, we're doing over $8 of food and beverage spending today per head. That is a staggering increase when you realize that, if you take out only cost of goods sold -- so this isn't the labor at the concession stand and not the capital cost equipment and stuff but just like the cost of the syrup and the cost of the corn and the cost of hot dogs and the rolls and the nachos and all the stuff, [like candy, that we sell]. Like we have more than an 80% margin in our food and beverage business. And for our food and beverage business to be up as much as it is -- $7.36 was the number globally in the second quarter. This is a staggering success for us, so I really want to complement our F&B department, led by a guy named Hank Green. We're just hitting that out of the park in F&B spending, and that's what's driving such a big increase in per-patron profitability for AMC. Remember the stat I gave. Our per-patron probability -- this isn't just food and beverage. This is total per-patron profitability. It's a combination of expense reductions, ticket price initiatives, food and beveraging success. Our food and -- our profit per patron is up 40% in the United States. It's up 22% internationally. These are stunning numbers.

並與我們的食品和飲料部門交談。他們希望看到我們的產品種類在從今天起的 12 個月內擴展到功能票價水平。但這只是菜單項的多樣性，但是當您看到我們的食品和飲料工作所取得的成功時，請記住 - 讓我們使用美國的數字。 2019 年大流行之前，我們每位顧客的食品和飲料支出為每人 5 美元。在美國，如今人均食品和飲料支出超過 8 美元。當你意識到，如果你只考慮所售商品的成本，這是一個驚人的增長——所以這不是特許攤上的勞動力，也不是設備和材料的資本成本，而是像糖漿和飲料的成本一樣。玉米的成本以及熱狗、麵包卷、玉米片和所有東西的成本，[比如我們賣的糖果]。比如我們的食品和飲料業務的利潤率超過 80%。我們的食品和飲料業務第二季度的全球數字為 7.36 美元。這對我們來說是一個驚人的成功，所以我真的很想補充我們由漢克·格林領導的餐飲部門。我們在餐飲支出方面剛剛達到了驚人的水平，這就是推動 AMC 的每位顧客盈利能力大幅增長的原因。記住我給出的統計數據。我們每個顧客的概率——這不僅僅是食品和飲料。這是每位顧客的總盈利能力。這是費用削減、票價舉措、食品和飲料成功的結合。在美國，我們的食品和每位顧客的利潤增長了 40%。國際上上漲了22%。這些數字令人震驚。

Adam, our shareholders [appear to be] uniformly very excited about the retail popcorn sales and our initiatives there, and so there are questions about do we plan to expand this further. And are there other potential revenue streams similar to retail popcorn that can help grow the business?

亞當，我們的股東[似乎]一致對零售爆米花銷售和我們在那裡的舉措感到非常興奮，因此有人質疑我們是否計劃進一步擴大這一範圍。是否還有其他類似於零售爆米花的潛在收入來源可以幫助業務增長？

So yes, I couldn't be more excited about the popcorn success. We spent over a year, in our food and beverage department, working on the right recipe for home corn because we -- whether it's in the bag, ready to eat, or microwave pouches that you microwave at home, we wanted a taste that -- wanted it to taste just like it tastes in a movie theater. And by the way, there's a secret to our popcorn. Not all popcorn is created equal. There are different grades of corn and we buy the best there is, so one of the reasons why our popcorn is so good at AMC theaters is we buy the best corn. It's like graded, and so our corn that's at home tastes great. And the sales: Like Walmart can barely keep it on the shelves. And they keep on reordering and they keep on selling out, so yes. We gave Walmart a 6-month exclusive because they gave us so many store locations. We rolled out the AMC popcorn in like 2,600 Walmart stores. Very few brands get to roll out, on day 1, in 2,600 Walmarts. Normally you'd get a fraction of that and you prove your way, but they believed in our brand and it's been a big success. And we're happy that -- to give them the full exclusive, but yes, we -- as soon as the exclusive is up, we will have conversations with all the major grocery chains, with all the major retail outlets in the country. I'd like to see -- and it's taking a while, but I'd like to see AMC popcorn on every shelf where you can buy [stock products]. There are other things too. I've already talked about the candy products. That's next. And there are a whole host of other ideas that we have to grow revenues for the company, but in the interest of time, I'll either save those for another earnings call or for our [fourth] quarter.

所以，是的，我對爆米花的成功感到非常興奮。我們在食品和飲料部門花了一年多的時間研究家庭玉米的正確配方，因為我們——無論是袋裝玉米、即食玉米，還是在家用微波爐加熱的微波爐袋裝玉米，我們想要的味道是—— - 希望它的味道就像電影院裡的味道一樣。順便說一句，我們的爆米花有一個秘密。並非所有爆米花都是一樣的。玉米有不同的等級，我們買的是最好的，所以我們的爆米花在 AMC 影院如此出色的原因之一就是我們買的是最好的玉米。就像分級的一樣，所以我們家裡的玉米味道很好。還有銷量：就像沃爾瑪一樣，幾乎無法將其保留在貨架上。他們不斷重新訂購，不斷售空，所以是的。我們給了沃爾瑪 6 個月的獨家經營權，因為他們給了我們很多商店位置。我們在大約 2,600 家沃爾瑪商店推出了 AMC 爆米花。很少有品牌能夠在第一天就在 2,600 家沃爾瑪超市推出。通常情況下，你會得到其中的一小部分，並證明你的方法，但他們相信我們的品牌，並且取得了巨大的成功。我們很高興為他們提供完全獨家的服務，但是，是的，一旦獨家服務結束，我們將與所有主要的雜貨連鎖店以及全國所有主要的零售店進行對話。我希望看到——這需要一段時間，但我希望看到 AMC 爆米花出現在每個可以購買[庫存產品]的貨架上。還有其他的事情。我已經談過糖果產品了。接下來就是了。我們還有很多其他想法，我們必須增加公司的收入，但出於時間考慮，我要么把這些想法留到另一次財報電話會議上，要么留到我們的[第四]季度。

Yes. Final question here, about the trading of our shares. And there's a few questions here related to can you comment, Adam, on the very high level of failures to deliver in AMC Securities.

是的。最後一個問題是關於我們股票的交易。亞當，這裡有幾個問題與您能否評論一下 AMC 證券的高交付失敗率有關。

Yes, I can, sort of. I mean there's a limit to what I'm supposed to say on this subject, but I can say some things. I know it's maddening to so many of our shareholders. I read my Twitter feed, guys. I know what you think. I know what you say because I get thousands of messages a day. And since -- for those of you who didn't send Elon Musk his $8 a month for a blue check mark, since you're limited to a couple hundred characters, you can read a tweet pretty fast. I know you're really frustrated by the high number of FTDs. And as many of you know, all of you know -- as many of you know, an FTD is a failure to deliver a share within the normal trading closing cycle which is within 2 trading -- 2 business days of the trade. And so if someone never delivers a share, they're breaking the law, but if they deliver the share 3 days late, instead of 1 day late, which is on the third day, they show up as an FTD in your eyes. But the trade did consummate. A little slow, but it consummated. If more than 0.5% of our trading volume is in an FTD status, then we'd go on something called the threshold list. And we've been on and off the threshold list many times in 2023 and, for that matter, in 2022 as well. And this drives some of you, like, out of your minds, because I read what you say. And I say "out of your minds" in a nice way. I don't mean it in a nasty way, but you're angry about it because you think there is something wrong going on. And again I've got to be very careful what I say legally, but I can tell you this: On multiple occasions, even multiple occasions this year, we have gone to the New York Stock Exchange at very high levels to make them aware of our status on the threshold list. And similarly we have gone to FINRA, which is the regulatory body of the public market. And we are voicing your concerns. Unfortunately -- I know many of you, like, would like to see the results of what they send us back. It's not so easy for us to share that information with you, but we're aware of the concerns. We're aware of them ourselves and we are taking them to the appropriate regulatory bodies.

是的，我可以，有點。我的意思是，關於這個話題我能說的有限，但我可以說一些事情。我知道這讓我們的許多股東感到憤怒。我讀了我的推特，伙計們。我知道你的想法。我知道你在說什麼，因為我每天都會收到數千條消息。而且，對於那些沒有每月向埃隆·馬斯克支付 8 美元購買藍色複選標記的人來說，由於您只能輸入幾百個字符，因此您可以很快地閱讀一條推文。我知道您對大量 FTD 感到非常沮喪。正如你們許多人所知，你們所有人都知道，FTD 是指未能在正常交易結束週期內交付股票，即 2 個交易日 - 交易後的 2 個工作日內。因此，如果有人從不交付股票，他們就違反了法律，但如果他們晚 3 天而不是晚 1 天（即第三天）交付股票，他們就會在您眼中顯示為 FTD。但交易確實完成了。雖然有點慢，但總算完成了。如果我們超過 0.5% 的交易量處於 FTD 狀態，那麼我們就會進入所謂的閾值列表。我們在 2023 年以及 2022 年多次出現在門檻名單上。這讓你們中的一些人失去了理智，因為我讀了你們所說的。我用一種好聽的方式說“你瘋了”。我並沒有惡意，但你對此感到憤怒，因為你認為發生了一些問題。再說一次，我必須非常小心我在法律上說的話，但我可以告訴你：在很多場合，甚至今年的很多場合，我們已經到紐約證券交易所的高層讓他們意識到我們在閾值列表上的狀態。同樣，我們也去了美國金融業監管局（FINRA），它是公開市場的監管機構。我們正在表達您的擔憂。不幸的是——我知道你們很多人都想看看他們發回給我們的結果。對我們來說，與您分享這些信息並不容易，但我們知道這些擔憂。我們自己也意識到了這些問題，並且正在將它們提交給適當的監管機構。

Kelsey, that's going to do it for the prepared questions from the Internet. Can you see if -- give the instructions for Q&A, please?

凱爾西，這將解決來自互聯網的準備好的問題。您能看看——請給出問答說明嗎？

(Operator Instructions) At this time, there are no questions. You may proceed, Mr. Merriwether.

（操作員說明） 此時，沒有任何問題。您可以繼續了，梅里韋瑟先生。

We are after 5:00, which is supposedly our cutoff, so I'm going to thank everybody for joining us today and leave you with a couple of thoughts.

我們已經過了 5:00，這應該是我們的截止時間，所以我要感謝大家今天加入我們，並留給你們一些想法。

One, we had a fabulous quarter in the second quarter of 2023. And July was gangbusters; and August is gangbuster, so far. And for those of you around the country who are listening in the United States, it's really hot in the United States right now. Most of our theaters are quite cool and they have some really good movies on the screen, so if you haven't gone to see Sound of Freedom or Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One or Oppenheimer or Barbie or Haunted Mansion or all the other wonderful movies that are out, go to an AMC theater near you. We'd love to see you in our theaters.

第一，我們在 2023 年第二季度度過了一個精彩的季度。7 月表現強勁；到目前為止，八月是最強勁的。對於全國各地在美國收聽的人來說，美國現在真的很熱。我們的大多數劇院都很酷，他們在銀幕上放映一些非常好的電影，所以如果您還沒有看過《自由之聲》或《碟中諜6：航位推測第一部》或《奧本海默》、《芭比娃娃》、《鬼屋》或所有其他電影精彩電影即將上映，快去您附近的 AMC 影院觀看吧。我們很高興在我們的劇院見到您。

Thank you for joining us today.

感謝您今天加入我們。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you very much for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a great day.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。我們非常感謝您的參與，並請您斷開線路。祝你有美好的一天。