AMC 電影院 (AMC) 2018 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to AMC Entertainment's Second Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

各位好，歡迎參加 AMC Entertainment 2018 年第二季財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 提醒各位，本次會議將被錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, John Merriwether, Vice President of Investor Relations.

現在我想把電話會議交給本次主持人——投資人關係副總裁 John Merriwether。

Thank you, Jeremy. Good morning. I'd like to welcome everyone to AMC's Second Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. With me this morning is Adam Aron, our Chief Executive Officer and President; and Craig Ramsey, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，Jeremy。各位早安。歡迎各位參加 AMC 2018 年第二季財報電話會議。今天早上與我一同出席的有：我們的執行長兼總裁 Adam Aron，以及執行副總裁暨財務長 Craig Ramsey。

Before I turn the call over to Adam, let me remind everyone that some of the comments made by management during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements, which 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 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 to not place undue reliance 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.

在我把電話交給 Adam 之前，先提醒各位，管理層在本次電話會議中的部分評論可能包含前瞻性陳述，係基於管理層目前的預期。眾多風險、不確定性及其他因素可能導致實際結果與今日所表達者出現重大差異。其中許多風險與不確定性已在我們的公開申報文件中討論，包括我們最近提交的 10-K 與 10-Q。決定公司未來業績的若干因素超出公司可控制或可預測的範圍。鑑於任何前瞻性陳述所固有的不確定性，提醒聽眾勿過度依賴此等陳述。公司不承擔因新資訊或未來事件而修訂或更新任何前瞻性陳述之義務。

On this call, we may reference measures such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin and constant currency, which are non-GAAP financial measures. For a full reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to GAAP results, please see our second quarter earnings release issued earlier today.

在本次電話會議中，我們可能會提及調整後 EBITDA、調整後 EBITDA 利潤率及固定匯率等指標，這些均為非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。如需將我們的非 GAAP 指標完整調節至 GAAP 結果，請參閱我們今日稍早發布的第二季財報新聞稿。

In conjunction with our second quarter earnings release, we encourage you to review the CFO commentary for the 2018 second quarter that we published this morning on our website in tandem with the earnings release. After our prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.

配合我們的第二季財報新聞稿，我們也鼓勵各位查閱我們今早在網站上與財報新聞稿同步發布的 2018 年第二季財務長評論。在我們的準備發言之後，將進行問答環節。

This morning's call is being recorded, and a webcast replay will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website at amctheatres.com later today.

今天早上的電話會議將被錄音，稍晚今日可在我們網站 amctheatres.com 的投資人關係專區收看網路重播。

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

接下來，我把電話交給 Adam。

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. What an amazing quarter for AMC in the second quarter of 2018, amazing for AMC, amazing for our industry and amazing for moviegoers, all of which drives value for AMC shareholders.

謝謝你，John，各位早安。2018 年第二季對 AMC 而言是令人驚豔的一季——對 AMC、對我們的產業、對影迷而言都非常出色，而這一切也為 AMC 股東創造價值。

Obviously, we're very pleased by AMC's record results for the second quarter of 2018, especially given the magnitude of the impressive 20% increase in total revenues and an 80.3% year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA for AMC. Our success was the result of our continued innovation in the design of our marketing programs and the theatrical experience that we offer our guests as well as an intense focus on the disciplined execution of both our operational and our financial strategies. We'll give you much more color on the quarter and on what AMC has been doing to drive our business forward as we move into this call.

顯然，我們對 AMC 在 2018 年第二季創下的破紀錄成果感到非常滿意，尤其是總營收大幅成長 20%，以及 AMC 調整後 EBITDA 年增 80.3% 的亮眼幅度。我們的成功來自於持續在行銷方案設計與我們提供給賓客的觀影體驗上推動創新，同時也高度聚焦於以紀律嚴格執行我們的營運與財務策略。在接下來的會議中，我們將提供更多關於本季表現以及 AMC 如何推動業務向前的細節。

But before we do, I want to emphasize the second big takeaway from the second quarter of 2018, from the first half of 2018 and from the past 10 months, and that is the movie business and the movie theater business and AMC are all thriving, flourishing, strong and healthy. Start with the domestic industry box office as a harbinger of that strength. Movie after movie has shattered attendance and revenue records this year. All Prime overall monthly domestic industry box office revenue records were set in 5 different months out of the past 10.

但在此之前，我想強調 2018 年第二季、2018 年上半年以及過去 10 個月的第二個重要重點：電影產業、電影院產業以及 AMC 都在蓬勃發展、欣欣向榮，強健且健康。先從美國國內票房作為這種強勁態勢的先行指標談起。今年一部又一部電影打破觀影人次與營收紀錄。在過去 10 個月中，有 5 個不同月份創下了整體月度美國國內產業票房營收的歷史新高。

The second quarter domestic industry box office revenue was up 22.7%, and it was the biggest quarter ever in the more than 100-year history of cinema. For all who've been predicting since last summer's brief box office slump, the demise of the movie business or of AMC who have been predicting doom and gloom and who have been valuing our business at trough multiples consider this, we have been making enormous progress. And for the industry, PVOD did not happen. Other challenges have been dispatched with. The box office is roaring hot.

第二季美國國內產業票房營收成長 22.7%，並且是電影超過 100 年歷史以來最大的一季。對於那些自去年夏天票房短暫下滑以來就預言電影產業或 AMC 將走向衰亡、唱衰並以谷底倍數評價我們業務的人，請看看這一點：我們一直在取得巨大的進展。而就產業而言，PVOD 並未發生。其他挑戰也已被化解。票房熱度正旺。

For our company, our marketing efforts are producing measurable results. We have more smartly managed our expenses and improved our margins. We turned around the fortunes of the acquired Carmike theaters. Our theater renovation projects and new build theaters are still getting impressive financial returns, especially getting blisteringly good returns in Europe and in the Middle East where we enjoy first-mover advantage. And to help deleverage and return cash to shareholders, we have monetized some $500 million from the sale of nonstrategic assets in less than a year.

就公司而言，我們的行銷努力正在產生可衡量的成果。我們更精準地管理費用並改善利潤率。我們扭轉了所收購 Carmike 影城的營運表現。我們的影城翻新專案與新建影城仍持續帶來令人印象深刻的財務報酬，尤其在歐洲與中東地區，由於我們享有先行者優勢，報酬表現格外亮眼。此外，為了協助去槓桿並回饋股東現金，我們在不到一年的時間內，透過出售非核心資產已變現約 5 億美元。

This record second quarter for both AMC and for the industry reminds us that the entertainment marketplace is big enough for AMC and for all in the entertainment space to coexist harmoniously and for each of us to thrive.

AMC 與整個產業在第二季同創紀錄，提醒我們娛樂市場的規模足以讓 AMC 與所有娛樂領域的參與者和諧共存，並讓我們每一方都能蓬勃發展。

In earlier times, the experts absolutely knew that television was going to put the movie theaters out of business. The VCR was going to put the movie theaters out of business. Streaming was going to put the movie theaters out of business. And yet here we are with yet another record quarter on the books. And I will predict for you today that in full year 2018, we will see a record domestic industry box office and that from a revenue and adjusted EBITDA standpoint, I'll predict that 2018 will also be a record year for AMC.

在更早以前，專家們曾斬釘截鐵地認為電視將使電影院走向終結。錄影帶機（VCR）將使電影院走向終結。串流將使電影院走向終結。然而，我們仍在這裡，又在帳上記下一個破紀錄的季度。我今天也要向各位預測：2018 全年美國國內產業票房將創新高；而從營收與調整後 EBITDA 的角度來看，我也預測 2018 年將同樣是 AMC 的創紀錄年度。

What's more? As we look at 2019, we see another compelling movie slate and another superb year in our immediate future. The medium-term and long-term prospects for AMC are incredibly bright.

更重要的是？展望 2019 年，我們看到更具吸引力的片單，以及在不久的將來另一個極為出色的年度。AMC 的中期與長期前景非常光明。

So now let's turn back to the highlights of Q2. April to June, records [fell] at AMC. In fact, revenue records for the June quarter were achieved in every revenue category, admissions revenues, food and beverage revenues and other revenues. Total revenues for the second quarter exceeded $1.44 billion, growing 20.0% to become the highest quarter ever in the history of the company. Likewise, adjusted EBITDA set a new June quarter record, growing 80.3% to $244.8 million, generating 17.0% adjusted EBITDA margins, about 570 basis points better than our margins of last year.

現在讓我們回到第二季的重點。4 月到 6 月，AMC 不斷刷新紀錄。事實上，6 月季度在每一個營收類別都創下紀錄：票房收入、餐飲收入以及其他收入。第二季總營收超過 14.4 億美元，成長 20.0%，成為公司歷史上最高的單季。同樣地，調整後 EBITDA 也創下新的 6 月季度紀錄，成長 80.3% 至 2.448 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達 17.0%，較去年利潤率提升約 570 個基點。

Breaking down our results geographically. It was an excellent quarter domestically. AMC outperformed the industry domestically, growing domestic attendance per screen by 21.1% and growing domestic admissions revenue as a circuit by 22.9%. Importantly, attendance per screen outperformed the industry by nearly 600 basis points and admissions revenue per screen outperformed the industry by nearly 300 basis points. Contributing to this outperformance were our PLF results. AMC is the largest operator of premium large-format screens in the United States, and we will be significantly increasing those screen counts in the months and years ahead.

按地理區域拆解我們的業績。美國國內本季表現極佳。AMC 在美國國內的表現優於產業平均，每銀幕國內觀影人次成長 21.1%，作為院線的國內票房收入成長 22.9%。重要的是，每銀幕觀影人次較產業平均高出近 600 個基點，而每銀幕票房收入較產業平均高出近 300 個基點。推動此一超越表現的因素之一是我們的 PLF 成果。AMC 是美國最大的高級大型格式（PLF）銀幕營運商，未來數月與數年我們將大幅增加此類銀幕數量。

AMC's U.S. PLF admissions revenue or PLF admissions revenue increased 70.3% in the second quarter and was up 54.7% in the first half of 2018. Likewise, the pricing structures that we've deployed over the last several quarters appear to be working well, charging more in the peaks yet pricing smartly in other ways, too. We will expect to continue to see more revenue contribution coming from attendance gains as we look to the future as our pricing strategies continue. This has the added benefit, of course, of continuing to drive F&B revenues, which at $5.29 per U.S. patron in Q2, already now are the highest of any major U.S. operator.

AMC 在美國的 PLF 入場收入（或 PLF 入場收入）於第二季成長 70.3%，2018 年上半年則成長 54.7%。同樣地，我們在過去幾個季度所採用的定價架構看起來運作良好：在尖峰時段收取更高價格，同時也以其他方式進行更精明的定價。展望未來，隨著我們的定價策略持續推進，我們預期將看到更多收入貢獻來自於出席人次的提升。當然，這也帶來額外好處：持續帶動餐飲（F&B）收入；第二季美國每位觀眾的餐飲收入為 5.29 美元，現已是所有美國主要營運商中最高。

The box-office success we benefited from included in Q2 some truly high-grossing movies, which always increases film rev. But despite that increase, we managed our expenses extremely well and generated a 93% increase in U.S. adjusted EBITDA compared to the pro forma results from a year ago. We take special pride in calling out to your attention that adjusted EBITDA margins at our U.S. theaters increased some 700 basis points from 12.7% last year to 19.7% this year.

我們在第二季受惠的票房佳績，包含了幾部真正高票房的電影，這總是會推升影片收入。但即便收入增加，我們仍將費用控管得非常好，與一年前的備考（pro forma）結果相比，美國調整後 EBITDA 成長了 93%。我們特別自豪地提醒各位注意：我們美國影城的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率提高了約 700 個基點，從去年的 12.7% 上升至今年的 19.7%。

Europe, however, was a different story in the second quarter. Beautiful weather crossed Europe for much of the quarter while storms seemed reserved for the passions of national rivalries in the quadrennial FIFA World Cup, which kept some distracted. In addition, some Hollywood films simply resonated better in the states than overseas. In total, the European industry box office in the second quarter declined 4.3% in the countries served by Odeon and declined 9.4% in the countries served by Nordic. That gave us a very tough hand to play in Europe, but relatively, we performed very well.

然而，歐洲在第二季則是另一番景象。本季大部分時間歐洲天氣宜人；而風暴似乎只留給四年一度的 FIFA 世界盃中各國對抗所激起的熱情，讓部分人分心。此外，有些好萊塢電影在美國本土的共鳴度就是比海外更高。整體而言，第二季在 Odeon 所服務的國家，歐洲產業票房下滑 4.3%；在 Nordic 所服務的國家則下滑 9.4%。這讓我們在歐洲面臨非常艱難的局面，但相對而言，我們的表現非常出色。

On a constant currency basis, our total revenues declined by only 2.3%, much less than the industry decline. And adjusted EBITDA was flat to last year even in the face of a soft industry revenue quarter. We believe that both on the revenue and expense sides of the income statement, our European management team really delivered and that this was an impressive feat in a down industry revenue quarter. There are great things coming for AMC internationally, I'm happy to report, but more on that in a moment.

以固定匯率計算，我們總營收僅下滑 2.3%，遠低於產業的下滑幅度。即使面對產業收入疲弱的一季，調整後 EBITDA 仍與去年持平。我們相信，無論在損益表的收入端或費用端，我們的歐洲管理團隊都確實交出了成果；在產業收入下滑的一季能做到這點，令人印象深刻。我很高興向各位報告，AMC 在國際市場接下來還有許多好消息，但稍後我會再多談一些。

Finishing up on Q2, more detailed financial information can be found in Craig's CFO commentary, which also was issued this morning.

關於第二季的收尾，更詳細的財務資訊可參閱 Craig 的 CFO 評論稿，該稿也已於今天上午發布。

Turning back to the whole of AMC. While Q2 was one for the record books and as successful as the record quarter -- as the second quarter was financially for AMC, it shouldn't be any surprise really that AMC performed well in a quarter as robust for the industry as was this one. So I would especially like to highlight 8 things that make us ebullient about what lies ahead for AMC as we position the company for growth and future success in great quarters like this one and regular quarters that also will certainly come.

回到 AMC 整體來看。雖然第二季創下紀錄、載入史冊；而就 AMC 的財務表現而言，第二季確實如同一個創紀錄的季度般成功，但在產業如此強勁的一季中 AMC 表現良好，其實並不令人意外。因此，我特別想強調 8 件事，讓我們對 AMC 的未來感到振奮；我們正為公司定位以追求成長與未來成功，不僅在像這樣的好季度，也包括未來必然會出現的平常季度。

First, we're continuing to enhance our theaters, making them more appealing to consumers, and we're growing our footprint by adding new theaters as well. Rewarding us for that effort, we are realizing handsome financial returns on our invested CapEx in the process. As I mentioned on our last call, we continue to be on pace to renovate about 44 theaters and open 16 new theaters worldwide in 2018. The vast majority of these 60 theaters will feature our signature recliner seats.

第一，我們持續升級影城，使其對消費者更具吸引力，同時也透過新增影城來擴大版圖。作為對這些努力的回報，我們在投入的資本支出（CapEx）上正實現可觀的財務報酬。如同我在上次電話會議中提到的，我們仍按計畫在 2018 年於全球翻新約 44 家影城並新開 16 家影城。這 60 家影城中的絕大多數都將配備我們的招牌躺椅座位。

Domestically, as of the end of 2017, we had 247 theaters equipped with recliner seating, representing approximately 38% of the domestic circuit. We expect that more than 275 domestic theaters renovated with recliners by the end of 2018. Many of these domestic renovations will occur within the acquired Carmike circuit where we think considerable low-hanging fruit is still quite ripe for the picking. All in, we continue to expect that our worldwide net CapEx for 2018 will be between $450 million and $500 million.

在美國國內，截至 2017 年底，我們已有 247 家影城配備躺椅座位，約占國內院線的 38%。我們預期到 2018 年底，國內完成躺椅翻新的影城將超過 275 家。這些國內翻新案中，有許多將發生在我們收購的 Carmike 院線內；我們認為那裡仍有相當多「唾手可得」且非常成熟的機會可供把握。整體而言，我們仍預期 2018 年全球淨資本支出將介於 4.5 億至 5 億美元之間。

Second, our thesis for acquiring our European theater network is being borne out to be true right before our eyes. We have already increased our global scale, including opening new theaters that have been immediately successful right out of the chute. And our renovation projects are generating fabulous returns, double and triple of the returns that we are seeing currently in the United States. Helpfully, European mall operator landlords are playing right along with us, chipping in around 40% on average of our renovation project budgets. That also is higher than what we've historically seen in the United States.

第二，我們收購歐洲影城網路的論點，正清楚地在眼前被證明是正確的。我們已經擴大了全球規模，包括新開的影城一開始就立即成功。而我們的翻新專案正帶來極佳的報酬，報酬率是我們目前在美國所見的兩倍甚至三倍。更有利的是，歐洲購物中心營運商的房東也與我們步調一致，平均分攤我們翻新專案預算約 40%。這也高於我們過去在美國歷來所見的水準。

As of yesterday, we had 9 theaters fully operational in the United Kingdom with our signature recliners, with 100% of them serving alcohol and offering premium large-format screens. By the end of August, that count of 9 should rise to 14, including introducing recliners in the U.K., Germany and Spain. Including new-builds, we expect to have between 25 and 30 sites in the U.K., Germany, Spain and Italy up and running by the end of the year, offering recliner seats to a public that is responding in big numbers with increased patronage. The most exciting of those renovation projects will be our flagship Odeon Leicester Square in London, which has been closed since January and which will reopen at year-end. By all accounts, the Odeon Leicester Square is the most important and most prestigious theater in Europe, and it will literally be a magnificent theater and a magnificent profit driver when it reopens.

截至昨日，我們在英國已有 9 家影城全面營運並配備我們的招牌躺椅座位，其中 100% 皆提供酒精飲品並設有高級大型格式（PLF）銀幕。到 8 月底，這個數量應會從 9 家增加到 14 家，並將在英國、德國與西班牙導入躺椅座位。包含新建案在內，我們預期到年底在英國、德國、西班牙與義大利將有 25 至 30 個據點投入營運，向大眾提供躺椅座位；而大眾以增加觀影人次的方式熱烈回應。在這些翻新專案中，最令人振奮的是我們位於倫敦的旗艦店 Odeon Leicester Square；該影城自 1 月起關閉，將於年底重新開幕。各方一致認為，Odeon Leicester Square 是歐洲最重要、最具聲望的影城；重新開幕後，它將名副其實成為一座宏偉的影城，並成為強勁的獲利驅動引擎。

Third, all hail the PLF. At the end of 2015, AMC had about 160 premium large-format screens. By the end of 2018, 3 years later, we should have closer to 400 with still many more coming in 2019 and 2020. We also will be upgrading well more than 100 of our IMAX screens and the former Carmike Big D screens with the latest state-of-the-art sight and sound technology. Not only do our IMAX Dolby Cinema and our [house brand, PLF] screens, over-index in attendance, they also carry massive price premiums, about 70% for IMAX and Dolby and about 45% for our house brands.

第三，向 PLF 致敬。在 2015 年底，AMC 約有 160 個高級大型格式（PLF）銀幕。到 2018 年底，三年後，我們的數量應會接近 400 個，而且 2019 與 2020 年還會持續增加更多。我們也將把 100 多個 IMAX 銀幕以及前 Carmike Big D 銀幕升級為最新、最先進的視聽技術。我們的 IMAX、Dolby Cinema 以及我們的[自有品牌 PLF]銀幕不僅在出席人次上表現超出平均，也能收取可觀的溢價：IMAX 與 Dolby 約 70%，自有品牌約 45%。

Fourth, the success of our U.S. marketing programs is just incredibly impressive. Let me give you 3 examples among many. One, online ticketing now represents about 40% of our total tickets sold, with about 3/5 of that coming from our proprietary website and smartphone apps and which has more than doubled over the past year; two, our loyalty program, AMC Stubs, is now up to 15.8 million member households, giving us historic movie-buying habit information on more than 40 million Americans. We e-mail and text these Stubs members more than 1.3 billion times annually to promote moviegoing at AMC; and three, look at the consumer response to our new A-list, 3 movies per week for $19.95 per month. Even though we've launched at more than double the prices of 3 different competitors, in just the first 5 weeks of enrollment, we just announced that yesterday morning we crossed the 175,000 mark of paid members. But my, my, how time flies when you're having fun. The A-List member count last night at midnight was 181,790. As we speak at this moment, it is exactly 182,275, which means that in 24 hours, we enrolled more than 7,000 people. Multiply 7,000 times 365, these are huge numbers. Now obviously that pace can't continue or we wouldn't think it could continue. But we did design A-List to compete well in its own right, and it is doing so. And importantly, because of the price point at which we pegged, we designed it to be profitable for our studio partners, and we designed it to be profitable for us and we designed it to be sustainable for our guests. What we are now learning also is that AMC and A-List are perfectly positioned to capture new business for us as consumers struggle with constantly changing rules, decreasing movie availability and rising prices from other players in this space.

第四，我們在美國的行銷計畫之成功，實在令人印象深刻。讓我在眾多例子中舉出3個。第一，線上售票目前約占我們總售出票券的40%，其中約3/5來自我們自有網站與智慧型手機App，而且在過去一年已成長逾一倍；第二，我們的會員忠誠計畫 AMC Stubs 目前已達1,580萬個會員家庭，讓我們掌握超過4,000萬名美國人的歷史觀影購票習慣資訊。我們每年透過電子郵件與簡訊向這些 Stubs 會員發送超過13億次訊息，以推廣在 AMC 觀影；第三，看看消費者對我們全新的 A-List 方案的反應：每月19.95美元、每週可看3部電影。儘管我們的上市價格是3家不同競爭對手的兩倍以上，但在開放加入的前5週內，我們昨天早上剛宣布付費會員數已突破175,000人。不過，哎呀哎呀，玩得開心時時間總是過得特別快。昨晚午夜時 A-List 會員數為181,790人。就在我們此刻發言之際，數字正好是182,275人，這表示在24小時內我們新增了超過7,000人。7,000乘以365，這是非常龐大的數字。當然，這樣的速度不可能一直持續，我們也不認為它能一直持續。但我們確實把 A-List 設計成能夠憑自身實力良性競爭，而它也正在做到。更重要的是，基於我們所設定的價格點，我們將其設計為能讓片商合作夥伴獲利、也能讓我們獲利，並且對顧客而言可長期維持。我們現在也了解到，當消費者面對此領域其他業者不斷變動的規則、電影供給減少以及價格上升而感到困擾時，AMC 與 A-List 的定位恰到好處，能為我們帶來新的業務。

Fifth, as you know, during the second quarter, we expanded to our 16th country when, on April 18, we opened the first movie theater to operate in Saudi Arabia in 37 years. We received massive global publicity. And thanks to having a strong bond with the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and with the Saudi government's Ministry of Culture and Information, we are working to expand to 50 to 100 theaters in Saudi Arabia over the next decade. It may not stay this way across all the country forever. But right now, our initial screen, the sole screen in our launched theater, is more than 20x more profitable than the typical AMC screen. Ah, the benefits of pent-up demand. Over time, we expect that our 16th country will make a material financial contribution to AMC.

第五，如各位所知，在第二季期間，我們擴展至第16個國家：4月18日，我們在沙烏地阿拉伯開設了37年來首家營運的電影院。我們獲得了大量全球媒體曝光。並且，憑藉我們與沙烏地阿拉伯主權財富基金以及沙國政府文化與資訊部之間的緊密關係，我們正努力在未來十年於沙烏地阿拉伯擴展至50到100家影城。這種情況未必會永遠在全國各地都維持不變。但就目前而言，我們首家開幕影城的初始銀幕（也是唯一的銀幕），其獲利能力比 AMC 一般銀幕高出20倍以上。啊，這就是被壓抑需求的好處。隨著時間推進，我們預期第16個國家將對 AMC 帶來具實質性的財務貢獻。

Sixth, AMC has been managing our business ever so carefully, marrying costs to business realities and doing all we can to control costs and to increase revenues. In the U.S., our tight cost controls are one reason why our theater margins have improved from 12.7% Q2 last year to 19.7% in Q2 of this year.

第六，AMC 一直非常審慎地經營業務，使成本與業務現實相匹配，並盡一切努力控制成本、提升營收。在美國，我們嚴格的成本控管是影城利潤率從去年第二季的12.7%提升至今年第二季19.7%的原因之一。

In Europe, our European management team is doing an excellent job in attacking and streamlining the above theater overheads, which are unnecessarily duplicative across the 14 countries in Europe and which can be much more efficient than what it was under prior ownership groups. On the revenue side, [I sign liquor] license applications all the time, and our F&B teams continue to drive revenue. At $5.29 per patron in the U.S., that exceeds all other major theater operators. And our F&B spend per patron is growing even faster in Europe than it is in the United States.

在歐洲，我們的歐洲管理團隊在削減並精簡上述影城間接費用方面表現出色；這些費用在歐洲14個國家之間存在不必要的重複，且相較於先前所有權團隊時期，完全可以更有效率。在營收方面，我（[I sign liquor]）經常簽署酒類執照申請，而我們的餐飲（F&B）團隊也持續推動營收成長。在美國，每位觀影人次的餐飲消費為5.29美元，超過所有其他主要影城營運商。而在歐洲，我們每位觀影人次的餐飲消費成長速度甚至比美國更快。

Seventh, I said on our last quarterly call that we really have turned around the performance of the acquired Carmike circuit. So I said on that call that, that was the last time you're likely to hear about results in the legacy Carmike theaters. But the Q2 numbers are so compelling, I wanted to share them with you. Attendance per screen was up 21.1% across all of AMC in the United States. And even without the benefit of a sizable number of recliner-equipped theaters, attendance per screen was up 20.8% for the former Carmike theaters, 21.1%, 20.8%. Ticket prices are up 2.0% across all of AMC in the United States. They're up 2.0% at the former Carmike theaters, too. F&B spend per patron across all of AMC in the United States was $5.29. It was $5.25 at the former Carmike theaters. This is also very close. The former Carmike theaters are doing just fine.

第七，我在上一次季度電話會議中提到，我們確實已扭轉所收購 Carmike 院線的營運表現。因此我在那次會議上說，那可能是你們最後一次聽到關於傳統 Carmike 影城的業績結果。但第二季的數據非常有說服力，我想與各位分享。在美國，AMC 全體每銀幕入場人次成長21.1%。即使沒有大量配備躺椅座椅的影城加持，原 Carmike 影城的每銀幕入場人次也成長20.8%，21.1%、20.8%。在美國，AMC 全體票價上升2.0%。原 Carmike 影城的票價也同樣上升2.0%。在美國，AMC 全體每位觀影人次的餐飲消費為5.29美元。原 Carmike 影城為5.25美元。這也非常接近。原 Carmike 影城的表現完全沒問題。

And finally, eighth, we are committed to managing our balance sheet wisely. In August of last year, we made a commitment to you that we would return cash to shareholders. And in addition to continuing a high-yield dividend, we sought $100 million buyback authorization from our Board of Directors for a 2-year period.

最後，第八，我們致力於審慎管理資產負債表。去年8月，我們向各位承諾將把現金回饋給股東。除了持續發放高殖利率股利之外，我們也向董事會爭取為期兩年的1億美元庫藏股回購授權。

As of the end of Q2, we have already purchased 3.7 million AMC shares for $56 million, 500,000 shares of which were purchased in Q2 of 2018. Further, to help allow us to deleverage over time, we similarly pledged to you in August that we would monetize approximately $400 million in nonstrategic assets over the following 24 months. As you know, we accomplished all that and more. Some $500 million in total, 25% ahead of our goal in less than 11 months. We got there through the profit-generating sale of equity stakes in Open Road Films, NCM, and Screenvision combined with 2 theater sale leaseback transactions. We do keep our word.

截至第二季末，我們已以5,600萬美元買回370萬股 AMC 股票，其中50萬股是在2018年第二季買回。此外，為了讓我們能隨時間推進降低槓桿，我們也在8月同樣向各位承諾，將在接下來24個月內變現約4億美元的非策略性資產。如各位所知，我們不僅達成，且超額完成。總計約5億美元，在不到11個月內就比目標高出25%。我們透過出售 Open Road Films、NCM 與 Screenvision 的股權投資所產生的獲利，加上兩筆影城出售後回租（sale-leaseback）交易，達成了這個成果。我們言出必行。

Before I close these initial remarks, I'd like to share a thought with you about the coming 18 months. Adjusted EBITDA at AMC for the first 6 months of 2018 was up $135.8 million year-over-year. We've already put a lot of growth for 2018 into the bank, done, in our pocket, completed.

在結束這些開場談話之前，我想與各位分享一個關於未來18個月的想法。AMC 2018年前6個月的調整後 EBITDA 年增1.358億美元。我們已經把2018年的大量成長「存進銀行」了——已完成、已到手、已落袋。

Looking ahead, our best bet is that the second half will only be flat or possibly up. But if up, only mildly up. However, some of you think the second half will be materially down. Similarly, some of you are saying that Q3 will be strong and Q4 will be weak. We think it is much more likely that it is Q3 which will be the challenging quarter while the fourth quarter will hold up nicely. But including all the 4 quarters of 2018 together, it is our best judgment that 2018 will be a great 12-month year and the best in our company's history. And in trying to forecast our collective future, lest anyone forget about the first half 2018 results, which were stellar and dwell only on the second half results of 2018, our early take on 2019 is that it also will be a spectacular year.

展望未來，我們最好的判斷是下半年將持平或可能略有成長。但即使成長，也只會是小幅成長。然而，你們之中有些人認為下半年將顯著下滑。同樣地，有些人表示第三季會很強、第四季會偏弱。我們認為更有可能是第三季將是較具挑戰的一季，而第四季將能夠穩健支撐。但把2018年四個季度合併來看，我們的最佳判斷是：2018年將是非常出色的12個月，並將成為公司史上最佳的一年。而在嘗試預測我們共同的未來時，為避免有人忘記2018年上半年極為亮眼的成果、只聚焦於2018年下半年的表現，我們對2019年的初步看法是：它也將是極為精彩的一年。

In summary, AMC had a superb record-setting second quarter. Many of the problems that loomed large on the horizon in 2017 loom no longer at all. Our theaters are more and more appealing by the day. Our marketing programs are rocking the house. We're managing expenses and margins tightly. We are expanding. We're paying extraordinarily close attention to capital allocation. And the box office so far in 2018 and perhaps more importantly, what we expect it to be in 2019 appears to be healthier than healthy and stronger than strong.

總結而言，AMC 創下了卓越、破紀錄的第二季表現。2017 年曾在地平線上顯得格外嚴峻的許多問題，如今已不再構成威脅。我們的影城一天比一天更具吸引力。我們的行銷方案正掀起熱潮。我們正嚴格控管費用與利潤率。我們正在擴張。我們對資本配置投入了異常密切的關注。而截至目前 2018 年的票房表現，以及或許更重要的是，我們對 2019 年票房的預期，看起來不僅健康，甚至是非常健康；不僅強勁，甚至是更為強勁。

Thank you for participating on the call this morning. Operator, let's now turn to Q&A.

感謝各位今天上午參與本次電話會議。接線員，現在我們進入問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Eric Handler from MKM Partners.

(接線員指示) 我們的第一個問題來自 MKM Partners 的 Eric Handler。

Two things to ask. First, Adam, I'm curious to see or curious to understand with A-List, have you seen any material uptake in subscriber numbers since MoviePass has had its issues of going offline and raising prices and just changing the -- a lot of their business model like how much of a benefit do you think that's helping you? And then second, maybe you could talk about -- it looks like you did a very good job of cost containment in the quarter. Anything new there and where you're seeing the ability to keep costs flattish to possibly even going lower?

我有兩點想請教。第一，Adam，我想了解一下，關於 A-List，自從 MoviePass 出現離線、漲價以及改變——他們很多商業模式的變動之後，你們是否看到訂閱人數有任何顯著增加？你認為這對你們的助益有多大？第二，也許你可以談談——看起來你們本季在成本控管方面做得非常好。這方面有什麼新的作法嗎？以及你們在哪些地方看到能讓成本維持大致持平、甚至可能進一步下降的空間？

Sure, Eric. Thanks. A-List has been running hot from the second we announced it. It's been -- the enrollments have been proceeding at such a blistering clip, much faster than my expectations. When we announced the program on a conference call to you guys, I think it was 6 weeks ago, we said that our own internal company forecast would -- if that -- if this was successful like our program was in Europe, remember, we've had a Limitless program in the United Kingdom in Germany for over 3 years, that we would see enrollments of about 500,000 at the end of year 1 and 1 million at the end of year 2. So 500,000 by June in '19 and 1 million by June of '20. Actually, through last Friday, we've already enrolled 150,000 people in 4.5 weeks. That's a lot faster pace, 150,000 people in a month, that's a lot faster than 500,000 in a year. As we look to these numbers internally, we said this can't continue, this has got to slow down. We can't be enrolling 150,000 a month. Remember, that other company you've mentioned, whose name I will refrain from using, claims to have hit 3 million subscribers at essentially the 1-year mark, but [their grid] across the whole of United States at more than triple the number of theaters that AMC offers. But the number I just gave you, 150,000 through last Friday -- was through last Friday, we've added over 30,000 new members since Friday. So what is that? Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. That 30,000 in 4 days is a pretty brisk pace. So yes, I think it does demonstrate what I said in my prepared remarks that we got A-List into the marketplace at a time when we can take advantage of all this demand that seems to be out there for buying tickets the new way in multiples rather than the old-fashioned way of one at a time. As for cost management, yes, we did manage costs very well in Q2, and I would say that we just really tightened down -- tightened down the hatches. When we set budget levels for 2018, we scrubbed, and we scrubbed, and we scrubbed. We told you all actually that we began these cost-containment efforts in June of 2017, and that has certainly continued. I would say one of the most -- there are a lot of things that we've touched on before in terms of cutting costs. I'd say one of the more interesting things that we've learned that you haven't heard about yet is marrying operating hours to demand, such that at individual -- a lot of our theaters are open from 8 in the morning until 1 in the morning, and that's exactly as it should be when we see revenues -- industry revenues like we did in the second quarter. But we've gotten much better skilled over the past year at cranking back opening hours just a little bit. Maybe a theater opens at 9:30 instead of 8 a.m. or closes at 12:20 instead of 1:30. But when you operate fewer operating hours, but you get the same -- you capture the same revenue, that bodes well for profitability. We will continue to be managing costs very tightly as we go forward, Eric.

當然可以，Eric。謝謝。A-List 從我們宣布的那一刻起就非常火熱。註冊人數以極快的速度成長，遠遠超出我的預期。我們在大約 6 週前的電話會議上向各位宣布這個方案時曾說，我們公司內部的預測是——如果它能像我們在歐洲的方案一樣成功（請記得，我們在英國與德國已經推行 Limitless 方案超過 3 年），那麼在第 1 年年底我們會看到約 50 萬的註冊數，在第 2 年年底會達到 100 萬。也就是說，2019 年 6 月達到 50 萬，2020 年 6 月達到 100 萬。但實際上，截至上週五，我們在 4.5 週內就已經招募了 15 萬人。這個速度快得多——一個月 15 萬人，遠快於一年 50 萬。當我們在內部檢視這些數字時，我們說這不可能一直持續下去，這一定會放緩。我們不可能每個月都招募 15 萬人。請記得，你提到的那家公司（我就不提它的名字了）聲稱在大約滿 1 年時達到 300 萬訂閱戶，但他們在全美的覆蓋範圍、影城數量是 AMC 的三倍以上。不過我剛剛給你的數字——截至上週五的 15 萬——其實從上週五以來，我們又新增了超過 3 萬名新會員。那是什麼？週六、週日、週一、週二。4 天 3 萬人，速度相當快。所以是的，我認為這確實印證了我在事先準備的發言中所說的：我們把 A-List 推向市場的時機，正好能利用市場上似乎存在的這股需求——以新的方式、一次買多張票，而不是用傳統的一次買一張。至於成本管理，是的，我們在第二季確實把成本控得很好；我會說我們真的把各項措施都收緊了——把防線全面拉緊。當我們設定 2018 年的預算水準時，我們反覆檢視、反覆檢視、再反覆檢視。我們其實也告訴過各位，我們在 2017 年 6 月就開始這些成本抑制的努力，而這項工作當然一直持續至今。我會說，在削減成本方面，我們之前談過很多項。其中一個更有意思、而你們可能還沒聽過的做法，是把營業時數與需求結合起來：也就是在單一影城層級——我們很多影城從早上 8 點營業到凌晨 1 點；當我們看到像第二季那樣的營收——產業營收——時，這樣做完全合理。但過去一年我們在把開店時數稍微往回調整方面，已經更有技巧。也許某家影城改成 9:30 開門，而不是早上 8 點。或是改成 12:20 打烊，而不是 1:30。當你用更少的營業時數運作，卻能取得相同的——捕捉到相同的營收，這對獲利能力是很有利的。未來我們仍會持續非常嚴格地控管成本，Eric。

Our next question comes from the line of Eric Wold from B. Riley FBR.

我們的下一個問題來自 B. Riley FBR 的 Eric Wold。

Just 2 questions for me. I guess, one, I definitely understand that attendance growth is the more important metric of the two, but kind of thinking about what looks to be relatively muted, 1.9% increase in domestic average ticket price in the quarter, especially given how IMAX screens domestically are up almost 50%. You had your own price increases. Anything -- any thoughts there in terms of what may have held back that price increase or the price increase?

我這邊只有兩個問題。我想，第一，我完全理解出席人次（觀影人次）的成長是兩個指標中更重要的那一個，但從本季美國國內平均票價僅增加 1.9% 來看，似乎相對溫和，尤其考量到美國國內 IMAX 銀幕數量增加了將近 50%。你們也有做自己的票價調漲。在這方面有什麼想法嗎？例如是什麼因素可能抑制了這次的票價上漲、或票價上漲幅度？

Sure. It was intentional on our part. And remember, revenue as a function of -- as you said -- I mean you did preface your question with the acknowledgment that revenue is a function of attendance times price, right? During the quarter, we went -- we institutionalized our $5 Tuesday ticketing program. Tuesday used to be the lowest day of the week. It's hard to believe this, but thanks to $5 Tuesdays,Tuesday's now the second busiest day of the week in AMC. So in addition to that, we did take conscious efforts to raise price at theaters where we could raise price, but we reduced price at theaters where we thought reducing price would generate traffic growth that would exceed the price drop. So these are conscious decisions we've made. Overall, our prices are up. Overall, our revenues are up. Overall, our studio partners are doing better because what we believe we've done in the second quarter better than ever before is optimize our pricing strategies, charge up in the peaks when we can, price competitively in the shoulders and off-peaks to drive attendance and revenue -- and to drive revenue where we should.

當然。這是我們刻意為之。而且請記得，營收是——如你所說——我的意思是你在提問前也先承認了，營收是出席人次乘以價格的函數，對吧？在本季，我們——我們把每張 5 美元的「週二票價方案」制度化了。週二過去是一週中最冷清的一天。這很難相信，但多虧了「5 美元週二」，週二現在成了 AMC 一週中第二忙的一天。此外，我們確實也有意識地在能夠調漲票價的影城調漲票價，但在我們認為降價能帶來的客流成長會超過降價幅度的影城，我們則選擇降價。所以這些都是我們有意識做出的決策。整體而言，我們的票價是上升的。整體而言，我們的營收是上升的。整體而言，我們的片商合作夥伴也表現得更好，因為我們相信，第二季我們做得比以往更好的一點，是最佳化我們的定價策略：在高峰期能漲就漲；在次高峰與離峰時段以具競爭力的價格來帶動出席人次與營收——並在應該的地方推動營收。

Perfect. And then...

完美。然後……

I would add one thing. We did have growth in IMAX, growth in Dolby. The 3D volumes were down pretty substantially. They didn't fully offset, certainly the growth in the IMAX and Dolby, but we did see some softness in 3D.

我想補充一點。我們確實看到 IMAX 有成長、Dolby 也有成長。3D 的量下滑得相當明顯。它們當然沒有完全抵消 IMAX 和 Dolby 的成長，但我們確實看到 3D 有些疲軟。

Got it. Great. And then just last question. On the Stubs A-List program, I think you had a call before -- maybe a little more color on where you see kind of breakeven in visits per year? I mean kind of what level is within that 1 to 12 visits per month would start to maybe turn unfavorable? And then if it was kind of [going] consistently across [a] subscriber universe, obviously [everyone visits] differently. And then kind of within that, the unnamed competitor has had to raise prices for their own, I think, cash flow issues first and foremost. What gives confidence that $20 is the right level for AMC?

了解。很好。那最後一個問題。關於 Stubs A-List 計畫，我記得你們之前有一通電話——能否再多說明一下，你們認為一年之內每位會員大概到什麼樣的觀影次數會接近損益兩平？也就是說，在每月 1 到 12 次的範圍內，大概到什麼程度可能會開始變得不利？另外，如果在整個訂閱會員群中是持續呈現那樣的情況，當然每個人的到訪頻率都不同。再者，在這之中，那家未具名的競爭對手因為自身的現金流問題（我想主要是這個原因）不得不調漲價格。是什麼讓你們有信心，對 AMC 來說 20 美元是正確的價位？

Let me do the second question first. What gives us confidence that $20 is the right level AMC -- is, it was more than double what anybody else was charging. [And well,] they're charging now, and we still had 182,000 sign-ups in 5 weeks. So the price point seems to be working for the consumer. Of course, our launch program is our launch program. We will be carefully monitoring all the various levers within AMC Stubs A-List, and we'll modify those over time to make the most sense for our guests and the most sense for our shareholders. A point I want to make is I think that we designed our program very intelligently based on a lot of experience. Remember what I told you on the call 6 weeks ago, that our company has had this program in place for 3 years in the United Kingdom and Germany that I personally watched and sat atop the Colorado ski industry where we transitioned the whole of the Colorado market from day tickets to season passes, with season pass volumes growing up thirtyfold over a decade. We really do know what we're doing here, and we're off to a great start, and we will continue to manage the program with profitability in mind. As for your question on the individual metrics, it's only week 5. It's too early to draw conclusions from the first 5-week performance of moviegoing amongst the audience although I can tell you, we -- moviegoing amongst this audience is robust and -- but I'll just repeat now exactly what we said on the call 6 weeks ago, which was true 6 weeks ago and which we believe to be true today, and that is for every 1 million moviegoers -- sorry, every 1 million enrollees in A-List, we believe this program, net of all cannibalization and dilution, net of all the money we pay our studio partners, will generate about $15 million to $25 million of incremental EBITDA for AMC based on 2.5 visits per month and that, that range sweetens by about $10 million for every reduction in the average moviegoing of -- by 0.25 point. So 2.25x per month instead of 2.5x a month. We will be managing and monitoring this program extremely closely over the months and years ahead. And I'd like to add one more thing, Eric. There are some people who speculated that we did this merely as a competitive response and that we were not wed to it. Given the compelling enrollments in A-List in just a few weeks, this program will be a permanent feature of AMC. We do think it's going to be a small program. Maybe someday, we'll get up to 10% of tickets sold through A-List, like 10% of our tickets sold in the United Kingdom are sold through Limitless. But we do think that the most of the economics of AMC are going to be sold one ticket at a time in the future, just as it has been in the case in the past.

我先回答第二個問題。讓我們有信心 AMC 的 20 美元是正確價位的原因是——它比其他任何人當時的收費高出一倍以上。[而且呢，]他們現在的收費水準，以及我們在 5 週內仍然有 182,000 人註冊。所以這個價格點看起來對消費者是行得通的。當然，我們的上線方案就是上線方案。我們會非常謹慎地監控 AMC Stubs A-List 內各種不同的調整槓桿，並會隨時間推移加以修改，使其對我們的顧客最合理、對我們的股東也最合理。我想強調的一點是，我認為我們是基於大量經驗，非常聰明地設計了這個計畫。記得我在 6 週前那通電話裡跟你說過，我們公司在英國和德國已經推行這個計畫 3 年了，我本人一直在觀察；而且我也曾在科羅拉多滑雪產業的最上層位置親自見證，我們如何把整個科羅拉多市場從單日票轉換到季票，並在十年間讓季票銷量成長了三十倍。我們確實知道自己在做什麼，而且我們開局非常好；我們也會持續以獲利為目標來管理這個計畫。至於你問到個別指標，目前才第 5 週，從前 5 週這個族群的觀影表現來下結論還太早；不過我可以告訴你，我們——這個族群的觀影行為很強勁——但我現在就重複我們 6 週前在電話會議上說過的話：那在 6 週前是真的、我們也相信今天仍然為真——也就是每增加 100 萬名 A-List 註冊會員，我們相信在扣除所有互相侵蝕與稀釋效應、以及我們支付給片商夥伴的所有款項之後，這個計畫將為 AMC 帶來約 1,500 萬到 2,500 萬美元的增量 EBITDA，這是以每月 2.5 次到訪為基礎；而且平均觀影次數每降低 0.25 次，該區間就會再增加約 1,000 萬美元的效益。也就是每月 2.25 次，而不是每月 2.5 次。未來幾個月與幾年，我們會極其密切地管理並監控這個計畫。我還想再補充一點，Eric。有些人猜測我們這麼做只是出於競爭回應，並不是非做不可。鑑於 A-List 在短短幾週內就有非常吸引人的註冊數，這個計畫將會成為 AMC 的永久性特色。我們確實認為它會是一個規模不大的計畫。也許有一天，我們會讓透過 A-List 售出的票達到 10%，就像我們在英國有 10% 的票是透過 Limitless 售出一樣。但我們也認為，未來 AMC 的大部分經濟模式仍將是一張票一張票地賣出，就像過去一直以來那樣。

Our next call comes -- our next question comes from the line of David Miller from Imperial Capital.

我們下一通——我們下一個問題來自 Imperial Capital 的 David Miller。

Yes. Craig, what was the free cash flow number unlevered in the quarter? I just don't see that reconciled in the press release. And then, Adam, I think it was maybe 3 quarters ago, maybe it was this time last year that you floated up a possibility of an IPO of the European assets on either London or Euronext so as to catalyze debt downward just because there was a lot of criticism about that at the time, and that there's still the residue of that out there. Where do you guys stand with that because we haven't heard anything about that in the last couple of quarters or so? I appreciate the update.

是的。Craig，本季未槓桿的自由現金流數字是多少？我在新聞稿裡沒有看到有做對帳。另外，Adam，我記得大概 3 個季度前——也可能是去年這個時候——你曾提出一個可能性：在倫敦或 Euronext 讓歐洲資產 IPO，以便推動負債下降，因為當時對此有很多批評，而且現在外界仍然留有那樣的餘波。你們目前對此的立場是什麼？因為過去幾個季度左右我們都沒再聽到相關消息。感謝更新。

David, nice to hear from you again, buddy. The -- on the European IPO -- I'll do mine first and then Craig will answer his. On the European IPO, it sort of actually it's exactly what I did say in previous quarters. What I said on the last quarterly call was that we've made no decision yet on the European IPO. We are certainly preparing for it and taking all the steps needed to get there if we choose to pull that lever. That -- on the last call, I said that timing range that we've always given was somewhere between the second half of '18 and the first half of '19. That's still the timing range, although I think I've said in the last call that much more likely, we would make that decision in the first half of '19 than earlier, and that's exactly where we are now. It's something we're starting and something we're thinking about, but the timing is still the same timing, but we haven't necessarily made a decision to do it or not.

David，很高興又聽到你的聲音，老兄。那個——關於歐洲 IPO——我先回答我的部分，然後 Craig 再回答他的。關於歐洲 IPO，其實情況大致上就跟我在前幾個季度說的一樣。我在上一季的電話會議上說過，我們對歐洲 IPO 還沒有做出任何決定。我們當然正在為此做準備，並採取所有必要步驟，以便在我們選擇拉動這個槓桿時能夠到位。那——在上一通電話裡，我說我們一直給出的時間區間大概是在 2018 年下半年到 2019 年上半年之間。這仍然是同樣的時間區間；不過我想我在上一通電話裡也說過，更有可能是在 2019 年上半年做出這個決定，而不是更早，現在我們也正是處於那個狀態。這是我們正在啟動、也正在思考的事情；時間點仍然一樣，但我們不一定已經決定要做或不做。

Let me ask you this, why would you not do it other than what could be less-than-sanguine market conditions in Europe in the future? What would be a reason that you wouldn't do it?

我想問你這個問題，除了未來歐洲市場狀況可能不那麼樂觀之外，你們為什麼會不做？會有哪些原因讓你們不做？

Well, there are a lot of reasons to do it. There are some reasons not to do it. It would return a lot of cash to the parent, which would make many of you very happy. On the other hand, it would make running our business much more complicated if we had -- because we had public shareholders in Europe, every interplay between our European subsidiary and our parent company was carefully regimented by London Stock Exchange rules. But I don't want to really go too much into the, should we, shouldn't we yet. It's too early. Those are decisions that we're going to look at later in '18, early in '19. There are very good reasons for doing it. There are some good reasons not to do it. I think the important thing is this: whatever we decide to do in Europe, AMC is very committed to deleveraging, AMC is very committed to returning cash to shareholders, AMC is very committed to growing our footprint by adding theaters, AMC is very committed to renovating our theaters and capturing these outsized financial returns we're getting, especially from our theaters in Europe. We're blending all 4 of those variables all the time. We did sell $500 million worth of nonstrategic assets to bring in cash.

嗯，做它有很多理由。不做也有一些理由。它會把大量現金回流到母公司，這會讓你們很多人非常高興。但另一方面，如果我們在歐洲有公開市場股東，經營我們的業務會變得更複雜，因為我們歐洲子公司與母公司之間的每一次往來互動，都必須依照倫敦證券交易所的規則被嚴格規範。但我現在不想太深入討論到底該不該做。現在還太早。這些決策我們會在 2018 年稍晚、2019 年初再來評估。做它有非常好的理由。不做也有一些很好的理由。我認為重要的是：無論我們最後在歐洲決定怎麼做，AMC 都非常致力於去槓桿化，AMC 都非常致力於把現金回饋給股東，AMC 都非常致力於透過新增戲院來擴大版圖，AMC 都非常致力於翻新我們的戲院並取得我們正在獲得的這些超額財務報酬，尤其是來自我們歐洲戲院的報酬。我們一直在同時權衡並融合這四個變數。我們確實出售了 5 億美元的非核心資產以帶入現金。

We did buy back $56 million of stock. We did maintain yet again a dividend with a significant yield, far larger than what is the norm across U.S. companies these days. And our leverage level has come down. At the end of June -- the June quarter, our net leverage level has lowered to 4.7x. But that's because the cash that came in from the June NCM sale came in, in the first few days of July. If you add that couple of hundred million dollars back into the June quarter, our net leverage level at the end of the June quarter adjusted would have been 4.5x. So we're making progress on all the variables of capital allocation, and we are continue to be very committed to hitting the goal in each of the 4 areas where we're deploying capital. Craig, you want to talk to the free cash flow question?

我們確實回購了5,600萬美元的股票。我們也再次維持了具備可觀殖利率的股利，遠高於如今美國企業的普遍水準。而且我們的槓桿水準已經下降。截至6月底——也就是6月季度末——我們的淨槓桿已降至4.7倍。但那是因為6月NCM出售所帶來的現金是在7月初的前幾天才入帳。如果把那幾億美元加回到6月季度，我們在6月季度末調整後的淨槓桿水準會是4.5倍。因此，我們在資本配置的各項變數上都在取得進展，並且我們仍然非常致力於在我們部署資本的四個領域中達成各項目標。Craig，你要談談自由現金流的問題嗎？

Yes, just to be clear, David, what we'll disclose at this point in time is it's kind of off the statement, [it] changes net cash provided by operating activities was about $297 million in the quarter.

是的，David，為了說清楚一點，我們目前會揭露的是——這有點不在報表主表上——本季「營業活動提供之淨現金」約為2.97億美元。

Our next question comes from the line of Leo Kulp from RBC Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自RBC Capital Markets的Leo Kulp。

I just had 2 quick ones. First, MoviePass has had that -- about 5% of the box office. They represent about 5% of the box office. Is that comparable for AMC? And how much of that attendance do you think is at risk with MoviePass raising prices and adding restrictions? And then the second question, I know it's early, but can you provide some directional color around how we should think about 2019 CapEx? Should it be down? Flat? Up? Any color there would be appreciated.

我有兩個簡短問題。第一，MoviePass約占票房的5%。他們大約代表票房的5%。這對AMC來說是否也差不多？另外，隨著MoviePass調漲價格並增加限制，你認為有多少出席人次會面臨風險？第二個問題，我知道現在還早，但你們能否就2019年的資本支出（CapEx）提供一些方向性的看法？會下降嗎？持平？上升？任何說明都將不勝感激。

On the first one, by the way, on the first one, I really do want this call to be about AMC and not about somebody else, but I will tell you that we are not at all worried. I'm going to say it again. We are not at all worried about any falloff in our visitation or revenues because of problems that others have in the marketplace because we did, in fact, launch A-List. And because we launched A-List and because the consumer response to A-List has been so strong in the first several -- we think we've created a vehicle and put it into the marketplace where we can take defectors, bring them into our fold and have them continue to enjoy moviegoing in the kind of numbers that we've seen recently coming in other places. So had we done nothing, had we had our head in the sand, we might have been exposed to some risk. But we took a compelling program to market, and we're right out there now and competing every day and doing way better than our original expectations.

關於第一個問題，順帶一提，我真的希望這通電話聚焦在AMC，而不是別人；但我可以告訴你，我們完全不擔心。我再說一次。我們完全不擔心因為市場上其他人遇到的問題而導致我們的到訪量或營收下滑，因為我們確實推出了A-List。而且因為我們推出了A-List，且消費者對A-List在最初幾週的反應非常強勁——我們認為我們已打造出一個工具並投放到市場上，使我們能夠吸引轉換者，把他們納入我們的體系，並讓他們持續以我們最近在其他地方所看到的那種規模享受看電影。所以如果我們什麼都不做、把頭埋在沙子裡，我們可能會暴露在一些風險之下。但我們把一個很有吸引力的方案推向市場，現在我們就在第一線每天競爭，而且表現遠超我們原先的預期。

Yes. On the CapEx, Leo, we guided you this year 2018 to $450 million to $500 million, and I think our 2019 CapEx will be kind of in that range as well.

是的。關於資本支出，Leo，我們對你們在2018年的指引是4.5億到5億美元，我認為我們2019年的資本支出也會大致落在這個區間。

The next question comes from the line of Michael Ng from Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自Goldman Sachs的Michael Ng。

I just have 2. The first is on A-List. It was encouraging to see the better-than-expected membership. Theoretically, if you continue at this strong pace and, for example, get to 500,000 or 1 million members by the end of the year, how would that impact your outlook for $10 million to $15 million of losses related to the program in the back half? Would that go lower or higher? Or is it all dependent on visitation? And then I have a follow-up.

我有兩個問題。第一個是關於A-List。看到會員數優於預期令人鼓舞。理論上，如果你們持續以這樣的強勁速度成長，例如在年底前達到50萬或100萬名會員，這會如何影響你們對下半年與該計畫相關的1,000萬到1,500萬美元虧損的展望？會變低還是變高？還是完全取決於到訪/觀影次數？然後我還有一個追問。

Too early to know. Having said that, it does make sense that the heaviest users come first. But -- so if you have more heavy users coming first then maybe they go up. On the other hand, once you get through the heavy users to the medium users, it all comes down. So I think at week 5, it's just too early for us to predict. So let's stay with the old numbers that are -- have been out there in place from all of 6 weeks ago. And when we have real data where we can make intelligent judgments, either positive or negative, we'll certainly let you know.

現在判斷還太早。話雖如此，最重度的使用者先加入是合理的。但是——所以如果一開始進來的重度使用者更多，那麼虧損可能會上升。另一方面，一旦重度使用者之後輪到中度使用者，整體就會下降。所以我認為在第5週，對我們來說還太早，無法預測。因此我們先維持6週前已經對外公布的原先數字。等我們有了真實數據、能做出有根據的判斷（不論正面或負面），我們一定會告訴你們。

Okay, great. And in the press release, you mentioned that you guys still had a lot of confidence about improving the Odeon and EBITDA margins over time. Could you just talk about bigger picture how you view the Odeon and Nordic markets? And over the long term, do you expect these markets to outperform the U.S. because Europe is relatively under screened? Or is there something else going on?

好的，太好了。另外，在新聞稿中你們提到，對於隨時間推進改善Odeon與EBITDA利潤率仍然很有信心。你能否從更宏觀的角度談談你們如何看待Odeon與北歐市場？長期來看，你們是否預期這些市場會優於美國，因為歐洲相對而言銀幕數較不足？還是有其他因素在起作用？

So yes, you're right. Europe is relatively under screened. Look backwards 5 years, 10 years, moviegoing in Europe has grown at a faster growth rate than moviegoing in the United States. So put aside the second quarter of 2018 where the industry box office was pretty anemic in Europe, we would think that big picture, long term, Europe is going to grow faster than the United States from an industry standpoint. In addition to that, when we go back to the prime reason that we bought Odeon and then Nordic, other than for a global scale, which has its own benefits, at Odeon, we thought we could grow much faster than the industry as a whole because we were going to get first-mover advantage by putting in recliner seats throughout the Odeon network, and that's exactly what's happened. We're 9 theaters as we speak today. The results have just been unbelievably strong, as good as they were back in 2012 and '13 for AMC in the United States when the numbers were just off the charts. So we're already as confident as we can be that because of -- that the market will be good. It wasn't good in Q2. But over the next year, 3 years, 5 years, the market will be strong. And Odeon will be particularly strong because of the recliner renovations. Within the Nordic circuit, we've all been doing this together now for a while. I remember many of you were quite skeptical when we bought Nordic, and we said that one of the big reasons that we bought Nordic, other than it was a very well-managed circuit and could give us some increased managerial strength to help us improve the fortunes of our theaters across the Odeon circuit, was that Nordic had this amazing pipeline of new theaters in development. And I think at the time we bought Nordic, it had 68 theaters that it had operated and 58 theaters it operated in partnership with local municipalities in Scandinavia. But it had over 10 theaters in its pipeline that were going to open. Earlier this year in the first quarter, we opened a new theater in Oslo in the Nordic circuit. It, overnight, became the highest-grossing movie theater in all of Norway and significantly changed our market share across the whole of the country just from this one new theater that's opening. So like the investment thesis of Odeon is turning true, the investment thesis of Nordic is turning out to be true. And if you want to be expansive and talk of greater Europe, like Europe like being really big, I don't think we would have gotten into Saudi Arabia if we had not gotten Europe. Europe gave us demonstrated experience in being able to manage our company well across 15 countries. So when we met with our potential partners and government officials in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we could say truthfully that our company had a lot of experience being sensitive to local cultures, different languages, different business practices. We are not just the United States circuit that was trying to expand internationally with no experience under our belt. And the Saudi expansion is also going to be very profitable for AMC, and our ability to capture that Saudi opportunity is -- a big reason for that is because we went into Europe in 2016.

所以是的，你說得對。歐洲相對而言銀幕數量偏少。回頭看過去5年、10年，歐洲的觀影人次成長速度比美國更快。因此，先不談2018年第二季歐洲整體票房表現相當疲弱的情況，我們認為從更宏觀、長期的產業角度來看，歐洲的成長速度將會快於美國。此外，回到我們收購Odeon、接著收購Nordic的主要原因之一，除了追求全球規模（這本身也有其好處）之外，在Odeon這邊，我們認為我們能夠比整體產業更快成長，因為我們要在Odeon整個網路導入可躺式座椅，取得先行者優勢，而事實也正是如此。截至今天我們已經有9家影城。成果強勁得令人難以置信，幾乎和2012、2013年AMC在美國時一樣好，當時的數字簡直爆表。所以我們已經盡可能有信心，因為——市場會是好的。第二季確實不好。但在未來1年、3年、5年，市場會很強勁。而Odeon會特別強，因為可躺式座椅的翻新改裝。在Nordic院線這邊，我們大家一起做這件事也有一段時間了。我記得你們很多人在我們收購Nordic時相當懷疑，而我們當時說，收購Nordic的一大原因，除了它是一個管理非常良好的院線、並能為我們帶來更強的管理能力以協助我們改善Odeon院線旗下影城的經營表現之外，還因為Nordic擁有一條令人驚豔的新影城開發管線。我想在我們收購Nordic的當時，它自營有68家影城，並在斯堪地那維亞與地方市政單位合作經營58家影城。但它的開發管線中還有超過10家影城即將開幕。今年稍早的第一季，我們在Nordic院線於奧斯陸開了一家新影城。它幾乎一夜之間就成為全挪威票房最高的影城，僅憑這一家新開幕影城，就大幅改變了我們在全國的市占率。所以就像Odeon的投資論點正在被驗證一樣，Nordic的投資論點也正在被驗證。如果你想把範圍拉大、談更大的歐洲——把歐洲視為非常大的版圖——我認為如果我們沒有進入歐洲，我們不會進入沙烏地阿拉伯。歐洲讓我們累積了可證明的經驗，能在15個國家良好地管理公司。因此，當我們與沙烏地阿拉伯王國的潛在合作夥伴與政府官員會面時，我們可以如實地說，我們公司在尊重在地文化、不同語言、不同商業慣例方面有豐富經驗。我們不只是那種毫無國際經驗、卻想向海外擴張的美國院線。而沙烏地的擴張也將為AMC帶來非常可觀的獲利；我們能夠掌握沙烏地這個機會——其中一個重要原因——就是因為我們在2016年進入了歐洲。

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Hickey from Benchmark Company.

我們的下一個問題來自Benchmark Company的Mike Hickey。

I guess, on the marketing side, obviously, a lot of success here in building out your loyalty program, 16 million, maybe more importantly, 40 million, I guess, you're estimating in terms of uniques or individual moviegoers within that number. And I'm just sort of curious how aggressive you've been marketing to that group, your Stubs A-List program and sort of what sort of, I guess, if the conversion is sort of in line with what you're thinking originally going into the launch of the program and sort of what opportunities perhaps that huge group of steadies, so to speak, could offer you.

我想在行銷面向上，很明顯你們在建立會員忠誠計畫方面取得了很大成功：1,600萬，或許更重要的是，你們估計在這個數字之中有4,000萬名不重複的個體或個別觀影者。我只是有點好奇，你們對這個族群在行銷你們的Stubs A-List方案時有多積極；以及我想問的是，轉換率是否大致符合你們在方案推出之初的原先預期；另外，這個龐大的「固定客群」（姑且這麼說）可能會為你們帶來哪些機會。

Sure. Sure, Mike. Just to give everybody the -- how we get to some of these numbers, the reason we're saying that 15.8 million member households equates to 40 million Americans is because the average household size in the United States is 2.6. And we do -- and Stubs is a household program. The reason why it's a household program, spending per year in movie theaters is much less than what you might spend at airlines or in hotels, for example. So we wanted to gang up some spending, so that people could actually accumulate some sizable enough quantity of points that they could then turn that into rewards, and they would see that as beneficial enough to them to join the program. I don't think this is unknown to you. There are 9 people, who back in 1981 and 1982 invented airline frequent flyer programs, and I happened to be one of the 9, and so I've been living with loyalty programs for almost 40 years. And in coming in to AMC, I thought there was a lot of opportunity to revamp AMC Stubs, which already was the most successful loyalty program in the movie theater business, but make it a lot more successful. I've got to tell you, I never dreamed in a million years that we would see the success for Stubs that we've seen. AMC Stubs, as you recall, had 2.5 million members at the and of 2015 when I arrived here. It had -- that member count had not grown in 3 years, and it's -- we relaunched the program in July of 2016 about 6 months after I got here based on a lot of knowledge that our own people have, knowledge that I brought. I brought in a consultant who actually created American Advantage in 1981, who helped us design all this. And we thought we would grow. But my God, to grow from 2.5 million member households to 15.8 million member households in 2 years, that's stunning. And it's just -- the growth isn't stopping. On the AMC A-List call that we did 6 weeks ago, we told you with excitement that we crossed 15 million members. It's 6 weeks later, we're 15.8 million members. By next week, we're probably going to be around 16 million members for Stubs. It just continues to grow and grow and grow. And whereas about 20% of our total guest activity in the United States was tracking for Stubs points in the original program that was in place at the end of '15, about 40% of all the tickets that we're selling now are tracking for Stubs points. Number one, that's staggering. And if you've tracked loyalty programs over the decades like I have, being able to double your point tracking in 2 years is just a terrific accomplishment. But there's more that can come. You said like what's the future? In other industries, these loyalty programs have topped out at around half of the clientele, maybe 55% of the clientele. The rest -- close to half of the population doesn't seem to like to play the game. But that means that we could see a 50% growth again from 40% to 50%, possibly more in the amount of people in our universe who are tracking for Stubs points. So what we've done with the program has been very successful, and there's still a lot of opportunity ahead. In terms of what we've done to be aggressive in marketing ourselves, I used a number in my prepared remarks that we're sending out about 1.3 billion e-mails and texts a year to AMC Stubs members. In fact, we are in contact with our Stubs members about twice a week, about 100 times a year, flogging away at what they can go see at our theaters. And remember, there's interest level amongst our guests in the information that we send them because there are new movies that open every single week. So we're not just giving them stale information for the 79th time on a stagnant product. Our product is constantly changing. And so that the information we're giving them is quite relevant. And what we're seeing that our open rates are nice and high and that we're not burning out our list at all by continuing to communicate with them frequently because our product is changing so constantly. So yes, we have a very strong and -- yes, we have a very strong program. Yes, we're marketing, [too], in a very aggressive way. I think one of the things within the program that I'm very excited about in the last few months, we really perfected what we call our recommendation engine. So that the e-mail that we sent to you is different than the e-mail that we sent to Eric or David or Leo or Michael because the e-mail that you get is based on the movies that you've seen before, and the e-mails that they get are based on the movies that they've seen before, very Amazon-like in gearing our promotional messaging to your personal interests. And, obviously, we continue to make Stubs better and better. I'm particularly excited that we've put VIP benefits into the theaters, so that our A-list people and our Premiere list people are treated better than our regular Stubs members, and that our regular Stubs members are treated better than our non-Stubs members. I'm also excited that we continue to refresh AMC Stubs and make it more and more interesting [and relevant] to consumers. It's no accident that when we launched A-List, we launched it as a VIP tier within our AMC Stubs program as opposed to launching some separate program divorced and outside of AMC Stubs. So thank you for the question. I'm sorry for going on so long, but we are proud of how well this has all been going, and it's a reason for not only our success in Q2, but these are going to be reasons for our success over the next 12 months, the next 24 months, the next 36 months, the next 48 months. These are reasons why AMC is going to be a winner in this industry.

當然。當然，Mike。先跟大家說明一下——我們是怎麼推導出其中一些數字的：我們之所以說1,580萬個會員家庭相當於4,000萬名美國人，是因為美國的平均家庭人口數是2.6人。而且我們——Stubs是一個以家庭為單位的方案。之所以以家庭為單位，是因為在電影院每年的消費，通常遠低於例如航空或飯店的消費。所以我們希望把一些消費「合併」起來，讓大家能夠累積到足夠多的點數，進而兌換成獎勵；他們會覺得這樣的好處足以吸引他們加入這個計畫。我想這對你來說並不陌生。在1981年與1982年，有9個人發明了航空公司的常旅客計畫，而我剛好就是那9個人之一，所以我與忠誠度計畫打交道將近40年了。我到AMC之後，我認為有很大的機會去改造AMC Stubs；它本來就已是影城產業中最成功的忠誠度計畫，但我們可以讓它更成功。我得說，我做夢也沒想到我們會看到Stubs有今天這樣的成功。如你所記得的，AMC Stubs在我2015年底來到這裡時，會員數是250萬。而且——那個會員數在3年內都沒有成長；我們在我到任約6個月後、也就是2016年7月，基於我們自己團隊的許多知識，以及我帶來的知識，重新推出了這個計畫。我也找來一位顧問——他在1981年實際上創建了American Advantage（美航優勢計畫），協助我們設計這一切。我們原本以為會成長。但天啊，兩年內從250萬個會員家庭成長到1,580萬個會員家庭，這太驚人了。而且——成長還沒有停止。在6週前我們做的AMC A-List電話會議上，我們興奮地告訴各位我們突破了1,500萬名會員。6週後，我們已經是1,580萬名會員。到下週，我們的Stubs會員可能就會接近1,600萬。它就是持續成長、成長、再成長。而在2015年底原本的計畫下，我們在美國的總來客活動中約有20%是在累積Stubs點數；現在我們賣出的所有票券中，約有40%是在累積Stubs點數。第一，這非常驚人。如果你像我一樣在過去幾十年追蹤忠誠度計畫，能在兩年內把點數累積的追蹤比例翻倍，真的是非常了不起的成就。但還有更多可以發揮的空間。你問未來會怎樣？在其他產業，這些忠誠度計畫的滲透率通常會在約一半的客群見頂，也許是55%的客群。其餘——接近一半的人口似乎不喜歡玩這個遊戲。但這表示，在我們的受眾中，累積Stubs點數的人數占比，可能還能從40%再成長到50%，也可能更多，相當於再增加50%的成長空間。所以我們對這個計畫所做的一切非常成功，而前方仍有很大的機會。就我們在行銷上採取的積極作法而言，我在事先準備的發言中提到一個數字：我們每年大約向AMC Stubs會員發送13億封電子郵件與簡訊。事實上，我們大約每週與Stubs會員聯繫兩次，一年約100次，不斷推廣他們可以到我們影城看什麼。而且請記得，我們傳給來賓的資訊是有興趣程度的，因為每週都有新電影上映。所以我們不是第79次重複傳送過時資訊、針對一個停滯的產品。我們的產品一直在變。因此我們提供的資訊相當相關。我們看到開信率相當不錯，而且即使我們頻繁溝通，也完全沒有把名單「燒壞」或造成疲乏，因為我們的產品變化非常快。所以是的，我們有一個非常強大——是的，我們有一個非常強大的計畫。是的，我們也以非常積極的方式在行銷，[也]是如此。我想在這個計畫裡，過去幾個月讓我非常興奮的一件事是：我們真正把所謂的推薦引擎做得很完善。因此我們寄給你的電子郵件，會不同於寄給Eric、David、Leo或Michael的電子郵件；因為你收到的內容是基於你過去看過的電影，而他們收到的內容是基於他們過去看過的電影——非常像Amazon那樣，讓我們的促銷訊息更貼近你的個人興趣。而且，很明顯地，我們會持續讓Stubs變得越來越好。我特別興奮的是，我們把VIP福利帶進影城，讓我們的A-List會員與Premiere會員得到比一般Stubs會員更好的待遇，而一般Stubs會員又比非Stubs會員得到更好的待遇。我也很興奮我們持續更新AMC Stubs，讓它對消費者而言越來越有趣[且更相關]。我們推出A-List時，把它定位為AMC Stubs計畫中的VIP等級，而不是推出一個與AMC Stubs切割、獨立於其外的另一個計畫，這絕非偶然。所以謝謝你的提問。抱歉我講了這麼久，但我們為目前一切進展得如此順利感到自豪；這不僅是我們第二季成功的原因，也將會是我們未來12個月、24個月、36個月、48個月成功的原因。這些都是AMC在這個產業中將會成為贏家的原因。

Awesome. Last question for me, I guess, on the Stubs A-List. Just curious, when you had the call before, IMAX is obviously a big piece I think of value here that's seen, at this price point, et cetera, and so curious now when you look at early usage clearly, but is that sort of tracking to what you would have expected in terms of sort of a bias towards IMAX? And I'm also wondering as you sort of scale out your sub-base here. And, obviously, there's a lot of moving pieces here to the economic puzzle of your relationship with IMAX. Does that change your thinking maybe longer term, especially when you look at maybe your Carmike circuit. Do you think maybe more IMAX screens in perhaps markets that didn't have an economic case for it before but now with the Stubs plan and the excitement of seeing IMAX films, if that changes your long-term view?

太棒了。我最後一個問題，我想，是關於Stubs A-List。我只是好奇，你們之前那通電話會議時，IMAX顯然是這個價位帶來的價值中很大的一部分，等等；所以我想問，現在你們看早期的使用情況很明顯，但就你們原先的預期而言，是否呈現出某種偏向IMAX的使用傾向、也就是說是否符合你們的預期？另外我也想知道，當你們把這個訂閱會員基礎擴大時。而且很明顯，你們與IMAX之間關係的經濟拼圖有很多變動因素。這是否會改變你們可能較長期的想法，特別是當你們看你們的Carmike院線時。你是否認為，也許在一些過去沒有經濟可行性的市場，現在因為Stubs方案以及觀眾對觀看IMAX影片的興奮感，可能會需要更多IMAX銀幕；這是否會改變你們的長期觀點？

Sure. We're week 5 of AMC Stubs A-List, and I already know who should be smiling in the executive suites of companies around the country. First, the CEOs of every studio out in Hollywood should be smiling because this program is going to drive incremental moviegoing and especially incremental moviegoing amongst millennials, which is an audience that studios have been worrying about for years how to bring them into the theaters in significant numbers. Second, the CEO of AMC is smiling because we're off to a great start. Third, Kevin Yeaman at Dolby Labs and Rich Gelfond at IMAX really should be smiling because your supposition that IMAX and Dolby Cinema are doing very well within AMC Stubs A-List is certainly being borne out to be true. We're very committed to PLFs. We're committed to more IMAXs, upgraded IMAXs, more Dolby Cinemas, more PRIME at AMCs. We have something in Europe called iSense, which is our house brand in Europe, more iSense locations. And this program is one of the reasons why we'll continue to do really well at -- in our PLFs, but it's not the only reason. Our PLFs were doing well long before AMC Stubs A-List was ever launched. They overindex by about 3:1 against a traditional screen for attendance, and the price premiums we've been seeing, as I said in my remarks, up 70% for IMAX and Dolby and up 45% for PRIME, our house branded. Remember, given that we don't have to share any of our PRIME revenues with IMAX or Dolby, a 45% price premium at PRIME, the bottom line economics to us look just as good as IMAX and Dolby. So I'm sure you're going to continue to see big surges in IMAX count, Dolby Cinema counts and our house brand PLFs counts over the years ahead. This is, after all, what our consumers want. Everybody's for years, for decades, people have been talking about going to see the movie on the big screen. Well, there's no big-screen like IMAX, Dolby Cinema and PRIME at AMC. And I said we were at 160 PLFs 3 years ago, we're going to be around 400 at the end of '18. 3 years from now, 600 PLFs, 700 PLFs. A lot of those will be Dolby. A lot of those will be IMAX. A lot of those will be house brand. But this is what consumers want. They overindex for PLFs in attendance. They overindex for PLF at -- for price.

當然。我們現在是 AMC Stubs A-List 推出後的第 5 週，我已經知道全國各地公司高層辦公室裡，哪些人應該笑得合不攏嘴。第一，好萊塢各家片廠的執行長都應該很開心，因為這個方案將帶動額外的觀影人次，尤其是千禧世代的額外觀影人次；而片廠多年來一直在煩惱，如何把他們大量帶回戲院。第二，AMC 的執行長也很開心，因為我們開局非常好。第三，Dolby Labs 的 Kevin Yeaman 與 IMAX 的 Rich Gelfond 也真的應該很開心，因為你所假設的「IMAX 與 Dolby Cinema 在 AMC Stubs A-List 之下表現非常好」這件事，確實正被證明為真。我們非常致力於 PLF（高規格影廳）。我們致力於增加更多 IMAX、升級 IMAX、增加更多 Dolby Cinema、以及更多 AMC 的 PRIME。我們在歐洲有一個叫 iSense 的東西，那是我們在歐洲的自有品牌，會增加更多 iSense 據點。而這個方案是我們未來在 PLF 表現持續亮眼的原因之一，但不是唯一原因。在 AMC Stubs A-List 推出之前很久，我們的 PLF 就已經表現很好。就出席人次而言，PLF 相對於傳統影廳約有 3:1 的超額表現；而我們看到的票價溢價，如同我在發言中提到的，IMAX 與 Dolby 上升 70%，PRIME（我們的自有品牌）上升 45%。請記得，因為我們不需要與 IMAX 或 Dolby 分潤任何 PRIME 的收入，所以 PRIME 45% 的票價溢價，對我們而言，其底線經濟效益看起來跟 IMAX 與 Dolby 一樣好。因此我確信，未來幾年你會持續看到 IMAX 數量、Dolby Cinema 數量，以及我們自有品牌 PLF 數量的大幅成長。畢竟，這就是消費者想要的。多年來、數十年來，人們一直在談要在大銀幕上看電影。而沒有任何大銀幕能像 AMC 的 IMAX、Dolby Cinema 與 PRIME。我說過，3 年前我們有 160 間 PLF，到 2018 年底我們會接近 400 間。再過 3 年，會有 600 間 PLF、700 間 PLF。其中很多會是 Dolby。其中很多會是 IMAX。其中很多會是自有品牌。但這就是消費者想要的。他們在 PLF 的出席人次上呈現超額偏好。他們在 PLF 的——在價格上也呈現超額偏好。

Our next question comes from the line of Jason Bazinet with Citi.

我們下一個問題來自 Citi 的 Jason Bazinet。

Going back to the -- even the IPO days, there was a lot of emphasis on recliner reseats, dine-in theaters, all that, and we're still sort of making progress sort of renovating the circuit. My question is when do you think this will be done? When do you sort of ring the bell and say, "our circuit is fully upgraded"? And when that happens, what does the capital intensity of the business look like?

回到——甚至 IPO 的時候，市場非常強調可躺式座椅改裝、餐飲式影廳等等，而我們也仍在持續推進、逐步翻新整個院線。我的問題是，你認為這件事什麼時候會完成？你們什麼時候會敲鐘宣布：「我們的院線已全面升級」？而當那一刻發生時，這門生意的資本密集度會是什麼樣子？

Well, that's a really good question, Jason. So had we been a static company, meaning we didn't acquire Carmike, and we didn't acquire Odeon and Nordic, we'd be getting to a point where we're pretty close to being done. We're still going to do another 30-ish theaters this year from within the AMC brand, the legacy AMC Theatres. And maybe there are 30 more, and that -- maybe they're -- so we're at 250 as we sit here today, maybe that would have grown to 300. Maybe that -- and we probably would have peaked out about there. But then we acquired Carmike. Carmike had no theaters with recliner seats. So we bought 250 theaters that was completely devoid of recliners. And when you look at the Carmike circuit, at least half of the Carmike circuit, possibly 2/3 of the Carmike circuit, is never really going to be a candidate for recliner seats. The theaters are too small. The visitation is too light. So -- but there are 50 to 100 theaters within the Carmike 250 that could take recliner seats. So in essence for Carmike, it's 2011 all over again. And the same is true in Europe. There were, I think a couple of theaters that had some partial rows of recliner seats installed in Europe, but basically when we bought Odeon and Nordic and added another 300 theaters to our system, call it 350, there were -- there was essentially no recliner seating in Europe. And we're going to have 25 to 30 theaters in this by the end of '18 with recliner seats in Europe. And there's runway in Europe for another 4 years, 5 years of recliner theaters. So going to your question, when is it all over? It would have been over about now or maybe a year from now if we hadn't bought Carmike and Odeon. But I know what that's driving in your head, which is -- so we're spending hundreds -- we're investing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in renovating theaters, putting in recliner seats. When are we going to stop investing hundreds of millions of dollars renovating those theaters and just come back down closer to maintenance CapEx levels and just put the free cash flow in our pocket rather than turning around and reinvesting in the business? I would remind you that the investments we're making in these recliner-equipped theaters are producing very high returns. And so we think the business is already generating dramatic free cash flow, which we're then, in turn, deciding what to do with. Some of it we're returning to shareholders in the way of dividends, some of it we're returning to shareholders in the way of buybacks, some of it we are deleveraging the company. But other than that, we are putting back into our business because the financial returns are so attractive. So I think when I talk with some of you not on these quarterly calls, your hope is that this can all go away, it can end, we can just go down to maintenance CapEx levels, have huge free cash flow generation. I want to remind -- so the point I'm trying to make is we're already doing that. We're already getting the free cash flow generation. But the investments we're making, we're turning around and making because they are going to produce dramatic returns going forward. So in essence, I think you should be rooting for some of this to continue maybe not where the market is satiated as it is throughout much of the old AMC circuit but in circuits where there's a lot of low-hanging fruit and high returns still to be gained, it should be very appealing to you and us that we have those opportunities available to us.

嗯，這真的是個很好的問題，Jason。如果我們是一家靜態的公司，也就是說我們沒有收購 Carmike，也沒有收購 Odeon 和 Nordic，那我們現在差不多就快要做完了。今年我們在 AMC 品牌內、也就是傳統 AMC Theatres 的範圍內，還會再做大約 30 家影城。也許還有另外 30 家——也許它們——所以我們目前大約是 250 家，或許會成長到 300 家。也許我們大概就會在那個水位見頂。但接著我們收購了 Carmike。Carmike 沒有任何影城配備可躺式座椅。所以我們買下了 250 家影城，完全沒有可躺式座椅。而當你看 Carmike 的院線時，至少有一半、可能有 2/3 的 Carmike 院線，基本上永遠不會是可躺式座椅的候選。影城太小。來客量太低。所以——但在 Carmike 的 250 家之中，有 50 到 100 家影城是可以導入可躺式座椅的。因此就 Carmike 而言，本質上等於回到 2011 年再來一次。歐洲也是同樣的情況。我記得歐洲有幾家影城曾安裝過部分排數的可躺式座椅，但基本上，當我們收購 Odeon 和 Nordic、讓系統新增了另外 300 家影城（算 350 家），歐洲幾乎沒有可躺式座椅。到 2018 年底，我們在歐洲將有 25 到 30 家影城配備可躺式座椅。而歐洲還有 4 年、5 年的可躺式座椅影城擴張跑道。所以回到你的問題，什麼時候才會全部結束？如果我們沒有買 Carmike 和 Odeon，大概現在就結束了，或最多再一年。但我知道你腦中在想的是——我們每年花數億美元——我們每年投入數億美元翻新影城、安裝可躺式座椅。我們什麼時候會停止每年投入數億美元翻新這些影城，回落到更接近維護性資本支出（maintenance CapEx）的水準，然後把自由現金流放進口袋，而不是再轉頭把它重新投回業務？我想提醒你，我們在這些配備可躺式座椅的影城所做的投資，正在產生非常高的報酬。因此我們認為，這門生意已經在產生可觀的自由現金流，而我們接著再決定要如何運用。其中一部分我們以股利的方式回饋股東，一部分以庫藏股回購的方式回饋股東，一部分用來降低公司槓桿。除此之外，我們也把資金再投入到業務中，因為財務報酬非常具吸引力。所以我想，當我在這些季度電話會議之外與各位交流時，你們的期待是：這些事情最好都能消失、能結束，我們只要降到維護性 CapEx 水準，就能產生巨大的自由現金流。我想提醒——我想表達的重點是：我們其實已經在那樣做了。我們已經在產生自由現金流。但我們之所以繼續投資，是因為這些投資未來將帶來顯著的報酬。因此本質上，我認為你們應該希望其中一部分能持續下去——也許不是在市場已經飽和的地方（例如舊 AMC 院線的大部分地區），但在仍有很多「低垂果實」且仍可取得高報酬的院線中，對你們與我們而言，能擁有這些機會都應該非常有吸引力。

Our next question comes from the line of Chad Beynon from Macquarie Group.

我們的下一個問題來自麥格理集團（Macquarie Group）的 Chad Beynon。

A couple of modeling questions. Firstly, I think in your prepared remarks, you mentioned that the second half could potentially be flat from an EBITDA standpoint. Just wondering if you could call out the negative year-over-year comp given the divestitures of some of the noncore assets, DCIP, NCM, et cetera, just what is that in the back half of the year from a headwind standpoint?

有幾個建模方面的問題。首先，我想在你們的事先準備發言中，你提到下半年從 EBITDA 的角度看可能會持平。想請你點出一下，考量到出售了一些非核心資產（DCIP、NCM 等等）所帶來的負面年對年可比影響；也就是說，從逆風的角度看，這在今年下半年大概會造成多大的壓力？

So you're asking about the dividend contribution in the last -- it'll take me a second. I don't have that at my fingertips. Can we take the next question, and then I'll come back to Chad's question?

所以你是在問下半年股利的貢獻——我需要想一下。我手邊沒有那個數字。我們可以先進下一題，然後我再回來回答 Chad 的問題嗎？

Yes, absolutely. Yes, pretty detailed question and then secondly, no one has touched on film margins in the quarter in the U.S. Overall, your margins expanded, I think, well beyond what we had expected, within the detailed line items, I think film expense was slightly greater. We all know the concentration of films hurt you, but was there anything else in there that hurt you in the quarter domestically? Or was that simply how that concentration plays out in a big quarter like this?

是的，當然可以。是的，這是個相當細的問題；另外，還沒有人提到本季美國市場的影片毛利。整體來看，你們的毛利擴張，我想遠超出我們的預期；在細項中，我記得影片成本略高一些。我們都知道影片集中度對你們不利，但在美國本土這一季，還有其他因素拖累你們嗎？還是說，這就只是影片集中度在這種大檔季度裡自然呈現的結果？

So I actually did touch on [my remarks], I mentioned film rents. The bigger the movie, the higher the rent we pay. The smaller the movie, the lower the rent we pay. The second quarter had some huge titles in it. So film rents went up. But it was nothing other than that. It was nothing than other sliding scales at work, and just remind you that our theater margins went from -- in the U.S. went from 12.7% to 19.7%. You've got to look at the totality of it. Increasing film rents is not an issue when the movies are as big as they were, driving the kind of revenues they drove, driving the kind of attendance that they drove. It was right as we expected, and the bottom line result was very positive.

其實我在[我的發言]裡有提到，我提到的是影片分帳（film rents）。電影越大片，我們支付的分帳就越高。電影越小片，我們支付的分帳就越低。第二季有一些非常大的片名。所以影片分帳上升了。但除此之外沒有其他因素。沒有其他因素，只有其他按比例調整的機制在運作；也提醒你，我們在美國的影城毛利率從 12.7% 提升到 19.7%。你必須看整體表現。當電影像這次一樣大、帶動那樣的營收、帶動那樣的觀影人次時，影片分帳增加並不是問題。結果完全符合我們的預期，而最終成果非常正面。

Yes, back on the question about dividends, in the second half last year, we booked about $21 million in both quarters, or the last 6 months, about $21 million, and it looks like it could be around half of that. That, of course, depends on a lot of things like level of operations of those different businesses. But that's kind of our projection, about half of that $21 million, we should see this year.

是的，回到關於股利的問題，去年下半年我們在兩個季度（或說過去 6 個月）合計認列了約 2,100 萬美元，看起來今年可能大約只有那個數字的一半左右。當然，這取決於很多因素，例如那些不同業務的營運水準。但這大致是我們的預估：今年應該會看到約 2,100 萬美元的一半。

Our next question comes from the line of Jim Goss from Barrington Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Barrington Research 的 Jim Goss。

A question about the breadth of PLFs and whether you've been noticing any difference in utilization rates for IMAX versus Dolby versus your various house brands. And also one of the arguments for house brands or at least not IMAX was, IMAX has a set schedule and the others maybe have a greater degree of flexibility in taking the movie du jour to -- go with that, if that's borne out to have any relevance in your utilization rates.

我想問關於 PLF（高規格影廳）的廣度，以及你們是否注意到 IMAX、Dolby 與你們各種自有品牌在使用率上有任何差異。另外，支持自有品牌（或至少不選 IMAX）的其中一個論點是：IMAX 有固定排片時程，而其他格式可能在安排「當下最夯的電影」方面更有彈性——想請問這點是否在你們的使用率數據上有任何相關性、是否被驗證？

Thank you, Jim. So I think the question was do we know what's going on, differences between IMAX and Dolby and our house brands? Like we know so precisely. We track our numbers so close. One thing I will say about AMC: we have great management information. We close our books weekly. We get an incredible amount of data about our performance theater by theater, format by format, movie by movie. So we know exactly what the differences are between IMAX and Dolby Cinema and PRIME at AMC. But in the guise that we love all our children equally, we're thrilled to be partners with IMAX. We're thrilled to be partners with Dolby Labs. We're thrilled to have our own house brands, and I think it would be impolitic of me to start comparing each of them against each other. They're all fabulous partners for AMC. We are the largest IMAX operator in the United States. We're the largest Dolby Cinema operator in the United States. I'd like it to stay that way. So I'm going to love all my children equally and duck your question a tad. But remember, we're adding these screens. We're upgrading these screens with A-List. We're driving people to these screens. I believe if you talk to IMAX or Dolby, they would tell you that we've been a very faithful partner to each.

謝謝你，Jim。所以我想你的問題是：我們是否知道 IMAX、Dolby 和我們自有品牌之間的差異、到底發生了什麼？我們掌握得非常精準。我們非常密切地追蹤各項數字。我想先說 AMC 的一點：我們有很好的管理資訊系統。我們每週結帳關帳。我們能取得大量的數據，按影城、按格式、按電影逐一檢視我們的表現。所以我們確實非常清楚 IMAX、Dolby Cinema 與 AMC 的 PRIME 之間的差異。但以「我們一視同仁地愛所有孩子」的立場來說，我們很高興能與 IMAX 合作。我們也很高興能與 Dolby Labs 合作。我們也很高興擁有自有品牌；我認為若開始把它們彼此拿來比較，對我來說不太得體。它們都是 AMC 很棒的合作夥伴。我們是美國最大的 IMAX 營運商。我們也是美國最大的 Dolby Cinema 營運商。我希望能一直保持這樣。所以我會一視同仁地愛所有孩子，稍微迴避一下你的問題。但請記得，我們正在增加這些銀幕。我們正在透過 A-List 升級這些銀幕。我們正在把人潮導向這些銀幕。我相信如果你去問 IMAX 或 Dolby，他們會告訴你：我們一直是對雙方都非常忠誠的合作夥伴。

Okay. That's fair. And maybe it's hard to beat A-List to death any more than we're probably doing so but I'll give it one more try. I assume that almost all of the A-List customers came out of the Stubs subscriber list to begin with so given what you just said about how you track everything very closely, I'm wondering, and I know we're only 5 weeks into it, but you have the data analyzed -- like how you go through the frequent users because you know how many movies each person in the Stubs list has seen. And I'm just wondering what you're sensing about it, the flow of going from the very frequent users already to ones that might become a more frequent user, encouraged by the A-List and help your concession dollars and like how that process seems destined to work out based on the analysis of the data to this point.

好的。這很公平。也許我們已經把 A-List 講到不能再講了，但我還是再試一次。我假設幾乎所有 A-List 客戶一開始都來自 Stubs 的訂閱名單；所以基於你剛才說你們會非常密切追蹤所有事情，我想知道——我知道我們才推行 5 週——但你們已經把數據分析過了：例如你們如何檢視高頻使用者，因為你們知道 Stubs 名單裡每個人看了多少部電影。我想知道你們目前的感受是什麼：從原本就非常高頻的使用者，流向那些在 A-List 鼓勵下可能變得更高頻的使用者；這將有助於你們的小賣部（concession）收入——就目前為止的數據分析來看，這個過程看起來會如何發展？

So Jim, like you're the only person who's going to get something new out of me on A-List because I do have it. So first of all, the analogy of beating A-List to death is not exactly the analogy I would use. I would use the analogy of the proud papa, who's celebrating the arrival of a newborn and is looking forward to years and years of joy coming from the new child. But the premise of your question, I'm delighted to report, is not correct. 40% of the clientele who signed up for A-List so far were not members of the AMC Stubs program. That bodes very well for incrementality, and 20% of the people, these are round numbers, by the way, not 40.000, but about 40%, and about 20% of the people who signed up for A-List so far have come from the AMC Insider tier of the AMC Stubs program. Remember, that preA-List, we had 2 tiers of AMC Stubs: Insider and Premiere. Insider was the free program. Premiere was the paid program. The Premieres were going to about 12 movies a year at AMC. The Insiders were going to about 4 movies a year at AMC. So 1/5 of the people signing up for A-List at $20 a month were only going to 4 movies a year before A-List, and 40% of the people coming into A-List are new to our loyalty scheme in total. These are very good omens.

Jim，你可能是唯一一個能從我這裡聽到一些 A-List 新資訊的人，因為我確實有資料。首先，把 A-List「講到死」這個比喻並不是我會用的說法。我會用的比喻是：一位自豪的爸爸，正在慶祝新生兒的到來，並期待未來多年都能從這個新孩子身上獲得喜悅。但我很高興地回報，你問題的前提並不正確。截至目前，報名 A-List 的客群中，有 40% 先前不是 AMC Stubs 計畫的會員。這對增量（incrementality）非常有利；另外，大約 20%（順帶一提，這些是四捨五入的數字，不是 40.000 之類的精確值；大約 40%，以及大約 20%）的 A-List 訂閱者來自 AMC Stubs 計畫中的 AMC Insider 等級。請記得，在 A-List 推出之前，我們的 AMC Stubs 有兩個等級：Insider 和 Premiere。Insider 是免費方案。Premiere 是付費方案。Premiere 會員一年大約在 AMC 看 12 部電影。Insider 會員一年大約在 AMC 看 4 部電影。所以，以每月 20 美元訂閱 A-List 的人當中，有五分之一在 A-List 之前一年只看 4 部電影；而加入 A-List 的人中有 40% 完全是我們忠誠計畫的新客。這些都是非常好的徵兆。

Those sound like it. It is more incremental than I thought it would be at this stage of the game.

聽起來就是那樣。在這個階段，它比我原先以為的更偏向循序漸進。

Our final question comes from the line of Ryan Sundby from William Blair.

我們最後一個問題來自 William Blair 的 Ryan Sundby。

(inaudible) Can you guys hear me now?

(聽不清楚) 你們現在聽得到我嗎？

Yes, I can hear you.

是的，我聽得到你。

Okay, great. And just a quick modeling question for Craig. How should we think about rent expense going forward because I think there was some lease modification benefits again this quarter. And then, Adam, given the success of the Saudi theater so far, does that change your thoughts on the cadence there of the rollout? Or is that schedule pretty set? And then I understand Saudi's a pretty unique opportunity. but does that maybe the success there open up your eyes to even more markets internationally over time?

好的，太好了。我有一個給 Craig 的快速建模問題。我們應該如何看待未來的租金費用？因為我認為本季又有一些租約修改的利益。另外，Adam，鑑於沙烏地影城目前的成功，這會改變你對那邊展店推進節奏的看法嗎？還是說那個時程基本上已經很固定？我也理解沙烏地是一個相當獨特的機會。但那邊的成功是否也讓你們對未來隨時間推進、在國際上進入更多市場有更多想法？

I'll do Saudi first. No --

我先講沙烏地。不——

Real quick on the --

很快補充一下關於——

Let's end on something more exciting than...

我們用一個比……更令人興奮的話題來收尾吧。

Than rent?

比租金？

Than modeling our rent expense.

比建模我們的租金費用。

It's pretty exciting to me. So there was a $10.8 million credit against rent in the second quarter that kind of is the final impact of that deal we had previously talked about.

對我來說其實挺令人興奮的。所以第二季有一筆 1,080 萬美元的租金抵減，這算是我們先前談過那筆交易的最終影響。

All right. So Saudi, nothing's on a set schedule. Yes, we will try to accelerate theater openings in Saudi. We have been talking about 30 to 40 in the first 3 to 5 years and 50 to 100 by the year 2030, which corresponds with the so-called Vision 2030 program of the Saudi government, His Royal Highness, the crown prince. You now heard me -- today, you've heard us change the nomenclature to 50 to 100 theaters in the foreseeable future. We're going to try to move it up faster and increase the theater counts. They are very profitable. They will be very profitable. Having said that, it is going to take us a little while to get going. We got one theater opened in Saudi Arabia today. It may end the year at one, maybe 2, more likely probably one. Next year, there may only be 3 or 4. But once we get into 2020, that's when we could really be cranking 10 theaters a year, 12 theaters a year, 15 theaters a year, possibly more. Depends on how quickly construction can take place, how quickly landlord negotiations with mall operators across the country can take place. But clearly, this is an enormous opportunity for AMC, and AMC is way out in front. We are the only U.S. or European or Asian cinema chain to have been granted a license to operate theaters in Saudi Arabia. At the moment, there are 3 licenses to operate theaters in the country that have been issued by the Ministry of Culture and Information. AMC and then 2 much smaller regional chains based in Dubai and Beirut, who are well-established in the Middle East. But we're the only major operator to have come in from a global standpoint. You're aware that we're doing this in partnership with the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Saudi Arabia, who is going to put up the lion's share of the capital for our theaters, which also means that our -- while we will have some capital investment in our theaters, it's not going to be anywhere close to the capital investment we would have to have put in if we were opening 50 to 100 theaters from scratch. So just -- I could not be more upbeat about what Saudi is going to mean for AMC profitability. Having said that, we're not going crazy looking at other geographic territories at the moment because there's already so much on our plate. There's so much opportunity for us to choose from within our current world. We have -- I told you I want to return cash to shareholders. I want to deleverage. I want to invest in our theaters. The Carmike and Odeon circuits, Nordic circuits are capable of sustaining a lot of investment to improve EBITDA from our existing networks without having to take on the burden of increased international expansion. Saudi's a great opportunity. Never say never. But right now, I think we're focused on the 16 countries that we're in rather than looking to find the 17th.

好。所以沙烏地方面，沒有什麼是固定時程。是的，我們會嘗試加速在沙烏地的影城開幕。我們一直在談的是前 3 到 5 年開 30 到 40 家，並在 2030 年前達到 50 到 100 家，這與沙烏地政府所謂的「願景 2030」計畫相呼應，由王儲殿下主導。你們也聽到我——今天你們聽到我們把用語改成「在可預見的未來達到 50 到 100 家影城」。我們會努力把時程往前拉、並提高影城數量。它們非常獲利。它們將會非常獲利。話雖如此，我們要真正上軌道還需要一點時間。我們目前在沙烏地阿拉伯已開出 1 家影城。今年年底可能仍是 1 家，也許 2 家，但更可能大概就是 1 家。明年可能也只有 3 或 4 家。但一旦進入 2020 年，那時我們就可能真的開始加速，每年開 10 家、12 家、15 家，甚至可能更多。這取決於施工能多快完成，以及與全國各地購物中心營運商的房東談判能多快進行。但很明顯，這對 AMC 是一個巨大的機會，而 AMC 已經大幅領先。我們是唯一一家獲准在沙烏地阿拉伯營運影城的美國、歐洲或亞洲院線。目前，文化與資訊部已在該國核發了 3 張影城營運執照。其中包括 AMC，以及另外兩家規模小得多、分別以杜拜與貝魯特為基地、在中東深耕已久的區域院線。但從全球角度來看，我們是唯一一家進入的主要營運商。你們也知道，我們是與沙烏地主權財富基金合作推進此事，對方將為我們的影城投入絕大部分資本，這也意味著——雖然我們也會對影城投入一些資本支出，但遠遠不會接近如果我們要從零開始開出 50 到 100 家影城所需的資本投入。所以——我對沙烏地將為 AMC 獲利能力帶來的意義再樂觀不過。話雖如此，我們目前不會瘋狂地去看其他地理區域，因為我們手上已經有太多事情要做。在我們現有版圖內，就有太多機會可供選擇。我們——我告訴過你們，我想把現金回饋給股東。我想去槓桿。我想投資我們的影城。Carmike 與 Odeon 院線、北歐院線，都足以承接大量投資，透過我們既有網路提升 EBITDA，而不必承擔進一步國際擴張的負擔。沙烏地是個很棒的機會。永遠不要說不可能。但就目前而言，我認為我們會專注在我們所在的 16 個國家，而不是去尋找第 17 個。

Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session, and I would like to turn the call back to management for closing remarks.

各位女士先生，我們已到達問答環節的結束，我想把電話交回管理層作結語。

So I leave you with the following thought, everybody. It was a superb quarter for AMC, but more importantly, I think this confirms the thesis that our industry is healthy and robust, that the bear case of last summer was wrong and that the future for our industry and for our company over the years ahead is very bright. Thank you, and I'm sure we'll be talking to you individually in the near term. All the best.

各位，我最後留給大家一個想法。這對 AMC 來說是一個極為出色的季度，但更重要的是，我認為這印證了我們的論點：我們的產業是健康且強韌的；去年夏天的看空論點是錯的；而在未來幾年，我們的產業與我們公司前景都非常光明。謝謝大家，我相信短期內我們會再與各位一對一交流。祝一切順利。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以掛斷電話。感謝您的參與。