PVR Inox’s quarterly profit nearly tripled in the three months ended 31 December, as per the company’s filings with the exchanges. This was supported by a stronger slate of Indian film releases and recent tax cuts that helped draw more moviegoers into theatres, Reuters reported.
Revenue at the multiplex operator rose nearly 10% during the December quarter, helped by higher footfalls, firmer ticket pricing and higher food and beverage income. Costs rose 2.5% over the same period, as per the company filings.
As per the company filings, total revenue rose to Rs 1919.6 crore in Q3FY26 from Rs 1759.1 crore in Q3FY25.
Footfall increased nearly 9% year-on-year in the quarter, driven by the Bollywood spy film Dhurandhar, which PVR Inox said generated record overall sales of Rs 1000 crore. The company said the film contributed to a 13% rise in gross box-office collections in 2025.
Outlook for current quarter
The company is betting on a sequel to Dhurandhar to support the January–March quarter, Reuters reported. “The industry has evolved where sequels end up doing as well as the first ones,” executive director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli told Reuters in a post-earnings interview.
Bijli said the current quarter has a “good slate of films” and that the response in January has been “satisfactory”, adding that he expects box-office collections to grow 14%-15% in 2026.
Strategy to lift footfall
PVR Inox, created after the merger of PVR and Inox in 2023, has been trying to raise footfall through discounted tickets and screenings of older hit films, Reuters reported. The company also plans to convert some of its theatres into destinations for dining, gaming and co-working.
The cinema exhibition sector has been recovering from a multi-year slump in attendance amid weak urban spending, an uneven pipeline of blockbusters and rising competition from streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, Reuters said.
Profit rises; one-time charge taken
As per the company’s filings, the net profit rose to Rs 95.7 crore in Q3FY26, as compared to Rs 35.9 crore, marking a 166% increase.
The company took a one-time charge of Rs 44.6 crore linked to India’s new labour laws, as per the filings.
Ticket pricing and F&B spend per head rise
Average ticket prices and food and beverage spend per head rose about 4% each in the quarter, Reuters said. Bijli told Reuters he expects food and beverage spend per head to rise 4%-5% in the current quarter.