AMC Entertainment is acquiring the former 13-screen ArcLight Cinema in Boston

AMC has relocated and today announced the acquisition of a former ArcLight Theater in The Hub on Causeway, a large-scale mixed-use development at Boston’s North Station. The 13-screen cinema is new – it opened in December 2019 and closed three months later due to Covid-19.

The purchase price was not disclosed. AMC has acquired a handful of theaters since the pandemic and said today it sees further consolidation with opportunities to “expand our footprint by acquiring outstanding theaters without significant investment while exiting underperforming venues.”

The giant theater chain also provided an update on its debt, cash position and other metrics in a financial update to investors, a move aimed at reassuring Wall Street amid reports of a turbulent cash burn and possible problems. The volatile meme stock, widely popular among retail investors, fell in morning trade.

CEO Adam Aron noted the chain’s “improved liquidity” after raising more than $162 million in cash from the sale of APEs — or AMC Preferred Equity units. This is a new currency introduced earlier this year (after shareholders objected to the company issuing new, regular AMC shares to raise capital). This helped him pay off some of his huge debt. Capital reductions totaled $107 million for the quarter and $180 million for the year.

AMC expects liquidity to be between $725 million and $825 million as of Dec. 31, including $211 million of undrawn capacity under a revolving credit facility — “subject to operating performance through the end of the holiday season by Year 2022 and timing of lessor concessions.”

“This implies an improvement in the decrease in net cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash of between $110 million and $210 million compared to Q3 2022,” AMC noted.

AMC shares are volatile and APE shares have fallen in value since issuance, Aron acknowledged, but they still provided much-needed cash, he said.

“While APE stock and our common stock are economically equivalent, it is disappointing that APE stock has consistently traded at a significant discount to AMC common stock since inception. While the trading prices of the two securities appear to reflect different market and trading dynamics, the APEs serve exactly the purpose for which they were originally intended. In contrast, at a time when one or more of our competitors faced potentially devastating liquidity problems, AMC was able to raise $162 million in additional cash through inventory sales over the past 90 days and significantly improve our own cash position. said Aaron.

APEs are currently trading at around 70 cents – down 2.5%. AMC shares fell 5% to less than $5. The investors shake up the till coins Avatar: The Way of Waterwhich AMC highlighted in a separate press release this morning.

“Based on the strength of premium formats and strong moviegoers’ desire to return to Pandora, the company finished 2019 well ahead of US and global admissions and food and beverage revenue compared to the same weekend before the pandemic.” This weekend, went over the opening Jumanji: The Next Level. Imax was a breakthrough with avatarand AMC has the lion’s share of Imax screens.