PRESS RELEASE
Liège (Belgium) and London (UK), 9 December 2016/ CinemaNext, the European specialist in cinema exhibitor services (Ymagis Group – ISIN: FR0011471291, TICKER: MAGIS), is pleased today to announce the signature of an agreement with the UK’s leading independently-owned cinema chain, Empire Cinemas, to oversee the projection & audio installations, field services and technical customer support for Empire’s entire network of 14 locations across Great Britain, representing a total of 127 screens, including two IMAX Cinemas.
The companies share a number of synergies – with Empire looking to achieve a lower cost for their technical requirements, and CinemaNext looking to continue to build their install, planned and reactive maintenance expertise to ensure the highest level of customer service and support in the UK.
“We are delighted with this new partnership with CinemaNext’s London team,” comments Justin Ribbons, Chief Executive of Empire Cinemas. “We have had an in-house engineering team for many years, but with the advent of digital and the technical changes that our industry has, and continues to have, it is more cost effective to have a good technical partner that can carry the cost of training, spare parts inventory, installations and, importantly, supporting our cinemas so that they continue to offer our customers the best possible cinematic experience.”
“The immediate result of this agreement with Empire Cinemas is the significant strengthening of our UK-based operations with the addition of six new highly-skilled and experienced engineers to our local team led by Jerry Murdoch (Country Manager, CinemaNext UK) and André Mort (now Technical Director, CinemaNext UK),” explains Till Cussmann, SVP CinemaNext. “It also increases our business opportunities and will demonstrate our top-notch services and cost benefits for Empire Cinemas and our other existing cinema customers across the UK.”
Empire Cinemas was founded in 2005 following the mergers of Odeon and UCI and Cineworld and UGC. The cinema chain took its name from the iconic Empire Leicester Square, which has been one of London’s most popular cinemas since it played host to the first moving images screened to a UK audience in 1896. It was Empire’s flagship until its sale to Cineworld in August 2016. Empire Cinemas will open a new 14-screen complex in February 2017 and another 10-screen complex is scheduled to open in early 2018. These new additions to the portfolio will increase Empire locations to 16 cinemas and 151 screens, helping to strengthen their position as the leading independent cinema operator in the UK.
CinemaNext is the largest cinema exhibition services company in Europe, providing smart, comprehensive solutions across the board, from projection equipment, audio systems, central systems, cinema outfitting, 3D projection systems & glasses, TMS, digital signage, screens to seating. Clients enjoy the highest level of reliability and lowest cost of ownership through our various services: consulting, design & project management, equipment sales and financing, installation, maintenance, support (NOC), online monitoring, spare and consumables, service agreements and supply chain & logistics. 9,000 screens have been installed by its technicians to date and 7,000 screens in Europe currently avail of service contracts.
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