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European cinema operator Vue is exploring a London listing in a bid to capitalise on a record-breaking summer at the box office, offering a potential boost for the UK’s struggling stock market.
Vue’s founder and chief executive Tim Richards said that an exit for the investors who took control of the chain in a £1bn debt restructuring four years ago could take the form of a stock market listing or a private sale.
Two people familiar with the matter said that the company’s backers, which include US asset manager Barings and hedge fund Farallon Capital, favoured an IPO at an estimated valuation of up to £1.5bn.
Richards said there was “too much gloom” about the UK stock market: “If we did [an] IPO, I personally believe in the country and would want to list on the London Stock Exchange.”
He added: “I’m not going into this blindly. I’ve spoken to a number of CEOs who have listed on other exchanges and the grass is not always greener.”
A final decision is expected within weeks, with the aim of kicking off the process before the end of 2026 and potentially floating next year. Vue’s backers have been working with advisers at Rothschild.
A listing of Vue, Europe’s largest privately owned cinema chain, would be a boost for London’s moribund stock market after a string of potential flotations this year was delayed, including software business Visma, Loveholidays and Superdrug owner AS Watson.
Bankers are resting their hopes on the planned £7.5bn listing of Airtel Africa’s mobile money business later this year, which would be the biggest new listing in London since 2021, when money transfer company Wise floated at a valuation of nearly £9bn. The British fintech firm moved its listing to New York’s Nasdaq in May.
Vue operates about 220 cinemas in eight countries across Europe, including the UK, Germany and Italy. The company reported revenues of £781mn for the year to last November, up 5.9 per cent on the previous year, and made an operating profit of £80mn.
The chain was taken over by its lenders as part of a post-Covid rescue deal after repeated lockdowns exacted a heavy toll on the cinema industry.
Richards said Vue’s backers and leadership had decided this year was the “right time to look at our options for an exit” as the cinema industry was finally regaining its pre-pandemic strength following “six years of hell”.
As part of a broader push upmarket, Vue last year debuted a new range of luxury seating with integrated wine coolers.
This year marks the first complete film slate since 2020.
Strikes by writers and actors in the US, which shut production in Hollywood for much of 2023, stalled the cinema industry’s recovery from the pandemic.
One of this year’s summer blockbusters, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, this week surpassed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, released in 2015, to become the highest-grossing film of all time in the US. It has grossed almost $2.5bn globally and is one of more than five films this year — including Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey — to surpass $1bn.
UK politicians and policymakers have been trying to encourage businesses to list in London, including by making a series of regulatory changes, including providing a stamp duty holiday for new IPOs and lowering free-float requirements to allow company founders to keep more of their stakes.
Earlier this year, the government also held talks with private equity firms to encourage them to list their portfolio companies in London.