Cineworld Group plc was founded in 1995 and is now one of the leading cinema groups in Europe. Originally a private company, it re-registered as a public company in May 2006 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in May 2007. Currently, Cineworld Group plc is the only quoted UK cinema business.
In December 2012, the Group acquired the Picturehouse chain of cinemas consisting of 21 cinemas, and in February 2014, the combination with Cinema City completed, creating the second largest cinema business in Europe (by number of screens). The enlarged Group now has 217 sites and a total of 2,000 fully digital screens. Our portfolio includes four out of the ten highest grossing cinemas in the UK and Ireland. We pride ourselves on outstanding picture quality and atmospheric surround sound; the soft, deep-down comfort of our modern seating; the crunch of our popcorn; and, most importantly, the friendliest customer service around. All our sites are digital, and we are one of the market leaders in 3D, a format which will become increasingly important.
In 2014, Cineworld accounted for 82.9 million admissions, had revenues of £619.4 million and an Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) before exceptional items of £126.6 million.

The Mail today -
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'Judging by the way in which the shares have slumped since the deal was first unveiled, investors in Cineworld are concerned that the swoop for Regal will be a flop rather than a box-office smash.
'However, at first glance, the planned purchase does (just) pass three of the four tests which shareholders should apply to any acquisition and perhaps this explains why its shares are holding relatively firm today.' 

Cineworld shares were down nearly four per cent in early trading, but have largely recovered since. As of 9.15am, they sit at 543p a share.
However, at the end of November, they were 694.5p a share – a drop of more than a fifth in a week. 

I'm staying well clear.

I see one of the large share holders is not happy about the takeover. In todays Mail.

11:10 04/01/2018
Broker Forecast - Numis issues a broker note on Cineworld Group PLC
Numis today upgrades its investment rating on Cineworld Group PLC (LON:CINE) to buy (from hold) and set its price target at 825p. Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Peel Hunt Hold 571.00 600.00 600.00 Reiterates

Trading statement

Rights issue

an article in today's ST was somewhat non-committal to marginally negative on its view of both the share and the attaching rights issue
however, it did comment that at least the management was digging deep into its own pocket to the tune of £400m of rights issue stock

Not me. :-))

i already hold and am undecided what to do next

Fwiiw - I think the sp fall was over done, Should recover. There will be big cost savings.
Two good business brothers in the management. Would think it can only rise from its current position.

Best to sell here its not worth buying.

mitzy - do you ever follow your own advice? .... in this instance, pehaps you have even shorted some

Why has Cineworld dropped 50% today???

Have a read.

excatly so, and the apparently 50% drop is of course not really so if you are a holder, as the nil-paid rights have a chunky premium attaching

10:20 07/02/2018
Broker Forecast - JP Morgan Cazenove issues a broker note on Cineworld Group PLC
JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Cineworld Group PLC (LON:CINE) and cut its price target to 300p (from 780p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com Broker Forecasts data provided by www.sharesmagazine.co.uk

Cineworld: Peel Hunt upgrades to buy with a target price of 270p.

Proactive investor - Cineworld share price has fallen too far, says UBS
Share
11:35 15 Feb 2018
The market was not happy about Cineworld "doubling down" on cinemas at a time when the likes of Netflix are on the rise but the reaction has been too severe, argues UBS

Are people going to the cinema less since the advent of Netflix and Amazon Prime? UBS thinks not
UBS has revisited the investment case for cinemas operator Cineworld Group plc (LON:CINE) and like most films these days, it has a happy ending.
Shares in Cineworld have fallen from 518.5p to around 240p since The Anschutz Corporation, the largest shareholder of Regal Entertainment Group, gave its consent on February 2 to Cineworld’s high-risk takeover of Regal.
READ: Cineworld to buy US movie theatre company Regal Entertainment for US$3.5bn
The deal is now nearing completion and with the share price down some 30% from its 2017 highs, UBS has abandoned its bearish stance and has become a buyer of the stock, with a target price of 285p, up from 221p previously.
Cineworld now represents an attractive opportunity to benefit from Regal combination benefits, UBS believes.
Its previous bearish stance on the stock was driven by concern around over-supply in a mature UK cinema market, which it believed was not reflected in the share price.
The group’s enterprise value (EV) – effectively its market capitalisation adjusted for cash and debt – is now only about 7.6 times projected underlying earnings (Ebitda) for 2019, and UBS calculates that the market is pricing in US box office revenues declining by 0.5% a year, whereas UBS believes they will rise by 1% per annum.
“We have assessed the structural debates in the US market, and conclude that whilst there is structural pressure on admissions, we don’t expect to see structural decline in box office revenues,” UBS said.
“In particular; (1) analysis of the weak 2017 US box office suggests that 2017 should be treated as an anomaly, not as evidence of accelerating structural decline trend; (2) Assessing the threat of Netflix using the UBS Evidence Lab Spend Tracker finds no evidence that Netflix usage is correlated with lower or faster-declining cinema attendance; and (3) We believe an opportunity remains to increase ticket prices in the US given lower recent ATP [average ticket price] growth in the US relative to UK,” it added.
READ: Deutsche Bank a fan of the Cineworld-Regal tie-up; cuts its price target to reflect £1.7bn rights issue
The Swiss bank added that Cineworld management’s successful integration of Cinema City gives it confidence that the targeted US$100mln of synergy benefits from the Regal Cinemas takeover can be achieved.
Shares in Cineworld were up 2.6p at 239.6p on Thursday morning.