AMC to sell stock amid bankruptcy warning

AMC Entertainment Holdings, the world’s largest cinema chain, agreed to sell as many as 15 million shares of its stock while warning investors that it may need to file for bankruptcy, leaving its equity worthless.

AMC, contending with a liquidity crisis that threatens its ability to remain a going concern, said the equity distribution plan might not be enough. With $417.9 million in cash on hand, the company still needs a material amount of new funding by the end of the year to stay in business, it said in a filing Tuesday.

If AMC is unable to raise enough cash to meet its obligations, the company said it would file for bankruptcy or seek an outof-court restructuring of its debts.

The stock was down 51 percent this year through Monday’s close.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy gives a company the ability to stay in business while it reworks its borrowings, negotiates rent reductions and closes underperforming locations. In the event of a liquidation or bankruptcy, AMC’s shareholders would likely suffer a total loss of their investment, the company said.

Bloomberg News reported last week, citing people with knowledge of the matter, that AMC was considering a range of options that include a potential bankruptcy to ease its debt load. Lenders to the Kansas-based cinema chain held preliminary talks among themselves about providing it with financing if it decides to file for Chapter 11 court protection.

The company “remains in a precarious cash position with a burn rate of about $100 million per month,” Eric Handler, an analyst at MKM Partners, wrote in a note Tuesday.

The coronavirus pandemic forced theaters to close in the spring. While many locations have reopened, capacity restrictions and audience skittishness have deeply hurt revenue. Even where cinemas are open, there are few major draws to put on their screens. Film studios have moved most of their big releases to 2021 and beyond, not wanting to dump high-cost movies into a constrained market.

The industry got a boost Monday when New York state set the reopening of theaters outside New York City. The continued absence of cinemas in that city and Los Angeles has been a particular burden on movie chains.

Besides the equity distribution plan, AMC reported preliminary third-quarter revenue of $119.5 million, below analysts’ consensus estimate of $163 million as compiled by Bloomberg.