AMC RULES OUT BANKRUPTCY, SHARES JUMP

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc said on Monday that any talk of an imminent bankruptcy is “completely off the table” after the cash-strapped movie theatre chain raised an additional US$917 million to help cushion the blow from the pandemic. The company's shares, which have lost nearly half their value in the past 12 months as it was forced to shut theatres during the virus outbreak, jumped as much as 39 per cent to US$4.88. While AMC chief executive Adam Aron allayed investor fears by repeatedly raising fresh funds, the business has still not reached pre-pandemic levels. AMC has reopened most of its theatres but new social distancing measures and a wider malaise over visiting public places have hit the film business in 2020, and ticket sales in the United States and Canada sunk 80 per cent.