The cinema operator said last year that it wanted 150 screens in the UK in five years but a new owner has marked a change in the group’s direction
Hoyts, the Australian-based cinema operator, is pulling out of schemes in Europe, which could signal its departure from the continent.
The company is in secret discussions with rival cinema chains to sell leases on cinemas in Poland and the UK, and has abandoned two major multiplex projects in Vienna.
Hoyts’ plans in Europe had been uncertain since Australia’s richest man, billionaire media tycoon Kerry Packer, took over the company in July.
UK director Tony Murray denied a strategic pull-out is in progress, but conceded: “We have new shareholders who are looking at the business. Decisions haven’t been made.”
Only last year, Hoyts declared it wanted 150 screens in the UK within five years. Now the company is known to be in discussions to sell its interest in its flagship 12-screen multiplex at Bluewater, Kent, Europe’s largest shopping centre.
Hoyts, which is paying around £183 per m2 at Bluewater, is asking for £12m for the multiplex and its six-screen cinema planned at Wood Green, north London.
In Poland, a number of projects tied up recently by Hoyts – including several 10-screen cinemas – are currently being marketed in Warsaw. One senior leisure agent said: “The Polish market is not saturated. There is only one multiplex in the country. I guess it’s to do with Hoyts.”
In Austria, Hoyts took two edge-of-town multiplexes earlier this year. It pulled out of both in early July. Private owners are now searching for another operator for the cinemas at Wien Nord and at the Donau Zentrum, the second largest shopping centre in the region.
Unlike Poland, the Austrian cinema market is reaching saturation point. Construction has begun on the biggest, one of 10 planned for Vienna, at the Millennium Tower.
