PVR, Inox Leisure tumble up to 16% in 2 days over Covid-19 fears

Shares of multiplex operators PVR and Inox Leisure slipped up to 16 per cent in the past two trading days amid fears over new Covid-19 strain that shut down much of Britain.

Shares of PVR fell 9 per cent to Rs 1,212 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Tuesday, down 16 per cent in the past two sessions. Meanwhile, the stock of Inox Leisure was down 5 per cent at Rs 253 on the BSE today, declining 10 per cent from Friday's close.

Over the weekend, the UK said it had identified a new strain of Covid-19 which spreads more quickly than previous variants. Following that announcement, other European nations said they would be temporarily restricting travel from the UK in efforts to prevent the new strain from entering their borders.

India on Monday also announced that it will temporarily ban flights from the UK till December 31.

Meanwhile, the stock of PVR dipped 19 per cent from its recent high of Rs 1,505 touched on December 19, 2020.  The company on Friday said its board of directors have approved the issue of equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 800 crore. The company will look to raise the capital through qualified institutional placement (QIP) offering or a preferential allotment, the filing said. 

On December 7, CRISIL reaffirmed its rating on the long-term bank facilities and debt programmes of PVR at 'CRISIL AA/Negative'. The negative outlook reflects CRISIL's expectation of the potential weakening of the credit profile over the next 2-3 months if occupancy remains muted despite the resumption of operations. A lower-than-expected ramp-up in occupancy, resulting in continued high cash losses, would remain a key rating sensitivity factor, the rating agency said.

According to analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services, for PVR cash burn is expected to increase in H2FY21 with the gradual resumption of operations. The management remains upbeat about a rebound in footfalls once new movies start releasing. "We are baking in a full recovery in footfalls and business from FY22. Near-term headwinds may persist as consumer disposition and release of new movies may be patchy. Big-ticket Hollywood content releases are likely to start from FY22," the brokerage firm said.