Despite empty theatres due to Covid-19, multiplex stocks bounce back

Investors are piling into multiplex operators’ stocks in India despite the box office window being shut for four months, hoping that cost cuts and sufficient liquidity will aid the companies to ride through the disruption.

Theater operators PVR Ltd. and Inox Leisure Ltd. have rebounded about 50% since May, after at least three consecutive months of losses when the world’s strictest lockdown halted visits to shopping malls, restaurants and the movies. Cinemas are still waiting for restrictions to ease to welcome back the audience with safety measures ranging from socially-distance seating and sanitized auditoriums, to snacks prepared with stricter hygiene