(Yicai Global) July 4 -- Shares in Wanda Film Holding advanced as much as 3.8 percent today after China’s fourth-biggest movie theater operator said it is expecting to turn a profit in the first half, after several hard years during the pandemic, as the country’s cinema market makes a full come back with strong government support and a rebound in consumption.

Wanda Film’s share price [SHE:002739] was trading up 0.1 percent as of 12 noon China time. Earlier in the day it hit CNY13.57.

Wanda Film is set to rake in net profit of between CNY380 million (USD52.6 million) and CNY420 million in the six months ended June 30, the Beijing-based company said yesterday. This is a big turnaround from the losses of CNY580 million (USD80.2 million) a year ago.

Revenue likely surged between 35.6 percent and 39.7 percent over the period to between CNY6.7 billion (USD926.6 million) and CNY6.9 billion, it said.

Wanda Film opened 35 new cinemas in the first half, bringing the total to 857 movie theaters with 7,203 screens. The company’s market share edged up 0.5 percentage point to 16.8 percent.

China’s movie ticket sales soared 52.9 percent in the first six months to CNY26.3 billion (USD3.6 billion), recovering to 83.9 percent of the levels in 2019 and beating market expectations. Some 604 million people went to the cinema over the period, a jump of 51.8 percent year on year, and a return to 74.5 percent of the numbers in 2019.

Editor: Kim Taylor