CGV Vietnam profit in 2022 half of pre-pandemic level

By Tat Dat February 15, 2023 | 03:47 pm PT

People queue up for tickets at a CGV theater in Ho Chi Minh City in June 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Huyen Do

CGV Vietnam, the biggest cinema chain in Vietnam, reported an operating profit of more than KRW10 billion ($7.8 million) last year, half of the figure for 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

CGV Vietnam recorded a revenue of nearly KRW150 billion ($116.8 million) in 2022.

CGV Vietnam, the biggest cinema chain in Vietnam, reported an operating profit of more than KRW10 billion ($7.8 million) last year, half of the figure for 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. CGV Vietnam recorded a revenue of nearly KRW150 billion ($116.8 million) in 2022.

According to the latest business results reported by South Korean firm CJ CGV, revenue in the Vietnamese market in the last quarter of last year stood at KRW39 billion, up 7 times against the same period of 2021.

Meanwhile, operating profit was KRW0.4 billion won, the lowest quarterly profit in 2022, and only 16% of the figure in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Nguyen Hoang Hai, content director of CGV Vietnam, told VnExpress that the profit in the fourth quarter of 2022 was much lower than the same period in 2019 because blockbusters such as "Black Panther," "Black Adam," and some Vietnamese films did not generate expected high revenues. "Avatar 2" was not released until late December.

"After two years of being affected by the pandemic, CGV’s business has not been able to recover fully," he said.

However, last year Vietnam was still one of the two markets that earned profits for CJ CGV. Among CGV venues in South Korea, China, Turkey, Indonesia and Vietnam, the first three markets recorded losses.

CGV Vietnam expects a strong recovery this year when a series of anticipated movies will be screened, following the recently released Vietnamese big hits, "Nha Ba Nu" (Nu’s Family) and "Chi Chi Em Em 2" (Sister Sister 2), Hai said.

By the end of 2022, CGV Vietnam had 83 cinemas with 483 screens in more than 30 provinces and cities nationwide, and a market share of 51%.

CJ CGV entered the Vietnamese market in 2011 after spending $73.6 million to acquire 80% of the shares of Megastar, the owner of the largest cinema chain in Vietnam at that time. The company converted Megastar into CGV two years later.