Pyramid to acquire 300 theatres in Andhra

Tamil Nadu-based theatre chain company, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited, on Monday announced plans to acquire 300 movie theatres in Andhra Pradesh by the end of this year apart from constructing 25 multiplexes across the state.

The company would invest Rs 250 crore only in theatres, which also includes their improvement post acquisition.

PS Saminathan, managing director, Pyramid Saimira, said 34 theatres in Andhra had already been acquired through long-term leases and the deal was expected to conclude with another 73 facilities in the next two months.

The company aims to add two theatres a day in South India to bring the total figure to 2,000 screens by the year 2010 from the present 320 theatres under its wings.

While the company hopes to achieve close to Rs 800 crore turnover in all the four southern states this year, it is targeting to reach Rs 600 crore turnover in Andhra alone with an overall plan to have its presence in every single location in the state in the next 18 months.

The company will also produce 12 films and purchase 40 films for the Andhra market from this year, he said, adding that Pyramid was already in talks with several big movie directors in the state.

The company is aiming to equip every theatre with digitalisation and satellite transmission of movie content facility by October-November 2007 and biometric entry card facility by July this year both in Andhra and Tamil Nadu.

Introduction of bio-metric card is a first-of-its-kind experiment by an entertainment company in the country, which promises to offer the card holder to view his movies of choice in any theatre of the Pyramid chain and any number of times.

Saminathan said the company had already issued subsidised seasonal biometric cards with Rs 100 per month validity in Tamil Nadu and aims to issue the same number of cards in Andhra as well.

"All our moves are aimed at bringing into the fold all those sections that long back deserted the movie theatres," he said.

With all these innovative steps, the company hopes to achieve at least 35 per cent capacity utilisation while 23 per cent is the break even point for its business.

"We are offering the best movie viewing experience to the audience at a very low price because we are into volume game," he said.

The company is also hopeful of bringing up the success rate of new releases to 40 per cent from the current 20 per cent through its theatre chain. According to Saminathan, the company wants to transform theatres into the places of hangouts, i.e provide eateries and shops etc for people to visit these places.

The company will set up multiplexes, each with 3 lakh square feet of space, in 21 towns besides cities like Hyderabad. The company has formed a 30:70 joint venture with Sriram Property Developers for the purpose.

The JV proposes to build 105 multiplexes with a total investment of Rs 5,000 crore in the four southern states. It would soon list the company on the Singapore Stock Exchange to raise over $150 million for the purpose, Saminathan said.