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IMAX Corporation (IMAX)

Q2 2016 Earnings Call· Wed, Jul 20, 2016

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the IMAX Corporation Second Quarter 2016 Conference Call. All participants are currently in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Jessica Kourakos, Senior Vice President of Global Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jessica Kourakos - Senior Vice President-Global Investor Relations

Management

Thanks operator. Good afternoon and thanks for joining us on today's second quarter 2016 earnings conference call. Joining me today in our New York office is our CEO, Rich Gelfond; our CFO, Joe Sparacio and our Senior EVP of IMAX Corporation and CEO of IMAX Entertainment, Greg Foster, who will each have prepared remarks and will be available for Q&A. Also joining us is Rob Lister, Chief Legal Officer and Head of Business Development. I would like to remind you of the following information regarding forward-looking statements. Our comments and answers to your questions on this call may include statements that are forward-looking and that they pertain to future results or outcomes. Actual future results or occurrences may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Please refer to our SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of some of the factors that could affect our future results and outcomes. During today's call, references may be made to certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by Regulation G of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Discussion of management's use of these measures and the definition of these measures, as well as reconciliations to adjusted net income, adjusted EPS and EBITDA as defined by our credit facility, are contained in this morning's press release. The full text of our second quarter release; along with supporting financial tables are available on our website, imax.com. Today's conference call is being webcast in its entirety on our website. With that, let me now turn the call over to Rich Gelfond. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Jess, and thank you all for joining us today. Taking a step back and looking at the overall quarter's performance on the signings and installation front, we simply had a stellar quarter. Signings lead to installs which also…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And the first question comes from the line of Stan Meyers from Piper Jaffray. Please go ahead. Stan X. Meyers - Piper Jaffray & Co. (Broker): Thank you. So I got three questions, one for Rich, one for Greg and one for Joe. Rich, congrats again on all the major signings in the quarter, maybe you can provide some color on the signings in China and U.S., where are those screens going in terms of city tiers in China and maybe urban versus rural domestically? And I have two follow-ups. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: So in China, the screens are going, kind of in a variety of cities, in a variety of places. They are primarily tier 2 and tier 3 cities. Just to remind everybody, only 14% of the existing IMAX network is in tier 1 cities today. So that's consistent with the distribution of the existing theatre network. We were really encouraged by the AMC deal in North America, because I think a lot of people thought we didn't have the potential to do a deal of that size. And in fact there's still more territory available than we had thought and there is still a number of discussions going on for North America. So that was extremely good for us. We are really happy with the fact in China that a lot of our clients who had done STL kind of deals were now converted into JVs, and that was one of the issues that people asked us a lot about was, are people in China ever going to do JVs that provide more recurrent cash flow. So that's an extreme positive for us. And then Russia, we had a couple of signings, and Europe was pretty good for us.…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we will take the next question from the line of Darren Aftahi from ROTH. Please go ahead.

Darren Aftahi - ROTH Capital Partners LLC

Analyst

Thanks guys for taking my questions. I just had two. Can you speak more to kind of the benefits of your new digital delivery platform and what kind of cost will be involved in that? And then secondarily, do you guys see any material impact from the period of the Olympics and the elections in the second half of the year? Thanks. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: So in terms of digital delivery platform, we have developed a lot of that technology previously in connection with our IMAX at Home effort. So it was very little incremental investment to create the digital delivery. And what it would enable us to do will be to eliminate the cost of the hard drives and shipping the hard drives. You know, Darren, it's not going to make a material difference to our bottom line, but it will increase our ability to deliver films quickly, to not have to depend on others such as third-party servers, and in fact there is a relatively quick payback. You should think of that as more of the benefits than the financial benefits. Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: And on the Olympic front, what we're seeing and for the others that have been watching television in particular, and the online support of the Olympics, you've noticed that there are tremendous IMAX marketing support. Look at Suicide Squad, where every time there's a commercial, it says experience it in IMAX 3D. So as we get towards the Olympics, in the pre-Olympic coverage and then the Olympic coverage, I expect to see continued tagging for Suicide Squad, for Ben-Hur, which has an IMAX footprint, a limited one, but one nevertheless. And then we'll see who else jumps on board for the fall slate during the Olympic advertising. But we found that our marketing support of our titles in the past several months, particularly on the broadcast television has never been stronger. And, of course, we're also very focused as a company as is everyone else on digital, and you can go on any website mostly, and you'll see Olympic coverage. So I think in a funny way that benefits us from a marketing point of view.

Darren Aftahi - ROTH Capital Partners LLC

Analyst

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we'll take the next question from the line of Eric Handler from MKM Partners. Please go ahead.

Eric O. Handler - MKM Partners LLC

Analyst

Thank you very much for giving me a question. Two things, one, just to get Joe some more airtime in his final call. Joe, can you give us the PSA numbers for domestic versus international? And then I've got a follow up. Joseph Sparacio - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Yeah, just give me a minute. I got that right here. So PSAs for the quarter: total network $268,200, domestic $225,900, China $325,300, other international $266,700 and if you take China and other international, the average is $296,900.

Eric O. Handler - MKM Partners LLC

Analyst

Thank you very much. And then, Rich, when you look at China in 2Q, the whole world had a weak 2Q because the Hollywood content did not perform as anywhere near as well as what we saw last year. China had its slowest growth quarter in quite a long time. Do you see any issues going on in China now about the box office there or is this just look – the content wasn't as good and as a result, there was a down month and the overall quarter was up single-digits and it was a reflection of Hollywood? But did you see any anything else that was at play there? Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: No, to the contrary Eric, I mean June, we knocked the ball out of the park, the numbers were fantastic. So I think it – as you put it, I think it's just a function of the films having traction in China. The Hollywood films didn't have the same traction that they did the year before. So I think that's it. I mean, we don't – I love joking with Greg how the media after two films, says there's a trend, but it's really about the content. And I think in China there's no question in my mind that it's not a trend; it's just a question the movie is not performing.

Eric O. Handler - MKM Partners LLC

Analyst

Great. And then just one quick follow-up for you, with the virtual reality venture, you've got a little health club venture going on, how impactful are these ventures going to be over the next 12 months to 18 months to operating expenses or anything above the line? Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: I don't think they are going to be very impactful. I mean we budgeted what the operating expenses are in those areas, IMAX Home, which is the home theatre, in China our joint venture with TCL, I mentioned on the last call that the install pace there has slowed down because of just general economic trends, having nothing to do with us. So we've tried to rationalize expenses there. So China matched the best we can, expenses with revenues, so we're not going to get in front of ourselves.

Eric O. Handler - MKM Partners LLC

Analyst

Great. Thanks a lot, Rich, appreciate it.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we'll take the next question from the line of Ben Mogil from Stifel. Please go ahead.

Benjamin Mogil - Stifel Nicolaus

Analyst

Hi, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. So two questions; first one, I'm not sure for Rich or for Greg. We've had obviously a good year so far this year in kids' films and the animations sort of a bunch, the better performing titles have all been in that genre. I know you've been opportunistic when something else hasn't worked and you sort of filled in, I think Dory had some dates and I think Life of Pets had some dates. But any more thoughts to kind of revisiting having one or two major kids films i.e. animated films actually as part of the sort of standard slate going forward? Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. The short answer is, yes. We've had conversations about – all you have to do is look at the box office and see that the two biggest movies in the last six weeks have been those two films and we did really well with Zootopia, which we were a part of, we did really well in China and we did really well in the domestic market. We had other commitments that, for whatever reason, those movies just didn't work out quite as well as we would've hoped in those time frames of when Dory and Secret Life of Pets, and I'm not knocking the performance because Warcraft for instance, particularly in China, was incredibly successful. But in terms of more long-term planning, it's not something that we're going to all of a sudden turn our slate into a PG-oriented slate, that's just not what we're going to do. And we have other examples of where – ultimately, it's just the movie, that's what it really comes down to, and it's the quality of the movie, and sometimes it's the genre of the movie. But if there is a movie that just looks like there's no stopping it and it's an animated movie, we should be a part of it and it's something that we have more focus on, especially over the last six weeks.

Benjamin Mogil - Stifel Nicolaus

Analyst

So, like that would be – I'm not asking for specific films, but the sort of thought they would be, you'll know that your share of box office will be lower than it would be for a live action movie, but the share of box office makes them more than worthwhile from that perspective, is that the right way to think about it? Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Correct, like again I'm giving domestic...

Benjamin Mogil - Stifel Nicolaus

Analyst

Sure. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: ...focus; but it applies to everywhere. I'd rather have 5% of $300 million than 10% of $75 million.

Benjamin Mogil - Stifel Nicolaus

Analyst

For sure. For sure, okay, that makes sense. And then Joe, I guess this one is for you, and congratulations, it's been a lot calls on with you, so I hope whatever next venture is it's equally successful as the one you're coming from. When you look at the – you made a comment about $2 million to $3 million above last year, is that total OpEx or is that just related to R&D, I sort of missed the verbiage around that. Joseph Sparacio - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: That would be total OpEx.

Benjamin Mogil - Stifel Nicolaus

Analyst

Got it. Joseph Sparacio - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: So that includes both SG&A excluding stock comp, plus R&D.

Benjamin Mogil - Stifel Nicolaus

Analyst

That's great. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We'll take the next question from the line of Jim Goss from Barrington Research. Please go ahead.

James Charles Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc.

Analyst

Thanks. You know Greg, a little bit more on what Ben was asking about with animation, was there anything in particular about those films other than the sheer size of the box office that got parents over the hump to pay the price to go to it because that seemed to be one of the issues in the past or is it just a matter of just how big the film is? Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: Again, Jim, it's the quality, it's Phil Groves, our Head of Distribution, is always saying it's the movie stupid and that's really what it's about. The quality of those two movies were just exceptionally strong and while there's track records with those two companies, Illumination and Pixar, you can never bet that something – that movies are going to be that strong. I guess you can stack the deck in favor of it given their track record, but I think people are willing to pay high prices for something that's of the highest quality and what we need to do is spot those high quality movies. And we have taken our focus from being more religious for lack of a better expression about fanboy titles to when there are very, very high-end quality animated movies, saying we need to be a part of that. And again, we hear the message, we definitely hear the message and it's something that I think you'll see a focus on and even in some of the titles that we announced today, you'll see that some of them are more family oriented kinds of films and that's something that we're going to pay attention to. By the way, no more family oriented movie than Star Wars: Episode VII and that did okay in IMAX.

James Charles Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc.

Analyst

I guess so. And for either Rich or Greg, we've talked about flexibility in terms of screen usage. Is there any move toward maybe a split screen in daytime and nighttime with family versus fanboy. I think we talked about it over the past couple of years, but I wonder if you're getting to more of a position to be able to dictate some of those terms as well. Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: Jim in territories outside the U.S., particularly Europe they've done that for years and it maximizes box office. The U.S. exhibitors are generally reluctant to do that, although there's been a couple instances where we've been able to do that, but that's really up to the exhibition community, not up to us, where they're willing to share their screens.

James Charles Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. And one little nit, does Warcraft count as Chinese or U.S. I know that's been an issue in the Chinese box office mix. How does that work with you? Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: It counts as a U.S. project, but the almost $30 million it comes against the China box office because that's what it did there.

James Charles Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. I didn't know – I mean, it's been issue in the past of keeping some sort of balance between the two. I wonder if that helped. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: I think Jim means the 50 – you mean, the... Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: Oh, you are talking for the quota?

Jessica Kourakos - Senior Vice President-Global Investor Relations

Management

For the quota?

James Charles Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc.

Analyst

For the quota yes, yes. Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: I am almost positive, we will follow-up, but I am almost positive it goes against the U.S. quota or the non-Chinese quota.

James Charles Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc.

Analyst

Okay. All right, thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we will take the next question from the line of Mike Hickey from The Benchmark Company. Please go ahead.

Michael Hickey - The Benchmark Co. LLC

Analyst

Hey guys, thanks for taking my questions. I appreciate it. Just, I guess, the first question on your installation guidance, obviously, a lot of success this year. A big pick up from what you were originally thinking. Could you just review if that momentum – and I think you mentioned it, but maybe clarify if you think that momentum can carry through in 2017 or are you sort of pulling forward deals maybe that you would have in 2017 given sort of obvious growth opportunity in 2017, 2018 given the slate? And then I have a follow-up. Thanks. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Mike, I think it's the latter. Well, it's new deals being signed at the record pace. So, we are not pulling forward things. I mean look it's 450-plus backlog at the moment. I mean, I do think it's going to go forward. I don't think it's a one-year phenomenon. We've got so many signings and as you know that most of the backlog is typically installed in a three-year period, three years to five years. So I think it's going to translate into higher installs going forward.

Michael Hickey - The Benchmark Co. LLC

Analyst

Okay, good. Thank you. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: You have to remember though, Mike, that for the long run it's great, because a lot of these are JVs. But in the short run, in the quarter they are installed, there are some upfront charges with them so you don't get an immediate pop on that happening, but all those theatres being open for the terrific 2017 slate are going to translate into 2017 more than they well into 2016.

Michael Hickey - The Benchmark Co. LLC

Analyst

Okay, fair enough. Thank you. And then on, I guess, you all sound excited over 2017/2018 from a slate perspective. Obviously, getting into 2016 is going to be a relief. And Greg, you also mentioned that films spacing looks to be very good, say, one blockbuster per month. So I am curious how that could impact your film count for 2017? And then, I am also curious how we should think about DMR expense in 2017 given the blockbuster slate and whatever you say on film count whether it's down or normal? Thank you. Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: Yeah. I think it's probably too early to talk about that to know that. There is so many other things that can come into play, schedules always change. On paper, it looks like it's going to be evenly spread but to talk about the film costs at this point when we don't really know what the delivery is going to be. Sometimes movies are given to us six weeks before they come out, sometimes they are given to us 10 days before they come out, and that really is such an important part of the cost structure. We've given guidance on what we traditionally spent, and I don't see much of that changing. But we always have to be flexible depending on how the movies come in and what other adjustments are made. So, it's talking about that for next year and year after that is just speculative. So I don't think there is any reason to do that.

Michael Hickey - The Benchmark Co. LLC

Analyst

Okay. So last question for me, thanks Greg, is for Joe. Good luck, Joe, it's been awesome working with you. Curious on the 155 installs I think the new ones were all JVs. I am not sure, but what's the split between sales and JV for this year on the 155 installs? Thank you. Joseph Sparacio - Chief Financial Officer & Executive Vice President: Mike, I am going to ask to get that to you. Let me get that to you later.

Michael Hickey - The Benchmark Co. LLC

Analyst

Okay. No problem. Best of luck, guys. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we will take the next question from the line of Aravinda Galappatthige. Please go ahead.

Aravinda Suranimala Galappatthige - Canaccord Genuity Corp.

Analyst

Thanks for taking my questions. Just one remaining, actually for me. Obviously, very good quarter in terms of signings. Rich, I was wondering if you can talk to sort of the economic terms of these signings. Is it fair to assume that the terms aren't any – in any way materially different from what we have been seeing over the last couple of years, be it for system sales or JVs? Obviously, most of them were JVs. In terms of the take rates, I guess, just wanted some assurance that you know that the numbers really haven't changed that much as you ramp up signings. Thanks. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: They really haven't changed at all from a material point of view, Aravinda. And also, as I said earlier, you know the fact that we had deals with a lot of players in China, which were sales type leases and now they are JVs where we have recurring revenues. So one can argue that the type of transaction is better for us, but the terms are similar.

Aravinda Suranimala Galappatthige - Canaccord Genuity Corp.

Analyst

Great, thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we will take the next question from the line of Alexia Quadrani from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Alexia S. Quadrani - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Hi. Thank you, just one question for me. Could you please talk a little bit about the local language films coming up in China in this coming quarter and, I guess, given there isn't any typical Hollywood blackout period, how much flexibility do you have to move between Hollywood films and Chinese local films sort of in real time? Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: Well, first of all, China tends to be one of the territories where there is more flexibility and screen sharing. So that's a good thing and we've seen that over a period of time, particularly during the local language period and now with local language and some of the Hollywood titles melding together. There are two particularly exciting titles at least again on paper. It all goes back to the quality of the films that will be coming out in the next few weeks. One is a movie called Skiptrace that is a Jackie Chan movie, and then in a few weeks after that is that – actually two weeks after that is a title called Time Raider, and those are two titles that the marketplace seems quite looking forward to. So, I think we will be able to have Tarzan is interspersed in there and then there will be some other titles that will be coming in as well. Ice Age 5 is coming soon. We just found out that Star Trek will be coming in in early September. So, there is going to be a lot of product in China. And the local language films will play during this period, and then as we move past that, we will get to the Hollywood films as well. So, we are a full-service shop in that we look forward to the highest grossing movies and are less focused these days on whether they are Hollywood titles or local language titles. We are focused on which ones we think we are going to do the best in our network.

Alexia S. Quadrani - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we will take the next question from the line of Robert Peters from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Robert Peters - Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc: Perfect. Thank you very much for taking my question and just to – as an aside to Joe, it's been great working with you over the years. Rich, maybe just – you know when we look at the stronger install guidance, I'm just wondering if you can kind of provide some updated thoughts on having multiple IMAX screens in a given zone, particularly with some of the consolidation you are seeing in the marketplace today? Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: I'd say Robert that we are open to thinking about it, but I certainly don't think it's a panacea. There are a lot of sort of technical issues which is you wouldn't want to have one big screen and one smaller screen. Certain times of the year, the capacity would be high but other times of the year the capacity would be low, and you'd have to play other things. There are branding issues involved. So, I think there are some theatres where you could do it, but I don't think it's a huge opportunity for us. Robert Peters - Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc: Okay, thank you very much. I will hop back in the queue. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And we will take the next question from the line of Steven Frankel from Dougherty & Company. Please go ahead. Steven Frankel - Dougherty & Co. LLC: Good afternoon. Rich, you talked about Japan in the last couple quarters as being kind of the next hot market. Maybe could you give us an update on what transpired there in Q2 and what the signings outlook looks like between now and the end of the year? Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: So, before I go there, I'm going to go back to Robert's question. Before, Robert, I thought you were talking about in the same theatre complex. If it's in the same zone, that's something were very interested and something we're doing more and more of. And I do think that's a decent size opportunity. In terms of Japan, we opened three really high profile locations in Japan, all on the same day around the opening of what movie was it, Greg, I don't remember but... Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: Independence Day. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Independence Day in the last couple weeks. And all three of them have gotten off to a really good start, really good box office. As you know, we signed a 10-theatre deal with Toho. We signed a deal with AEON, all the big exhibitors in Japan. There's still a lot of interest in the box office doing very well. I don't have offhand how many we signed in Japan in the quarter. If you can find that, Joe, but in the meantime, while he's looking, I still feel very good about that market because the keys to a successful market for us are having…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We have a follow-up question from the line of Robert Peters from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead. Robert Peters - Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc: Thank you. I wasn't sure I was going to get back in that quickly, but maybe just to Greg. When we talk about adding new films into the quarter and when you have the flexibility of doing that when you have a film that maybe doesn't perform up to what was the initial expectation, how do you kind of balance the incremental DMR cost versus adding those films in at the last minute? Was there kind of a tipping point in terms of box office that you guys look at or any kind of color around that would be fantastic? Greg Foster - Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer of IMAX Entertainment: That's a good question, but the good news is that most of these films are already being DMRed for international releases in markets where the release schedule is staggered and so they were already going to play. So, for instance, Dory was a movie that we were already doing. And Secret Life of Pets was a movie that we had expectation that we would probably do in some of the markets, because, again, given the Euro Cup, we knew that Secret Life of Pets was going to have certain territories that needed an IMAX release. So, it doesn't always work out that way and when we get surprised by something then we just hustle and do it as fast as we can. But the good news, Robert, is that most often we are already in the process of DMRing these titles. Robert Peters - Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), Inc: Perfect. Thank you very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. And there are no further questions at this time. Mr. Rich Gelfond, I would like to turn the conference back to you for any additional or closing remarks. Richard L. Gelfond - Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, operator. The first thing I'd like to say is I again would like to thank Joe for his nine years of service to IMAX and we will really miss him and we wish him the best in everything going forward. In terms of the quarter, if you are short-term focused, I understand how box office didn't live up to your expectations or our expectations but you need to put in the context of we are still tracking to our historic averages and that has very little to do with the long-term prospects of the business. If your strategic investor in IMAX, it was just a fantastic quarter because we built out our network into the future. Our backlog is at record levels and our deals trended away from STLs into joint ventures. So, as someone who runs this business for the long run, I couldn't be more pleased than the tone going into Q3 for network growth and installs is also looking very positive. So, for our long-term investors, thank you and we are quite certain your view will pay off in the long run. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.