AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the AMC Entertainment fourth quarter and year-end 2022 earnings webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during a conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce to your host, John Merriweather, Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations. Thank you, John. You may begin.

Thank you, Bikram. Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome everyone to AMC's fourth quarter and year-end 2022 earnings webcast. With me this afternoon is Adam Aaron, our Chairman and CEO, and Sean Goodman, our Chief Financial Officer. Before I turn the webcast over to Adam, let me remind everyone that some of the comments made by management during this webcast may contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's current expectations. Numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those that might be expressed today. Many of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in our most recent public filings, including our most recently filed 10-K and 10-Q. Several of the factors that will determine the company's future results are beyond the ability of the company to control or predict. In light of the uncertainties inherent in any forward-looking statements, Listeners are cautioned against relying on these statements. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events. On the webcast, we may reference non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, constant currency, free cash flow, operating cash burn, and operating cash generated, among others. For a full reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to GAAP results, please see our earnings release posted in the investor relations section of our website earlier today. After our prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. This afternoon's webcast is being recorded and a replay will be available in the investor relations section of our website at amctheaters.com later today. With that, I'll turn the call over to Adam.

Thank you, John. Good afternoon, one and all, and thank you for joining us today. Let me add a very special welcome to the thousands of our individual shareholders who have been making it a habit to tune into these quarterly earnings webcasts for AMC Entertainment. 2022 marked another year of significant strategic, operational, and financial gains for AMC Entertainment. With our two announcements today on Q4 2022 earnings and of the launch of AMC Purpley Popcorn at more than 2,600 US Walmart stores, once again, AMC is demonstrating unmistakable progress along our multi-year pandemic part recovery glide path. In my opinion, there are five reasons why AMC shareholders should be especially excited and smiling today. First, the increasing size of our industry as it recovers. Second, AMC's performance in Q4. Third, the fact that we are outperforming our competitors. Fourth, our agility in raising cash and reducing debt. And fifth, this morning's Walmart AMC perfectly popcorn announcement. First and overarching is the size of our industry itself, which is increasing. For five consecutive years prior to the pandemic, from 2015 to 2019, the domestic box office, which is all theaters, all brands across the United States and Canada, exceeded $11 billion. It was $11.4 billion in 2019. But then COVID came and brought our industry to its knees. And the 2020 domestic box office was only $2.2 billion. Down, as we all know, a breathtaking 82% year over year from the pre-pandemic level in 2019. Since then, our industry has seen a steady growth trajectory. The 2021 domestic box office was $4.5 billion. more than double that of 2020. And 2022's full year domestic box office of $7.4 billion was about 65% higher than 2021. The numbers again, 11.4 billion in 2019, falling to 2.2 billion, rising to 4.5 billion, rising to 7.4 billion. Based on the box office results so far, in the first quarter of 2023, which is already up 44% year over year, combined with a much larger number of broader and deeper movie titles to be released in the coming quarters, based on what we know today, the 2023 domestic box office will almost certainly be significantly higher in 2023 than that of 2022. You all know that we finished 2022 and started 2023 on a very strong note with what is already the third highest grossing film of all time, James Cameron's epic sequel, The Way of Water. It really is a testament to the genius of James Cameron that he is responsible for three of the four highest grossing movies in the history of cinema. I digress for a moment to say thank you Jim Cameron and thank you to your producing partner, John Landau. It won't surprise you both to hear that you both are greatly appreciated by AMC and by the millions of AMC shareholders and the millions of AMC movie goers. Please, please, Jim and John, keep making more movies. Speaking of more movies, That's one of the key stories of the coming year, 2023. The incredible Tom Cruise's Top Gun Maverick, which grossed more than $1.5 billion in movie theaters in 2022, and Avatar the Way of Water, which has already grossed almost $2.3 billion in movie theaters in only 11 weeks, among many other successful movie releases, they all prove that moviegoers no longer are afraid to go to a cinema to watch a movie as they once were afraid in the darkest days of 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Our problem now in generating attendance in theaters is quite different. Instead, it's simply that Hollywood has been releasing fewer movies of late. Depending upon how you count, the number of major movies released in 2022 was somewhere between a third and a half fewer than the total number of such major films released in 2019 before the pandemic. Fortunately, now, finally, that is all changing. We currently estimate that 30 or more movies will gross more than $100 million domestically in 2023 that compared with only 18 doing so in the just completed 2022. That is an increase in 2023 of about 75% of the number of movie titles grossing $100 million or more. Let me repeat that. We are expecting in 2023 about a 75% increase in the number of major movie titles grossing $100 million or more compared to last year. The second reason for our enthusiasm is that AMC posted much improved results for the fourth quarter of 2022. Naturally, we're pleased that AMC Entertainment easily bested consensus estimates for Q4 2022. Revenue and for Q4 2022 adjusted EBITDA. as well as posting a beat on adjusted net income and EPS for 2022 Q4 after excluding for non-cash impairment write-offs. We are similarly encouraged that Q4 2022 revenue per patron of $19.98 was well above pre-pandemic levels thanks to rising ticket prices and the consumers' continued predilection to indulge more at our concession stands in our high margin food and beverage business. AMC's full year 2022 results represented our strongest year since pre-pandemic 2019, with 2022 results improving over 2021, which in turn were better than those of 2020. Indeed, in full year 2022, AMC saw our annual revenue increase by more than 54% year over year. And our adjusted EBITDA improved in a single year by more than $338 million versus 2021. That's an enormous increase. The third reason we are smiling today is that it's the world's largest theater chain. We are outrunning our competitors. Number two, Regal Cineworld, is in bankruptcy court because they essentially ran out of cash in September. By contrast, AMC has been masterful in raising equity as needed, and we ended 2022 with over $840 million of cash in the bank or undrawn revolving credit lines. As for number three operator Cinemark, we encourage you to look at the Q4 metrics where we overlap in the United States. Average ticket price AMC, $12.22. Cinemark, only $10 even. Food and beverage per patron. AMC, $7.76. Cinemark, $7.43. Total revenues per patron. AMC, $21.85. Cinemark, $19.35. Film exhibition costs. And this is one where you want the number to be low, not high. AMC, our film exhibition costs were 51% of our admissions revenues. At Cinemark, it was 58%. Our fourth marker of progress at AMC has been our ability to strengthen our liquidity profile and balance sheet. Over the last 12 months, AMC has raised approximately $314 million in gross cash proceeds. And we've also reduced the aggregate principal balance of our debt by approximately $390 million since the beginning of 2022. And as for that fifth reason for smiles today, the exciting popcorn announcement this morning, we are launching with Walmart. What an enormous vote of confidence that's coming to AMC from the largest retailer in the United States in the quality and consumer appeal of our new microwave and ready-to-eat popcorn. I'll come back to that and other essential topics after I return, but right now let's pass the call over to Sean Goodman, our CFO, to review our financial and operating results in more detail. Sean?