PVR Inox’s shares fell over 6% after its March quarter (Q4FY26) results despite a 26% year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to ₹1,547 crore. The Ebitda margin rose to 29% from 24% in Q4FY25, while the metric rose to 32% for FY26 versus 27% in FY25. Perhaps investors are unsure if this recovery can be sustained.
Notably, footfalls at the multiplex chain were weak in Q4FY26, up 1.5% to 31 million. The real growth driver was pricing. The average ticket price jumped 22.4% to ₹315, while spending per head on food and beverages rose 32.3% to ₹165. Multiplexes have high operating leverage, so better pricing and a 6.6% growth in fixed costs meant significant margin expansion.
Besides, movies such as Dhurandhar: The Revenge and Border 2 helped revive Hindi box office collections, while Hollywood content normalized after the disruption caused by strikes last year.
Importantly, PVR has been addressing its two main pain points: excessive debt and aggressive expansion. Net debt reduced as much as 83% from a year ago to ₹162 crore at the end of March, helped by lower capex intensity and strong operating cash generation.
The management is also changing its expansion strategy. Over 50% of future screen additions will happen under asset-light and franchise-owned, company-operated models where developers bear a large part of the capex. This means PVR can add screens without stretching the balance sheet. It has signed up 138 screens under these formats.
Decent line-up
FY26 benefited from a broad-based recovery in Bollywood, where even mid-budget films performed well. The content line-up this year appears decent, with films including Ramayana Part 1, Drishyam 3, King, and Jailer 2.
Nuvama Research expects PVR’s revenue to grow by 18% annually to ₹9,287 crore by FY28 from ₹6,646 crore in FY26, driven by a steady rise in spending per head and average ticket prices, while the margin is expected to stay at similar levels.
PVR is in a better position today, given its lower debt, better pricing power, premium formats, and disciplined expansion strategy. Earlier, weak content meant more pressure on the balance sheet. An occupancy level of 28-30% can help PVR sustain healthy profitability due to merger synergies, cost controls and better a balance sheet. The FY26 occupancy rate was 26%.
After the recent dip, PVR’s shares have been little changed so far in 2026. The company’s long-term fortunes are tied to movies performing well and investors must track that closely.