Strong seat sales in its Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay movie houses pushed Palace Amusement Company to a new record for turnover in 2006 that flirted with the $200 million mark, but the more than 14 per cent rise in revenues was insufficient to turn around its fortunes.

Palace at the end of its financial year to December 31 had sliced two-thirds off its losses in 2005, but was still $7.15 million in the red when it finalised its accounts.

At balance sheet date, however, the company's current ratio was 1.43, indicating that its liquid assets are more than sufficient to cover its short terms debts; and triple the $8.5 million of working capital it had in 2005.

Its bank overdraft was reduced from $20 million to $7.3 million, and its long term debt spliced in half, from $14.4 to $6.9 million.

The cinema company lost $24 million off the value of its fixed assets, but its balance sheet position saw slight improvement overall by $700,000, resulting from a $9 million payoff of its debt and improvement in its cash and other assets.

Notwithstanding ongoing competition from DVD sales, cable TV, and bootlegging by street vendors, Palace's gross earnings climbed by $28 million, from $168 million in 2005 to $196 million - the box office earned $117 million, up $19m; confectionaries was also up $8.6 million to $58.8 million.

Rentals were down slightly to $11.4 million compared to $11.7 million in 2005.

Kingston remained Palace's dominant geographic segment, accounting for $144 million of revenues — $121.8 million of which was generated at the ticket windows.

Symbol: PAL

Revenues$196 million

Net Profit/(Loss)($7.15 million)

EPS($4.98)

Share Price$31.45

Current Ratio1.51

Asset Turnover63.97%

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