PVR’s first quarter was a washout as expected, but the stock has seen a rally from Rs 749 in May to nearly Rs 1,300 purely on the unlock theme and hopes of theatres opening up. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Ajay Bijli, CMD of PVR said that they are actively engaging with the home ministry.

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“We have been having lots of meetings with the home ministry and they are ones who have to first give an indication when we can open and then the state governments will open up,” he said.

Bijli further added that he is hoping for positive news in the October unlock. “Given the fact that everything is opened up now—gyms have opened today, malls and metro which is a big thing, airlines which is a big thing. If you look at the trend all over the world, in 85 countries cinemas have opened... So, I am hoping by October first week we should get some sort of unlock 5.0 some indication from the ministry that we can open,” he said.

Speaking about fixed costs, Nitin Sood, CFO of PVR said, “If you look at our fixed cost, in the first quarter it has been average of about Rs 32 crore a month as against our full steam operations about Rs 150 crore a month. So, clearly we have taken a large chunk of the costs off; this is about 72 percent lower. Q2 costs are going to be even lower. We expect it to further come down by another Rs 8-9 crore. So, 30 percent lower than Q1 because of the progressive measures we have taken.”

“One of the big steps that we have taken is, we have restructured the organisation in a way that our break-even levels actually come up at much lower occupancy then what we were achieving traditionally," Sood added.

Speaking about returning to normalcy, Bijli said, “Cinema is an incomplete offering till such time you get brand new movies because cinemas are all about that first-hand experience of watching a movie which is brand new... So, I think by Dusshera if the brand new movies start coming, then the occupancy levels of course will be much better and people are very keen to come out. However, to wipe out the losses of the last 6 months is going to take time; that is not going to happen overnight. But business will bounce back the moment brand new films start coming.”

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