Ster-Kinekor, one of South Africa’s oldest and most influential movie chains, has announced it will enter into voluntary business rescue this week in an attempt to return to profitability.
The move comes as the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures implemented by governments the world over continue to hammer businesses — particularly those who have a heavier reliance on foot traffic than others. Only last week Clicks Group announced the demise of music and entertainment retail chain Musica.
“As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent economic lockdown instituted by the South African government at the end of March 2020, all cinemas were required to shut down, and were only permitted to reopen under strict conditions as from the end of August 2020,” Ster-Kinekor said in a statement.
“Since then, the company has been operating under various forms of restriction, including curfews and mandatory limits to the number of guests per auditorium.”
According to a report on TechCentral, the movie chain has been further hit by the fact that there aren’t many high-profile releases on the horizon that would encourage audiences to return to cinemas.
The business rescue initiative will be led by EY South Africa partner Stefan Smyth. In the meantime, Ster-Kinekor has said that movie-goers can still attend showing while the business rescue process is ongoing.