The future looks bright for P&D

Whilst I was very pleased to read your optimistic assessment of the state of the cinema industry, I was somewhat taken aback to find that in the “Virgin” future Pearl & Dean would no longer exist, “P&D calls police over `sick’ faxes” (MW March 10). As you know from your own recent press coverage, I am happy to confirm that “rumours of our death have been greatly exaggerated”.

Indeed, following our acquisition in March 1993 by a group of leading European media interests led by Mediavision, and the subsequent resurgence of the company under new management, P&D’s share of the UK cinema advertising market is set to break the 20 per cent barrier for the first time since the mid-Eighties.

The reason for this remarkable turnaround in the company’s fortunes is twofold: Warner Theatres’ building programme, which is gathering pace and will double its number of multiplex sites in the near future, plus an increasing number of independent cinema exhibitors returning to P&D. Most significantly, two of the leading independent operators in the UK , Robins and Oasis, have switched their entire contracts to P&D on an exclusive basis.

With admissions at 123 million for 1994 – a nine per cent increase on the previous year – and a tremendous line-up of films for 1995, P&D is actually in great shape and ideally placed to take advantage of the cinema industry’s continuing success story. So let me assure you that P&D has no intention of departing the cinema scene – quite the reverse.

Peter Howard-Williams

Managing director

Pearl & Dean Cinemas

London W1