MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Moody's Investors Service raised the outlook on
National CineMedia, Llc. to positive from stable and affirmed its 'B1' corporate
family rating (CFR).
Moody's also said it affirmed the 'B1' rating of the company's $805 million
of senior secured credit facilities and assigned a speculative grade liquidity
rating of 'SGL-2' to the company.
The positive outlook reflects hopes for continued improvement in the
company's revenue, operating earnings and credit metrics driven by increased
inventory utilisation and the group's relatively short operating history as a
stand-alone public company, among other factors.
The 'B1' corporate family rating reflects the company's plan to distribute
all free cash flow not required for operating needs to the founding members and
National Cinemedia, Inc. and its relative lack of scale among other factors.
The rating is supported by the group's relatively low debt-to-EBITDA
leverage, good growth prospects and capacity to generate strong free cash flow
driven by significant EBITDA margins, a highly variable cost base and low
capital expenditure requirements.
National CineMedia is the managing member and owner of 44.8 percent of
National CineMedia Llc., the operator of the a digital in-theatre network.
TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com
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