Cineworld, the UK cinema chain, has seen revenue increase by 13.9 per cent for the 18 months to 6 May, and said it expects its first half results to be ahead of last year’s.

The firm mentioned that blockbusters such as Avatar and Alice in Wonderland were the principle drivers of the results, and that the group has seen “steady performance” in its retail activities. However, screen advertising remained flat.

The major films for the remainder of the first half including Robin Hood, The Prince of Persia, and Sex and The City 2 will be released before the start of the FIFA World Cup, in anticipation of "reduced cinema demand during the tournament".

As a result of this scheduling, the group expects H1 performance to be "comfortably ahead" of the comparable period in 2009, albeit with overall growth for the half to be below that achieved in the year to date.

Looking into the second half, the company said that releases such as Shrek Forever After, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Toy Story 3, Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows 1 and Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, combined with the strong start to the year, means that the board remains confident in the overall outlook for the year.