READING INTERNATIONAL INC - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

þ   ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 or

¨   TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from _______ to ______

Commission File No. 1-8625

READING INTERNATIONAL, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including Area Code: (213) 235-2240

Securities Registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ¨ No þ

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes ¨ No þ

Indicate by check mark whether registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for shorter period than the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit post such files). Yes þ No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large Accelerated Filer ¨ Accelerated Filer ¨ Non-Accelerated Filer þ Smaller Reporting Company ¨ Emerging Growth Company ¨

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. þ

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ¨ No þ

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date. As of June 30, 2021 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter), the aggregate market value of the registrant's voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates based on the closing price on that date as reported by the Nasdaq Stock Market was $124,342,409. As of March 15, 2022, there were 20,314,372 shares of class A non-voting common stock, par value $0.01 per share and 1,680,590 shares of class B voting common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Certain portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for the 2022 annual meeting of the stockholders to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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READING INTERNATIONAL, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021

INDEX

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PART I

Item 1 – Our Business

GENERAL

Reading International, Inc. (“RDI” and collectively with our consolidated subsidiaries and corporate predecessors, our “Company,” “Reading,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) was incorporated in 1999 incident to our reincorporation in the State of Nevada. Our class A non-voting common stock (“Class A Stock”) and class B voting common stock (“Class B Stock”) are listed for trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market (Nasdaq-CM) under the symbols RDI and RDIB, respectively. Our Corporate Headquarters is at 189 Second Avenue, Suite 2S, New York, New York, 10003.

Our corporate website address is www.ReadingRDI.com. We provide, free of charge on our website, our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we have electronically filed such material with, or furnished it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) (www.sec.gov). The contents of our Company website are not incorporated into this report. Our corporate governance charters for our Audit and Conflicts Committee and Compensation and Stock Options Committee are available on our website.

BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

Synergistic Diversification and Branding

We are an internationally diversified company focused on the development, ownership and operation of entertainment and real property assets in three jurisdictions: (i) United States (“U.S.”), (ii) Australia, and (iii) New Zealand. We group our businesses in two operating segments, which are owned and operated through various operating subsidiaries:

Theatrical Motion Picture Exhibition (“Cinema Exhibition”), through our 63 cinemas.

Real Estate, including real estate development and the rental or licensing of retail, commercial and live theatre assets comprised, as of the date of this 2021 Annual Report, of approximately 9,730,000 square feet of land and approximately 713,000 square feet of net rentable area.

COVID-19 Impact and Company Response

COVID-19 Impact on our Cinema Business

In March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of our cinemas in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand were forced to temporarily close by government mandate, ultimately causing an immediate halt to our cinema income. Since the onset of the pandemic, a majority of our cinemas have reopened (some with occupancy restrictions in place). As of the date of this 2021 Annual Report, all our cinemas are open other than one cinema in the U.S. and one cinema in New Zealand which remain closed due to reasons unrelated to the pandemic.

These pandemic related closures have had a material negative impact on our box office results, cinema attendances and the wider cinema industry in general. In 2021, cinemas have reopened as the pandemic has abated and recent variants have not required widespread cinema closures, but attendance is still below pre-pandemic levels due to a variety of factors, including continuing social distancing requirements, public reticence to participate in group activities, competition from streaming services and until relatively recently, the lack of strong film product. Patrons who have returned are responding well to our expanded food and beverage offerings, as spend per patron continue to strengthen. The industry has, in recent months, experienced a positive shift in box office results with the releases of more traditional blockbuster movies to cinemas, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals. We believe that the performance of these films has provided optimism for the cinema industry.

Notwithstanding the impact of COVID-19, we have expanded our global cinema portfolio. We (i) opened five new cinemas in Australia since the third quarter of 2019, (ii) completed two top-to-bottom renovations in the U.S in 2021, and (iii) have two more cinemas in the pipeline to open in 2022.

COVID-19 Impact on our Real Estate Business

Our real estate business has been less impacted, and virtually all of our tenants are currently paying full rents. As of the date of this 2021 Annual Report, 97% of our tenants in our Australian and New Zealand real estate businesses are currently open for trading (some with trading restrictions in place). STOMP reopened at our Orpheum Theater in New York on July 20, 2021, and Audible, an Amazon company, continues to license our Minetta Lane Theater in New York, and resumed public performances on October 8, 2021. We began receiving rental income from our new Culver City office tenant in October 2020.

With regard to our architectural award winning 44 Union Square redevelopment project, while COVID-19 has severely constrained leasing activity in Manhattan, in January 2022 we secured a long-term lease with a strong credit retailer for the cellar, ground floor, and second floor of the building. Our real estate team continues to work to secure office tenants for the remaining space. Our progress regarding this property is discussed in our Real Estate overview below.

As for our other real estate holdings, subject to capital availability and assuming a return to normalcy, we will once again put emphasis on developing and enhancing the following properties: our Courtenay Central, Cannon Park, and Newmarket Village Entertainment Themed Centers, and our Cinemas 1,2,3 and Philadelphia Viaduct properties.

Management’s Response to the Challenges of COVID-19

In response to lower cash inflows from our cinema businesses, we reviewed our real estate portfolio to identify assets that had not been adversely impacted by the pandemic and which would require material capital investment to generate any material increase in value. These asset monetizations are detailed at Note 5 - Real Estate Transactions to the financial statements. We have used the proceeds from the sale of these properties to pay down debt, to cover operating expenses, to fund limited capital improvements, and to strengthen our liquidity. At December 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents totaling $83.3 million, compared to $26.8 million at December 31, 2020. During 2021, we have reduced our net debt from $285.0 million as of December 31, 2020, to $236.9 million as of December 31, 2021.

In addition to the monetization of certain real estate assets, we implemented a number of measures to reduce our day-to-day cost of operations while improving the safety of our cinemas in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. These measures include, but are not limited to, terminating U.S. cinema and live theater staff for the period of cinema closures, reducing our utilities and essential operating expenditures to the minimum levels necessary, terminating or deferring non-essential capital expenditure, and reducing corporate-level employment costs. We have enhanced our cleaning protocols and installed partitions and air filtration systems to improve the safety aspects of our cinemas and upgraded our mobile platforms to increase social distancing. Furthermore, we were able to keep our Australia and New Zealand cinema level staff due to government assistance provided in those countries.

We have been able to maintain most of our assets and keep our key personnel in place as we reopen our cinemas. Generally speaking, our lenders and landlords continue to work with us, and we continue in occupancy all of our cinemas and have not lost any cinema assets as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We negotiated rent abatements and/or deferrals with our landlords throughout 2020 and 2021, and we continue to discuss further concessions with our landlords. We have a variety of landlords, and these discussions are being progressed on a location-by-location basis. Further, we believe our relationships with our film suppliers continue to be strong.

In Conclusion

In 2021, we have taken a number of significant steps to preserve our liquidity, and we will continue to evaluate our operations as the pandemic continues. We modified our business strategy in order to ensure our long-term viability in a way that would not have a dilutive impact on our stockholders, overleverage our Company, or require that we fire sale assets. In arriving at the determination to rely upon the monetization of certain real estate assets to bridge this gap in cinema cashflow (which has in 2021 produced net proceeds to our Company of $139.4 million) and to reduce our need to make capital expenditures, we considered a variety of alternatives, including the issuance of additional common stock and the issuance of high interest rate “junk” debt. We determined that it would be in the best interests of our Company and our stockholders to not dilute equity by issuing stock in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic and to not mortgage our future with high interest rate debt.

With the development and distribution of a variety of vaccines, and a government focus on reducing or eliminating certain pandemic-related restrictions, we anticipate that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our results of operation will be a passing event in the long-term, and we believe that we will ultimately return to results that resemble those of the pre-pandemic era in the future. However, no assurance can be given that we will achieve these results and, unfortunately, there is still a risk of future global outbreaks of COVID-19 and its associated variants, such as the Delta and Omicron variants. In addition, we may be adversely impacted by long-term social trends and movie release patterns, which are placing greater emphasis on streaming in periods prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In short, we have preserved our core business and, while we have monetized on favorable terms certain real estate assets earlier than we had intended, we still hold quality real estate assets in which to invest our time and resources.
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OUR COMMERCIAL BRANDS

Set forth below is a brief description of the various brands under which we organize our business operations:

We synergistically bring together cinema-based entertainment and real estate and believe that these two business segments complement one another, as our cinemas have historically provided the steady cash flows that allow us to be opportunistic in acquiring and holding long-term real estate assets (including non-income producing land) and support our real estate development activities. Our real estate allows us to develop an asset base that we believe will stand the test of time and one that can provide financial leverage and, if needed, during times such as the current pandemic, a funding source to reduce dependence on debt and meet operating costs. More specifically, the combination of these two segments provides a variety of business advantages including the following:

Diversification of our Risk Profile and Enhanced Flexibility in meeting our Cash Needs. We believe that our real estate base provides us with the flexibility to raise additional liquidity through one, or a combination of mortgage-based borrowing, sale and leaseback transactions and/or sale. Real-estate backed loans typically allow higher leverage of cash flows than operating loans secured by cinema assets, and the underlying assets themselves provide us a more ready source of liquidity through sale than traditional cinema assets. Strategic asset monetization has formed a key part of our COVID-19 response strategy.

Reduced Pressure to Deliver Cinema Business Growth; to Grow for Growth’s Sake. Pure cinema operators can encounter financial difficulty as demands upon them to produce cinema-based earnings growth tempt them into reinvesting their cash flow into increasingly marginal cinema sites, overpaying for existing cinemas or entering into high-rent leases. While we believe that attractive opportunities to acquire cinema assets and/or to develop high-end specialty type theaters in the future will continue to exist, we do not feel pressure to build or acquire cinemas for the sake of adding units or building gross cinema revenues. This strategy has, over the years, allowed us to acquire cinemas at multiples of trailing theater cash flow below those paid by third parties. We intend to focus our use of cash flow on our real estate development and operating activities, to the extent that attractive cinema opportunities are not available to us or that such funds are not needed for reinvestment to maintain our cinemas in a competitive position. In 2021, we invested approximately $9.6 million in the upgrading and repositioning of our historic cinema assets or adding new cinemas, and approximately $4.2 million in the acquisition or development of our non-cinema real estate assets. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business has postponed or reprioritized most of our capital expenditures based on assessments of conditions and liquidity requirements.

Enhanced Control over our own Destiny. Some exhibitors are finding their cinemas stranded in dead or dying centers. In our entertainment-themed centers, or “ETCs”, we are better able as exhibitors to control this risk and, as landlords, to realize the benefits of the synergies between entertainment and retail. In our ETCs, we have focused on creating and developing a mix of lifestyle tenancies that, we believe, are less vulnerable to the “Amazon Effect” being felt by traditional centers and that benefit from the foot traffic generated by our cinemas.

The Certainty of Cinema Anchor Tenancies. Cinemas can be used as anchors for larger retail developments such as our ETCs, and our involvement in the cinema business can give us an advantage over other real estate developers or redevelopers who must identify and negotiate with third-party anchor tenants. We have used cinemas to create our own tenant-anchors at our four ETCs.

Flexibility in Property Use. We are always open to the idea of converting an entertainment property to another use, if there is a higher and better use for the property, or to sell individual assets if an attractive opportunity presents itself. Our 44 Union Square property, which is in the lease-up phase of its redevelopment was initially acquired as an entertainment property.

Our hybrid, multi-country strategy emphasizes diversification, and the building of long-term hard asset values. We believe that this business strategy is proving its worth as we have progressed through and are emerging from the current pandemic.

At December 31, 2021, our principal tangible assets included:

interests in 63 cinemas comprising of 515 screens;

fee interests in two live theatres (the Orpheum and Minetta Lane both in Manhattan);

fee interest in our 44 Union Square property, previously used by us as a live theatre venue and for rental to third parties, is in the lease-up phase of its redevelopment for retail and office uses, of which the lower level, ground floor, and second floor of the building is now fully leased to a national retailer;

fee interest in one cinema (the Cinemas 1,2,3) in Manhattan, in which we own a 75% managing member interest in the holding limited liability company;

fee interests in two cinemas in Australia (Bundaberg and Maitland) and three cinemas in New Zealand (Dunedin, Napier and Rotorua);

fee interest in our ETCs in Brisbane (Newmarket Village), Townsville (Cannon Park), Perth (The Belmont Common) and Wellington (Courtenay Central), each of which includes a Reading Cinemas;

fee interest in our administrative office buildings in Culver City, California and Melbourne, Australia. Both buildings also feature one other third-party tenant;

in addition to the fee interests described immediately above, fee ownership of approximately 8.9 million square feet of developed and undeveloped real estate in the United States, Australia and New Zealand; and

cash and cash equivalents, aggregating $83.3 million.

We now present an overview of our business segments.

CINEMA EXHIBITION

Overall

We are dedicated to creating engaging cinema experiences for our guests through hospitality-styled comfort and service, state-of-the-art cinematic presentation, uniquely designed venues, curated film and event programming, and crafted food and beverage options. As discussed previously, we manage our worldwide cinema exhibition business under various brands.

Shown in the following table are the number of locations and screens in our theater circuit in each country, by state/territory/region, our cinema brands, and our interest in the underlying asset as of December 31, 2021:

(1)Our Company has a 33.3% unincorporated joint venture interest in a 16-screen cinema located in Mt. Gravatt, Queensland managed by Event Cinemas.

(2)Our Company is a 50% joint venture partner in two New Zealand Rialto cinemas totaling 13 screens. We are responsible for the booking of these cinemas and our joint venture partner, Event Cinemas, manages their day-to-day operations.

We continue to focus on upgrading our existing cinemas and developing new cinema opportunities to provide our customers with premium offerings, including luxury recliner seating, state-of-the-art presentation including sound, lounges, cafés and bar service, and other amenities. Currently, 178 of our auditoriums feature recliner seating (excluding our joint ventures). In addition, 33 of our auditoriums now feature large format TITAN XC, TITAN LUXE, or IMAX screens. Our circuit has been completely converted to digital projection and sound systems. However, in certain of our cinemas we have, as a point of differentiation, retained the ability to show film in the 70MM format preferred by some directors.

Although we operate cinemas in three nations, the general nature of our operations and operating strategies does not vary materially from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction. In each jurisdiction, our gross receipts are primarily from box office receipts, food and beverage sales, gift card purchases, online ticketing fees, and screen advertising. Our ancillary revenue is created principally from theater rentals (for example, for film festivals and special events), and ancillary programming (such as concerts and sporting events).

Our cinemas generated approximately 58% of their 2021 revenue from box office receipts. Ticket prices vary by location, and in selected locations we offer reduced rates for senior citizens, children and, in certain markets, military and students.

Showtimes and features are placed in advertisements on our various websites, on internet sites and, in some markets, in limited instances, local newspapers. We are continually increasing our presence in social media, thereby, reducing our dependency on print advertising. Film distributors may also advertise certain feature films in various print, radio and television media, as well as on the internet, and distributors generally pay those costs.

F&B sales accounted for approximately 33% of our total 2021 cinema revenue. Although certain cinemas have licenses for the sale and on-premises consumption of alcoholic beverages, historically F&B products have been primarily popcorn, candy, and soda. This is changing, as more of our theaters are offering expanded food and beverage offerings. One of our strategic focuses is to upgrade our

existing cinemas with expanded F&B offerings consistent with what we believe to be the new position of cinemas in the pathway from content provider to consumer.

Screen advertising and other revenue contribute approximately 8% of our total 2021 cinema revenue. With the exception of certain rights that we have retained to sell to local advertisers, generally speaking, we are not in the screen advertising business and nationally recognized screen-advertising companies’ contract with us for the right to show such advertising on our screens.

Management of Cinemas

With the exception of our three unconsolidated cinemas, we manage our cinemas with executives located in Los Angeles and Manhattan in the U.S., Melbourne, Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand. Our two New Zealand Rialto cinemas are owned by a joint venture in which Reading New Zealand is a 50% joint venture partner. While we assist in the booking of these two cinemas, our joint venture partner, Event Cinemas, manages their day-to-day operations. Our one-third interest in a 16-screen Brisbane cinema is passive in nature. That cinema is being managed by Event Cinemas.

Licensing and Pricing

Film product is available from a variety of sources, ranging from the major film distributors, such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, Disney, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and Lionsgate, to a variety of smaller independent film distributors. In Australia and New Zealand, some of those major distributors distribute through local unaffiliated distributors. Worldwide, the major film distributors dominate the market for mainstream conventional films. In the U.S., art and specialty film is distributed through the art and specialty divisions of these major distributors, such as Searchlight Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics, and through independent distributors such as A24 and Neon. Film payment terms are generally based on an agreed-upon percentage of box office receipts that will vary from film-to-film.

Competition

Film is allocated by the applicable distributor among competitive cinemas and in an increasingly material number of situations to streaming services. Accordingly, from time to time, we may be unable to license every film that we desire to play. In the Australian and New Zealand markets, we generally have access to all film product in the market. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a rise in streaming services with greater quantity and quality of films offered. We have also seen certain major distributors skip the traditional theatrical window and go straight to streaming, PVOD or Video on Demand (“VOD”). Furthermore, we have also seen the shortening of theatrical windows as part of the increase in streaming service. For example, in July 2020, AMC announced partnering with Universal to shorten the theatrical window with new movies going to PVOD within three weeks of their debut instead of the typical 75 to 90-day window. In November 2020, Cinemark announced the same. Given the concentration of viewing, and the increasing amount of product being released, the impact of these shortened windows on our revenues is uncertain.

Competition for films may be intense, depending upon the number of cinemas in a particular competitive market. Our ability to obtain top grossing, first run feature films may be adversely impacted by our comparatively small size, and the limited number of screens and markets that we can supply to distributors. Moreover, because of the dramatic consolidation of screens into the hands of a few very large and powerful exhibitors such as AMC, Cineworld, and Cinemark, who between them control over 57% of the North American market, these mega-exhibition companies are in a position to offer distributors access to many more screens in major markets than we can. Also, the major exhibitors have a significant number of markets where they operate without material competition, meaning that the distributors have no alternative exhibitor for their films in these markets. Accordingly, distributors may decide to give preference to these mega-exhibitors when it comes to licensing top-grossing films, rather than deal with independent exhibitors such as ourselves. The situation is different in Australia and New Zealand, where typically every major multiplex cinema has access to all of the film currently in distribution, regardless of the ownership of that multiplex cinema. However, on the reverse side, we have suffered somewhat in these markets from competition from boutique operators, who are able to book top grossing commercial films for limited runs, thus increasing competition for customers wishing to view such top grossing films. We believe it is likely that the power of these major circuits will increase vis-à-vis smaller independent and regional operators with the termination of the so called “Paramount Decree” by the United States District Court at the request of the Department of Justice on August 7, 2020. The order provides for a two-year sunset period on the Paramount Decree’s provisions banning block booking and circuit dealing.

The availability of state-of-the-art technology and/or luxury recliner seating can also be a factor in the preference of one cinema over another. In recent periods, a number of cinemas have opened or reopened featuring luxury recliner seating and/or expanded food and beverage service, including the sale of alcoholic beverages and food served to the seat. Over the last seven years, we have invested in certain cinemas by converting to luxury recliner seating and adding alcoholic beverages to our menus. We are currently working to upgrade the seating and food and beverage offerings (including the offering of alcoholic beverages) at additional existing cinemas. We now offer alcoholic beverages at over half of our worldwide cinemas.

The film exhibition markets in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand are to a certain extent dominated by a limited number of major exhibition companies who have substantial financial resources which could allow them to operate in a more competitive manner

than us. Based on information contained in filings made with the SEC, as of December 31, 2021, the principal exhibitors in the United States are AMC (with 7,796 screens in 597 cinemas); Regal (with 6,885 screens in 514 cinemas), owned by Cineworld Group, the U.K.’s largest cinema operator; and Cinemark (with 4,440 screens in 324 cinemas). As of December 31, 2021, we were the 14th largest exhibitor with 1% of the box office in the United States with 238 screens in 24 cinemas.

The principal exhibitors in Australia are Greater Union, which does business under the Event Cinemas name (a subsidiary of Event Hospitality and Entertainment, Limited) (“Event”), Hoyts Cinemas (“Hoyts”), and Village Cinemas (“Village”). The major exhibitors control approximately 63% of the total cinema box office: Event 29%, Hoyts 22%, and Village 12%. Event has 530 screens nationally, Hoyts 397 screens, and Village 230 screens. By comparison, our 191 screens (excluding our joint venture theaters) represent approximately 8% of the total box office making us the fourth largest exhibitor in Australia. The industry is somewhat vertically integrated in Australia and New Zealand, in that Roadshow Film Distributors, a subsidiary of Village, serves as a distributor of film in Australia and New Zealand.

The principal exhibitors in New Zealand are Event Cinemas with 127 screens and Hoyts with 76 screens, nationally. The major exhibitors in New Zealand control approximately 51% of the total box office: Event 31% and Hoyts 20%. We have 57 screens (excluding its interests in unconsolidated joint ventures). We have 11% of the market (Event and Reading market share figures exclude any partnership theaters) and we are the third largest exhibitor in New Zealand.

In-Home, Streaming and Mobile Device Competition

The in-home streaming and mobile device entertainment industry has experienced significant leaps in recent periods in both the quality and affordability of in-home and mobile device entertainment systems and in the accessibility to, and quality of, entertainment programming through cable, satellite, and internet distribution channels. The success of these alternative distribution channels (like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video) and the entrance of new specially curated product for the home and streaming markets are competing with films produced for theatrical release which puts additional pressure on film distributors to reduce and/or eliminate the time period between theatrical and secondary release dates. For instance, in 2021 WarnerMedia announced that it would stream its entire 2021 slate of Warner Bros. movies on HBO Max the same day they open in theaters.

The myriad of streaming services continues to grow. In 2019, two streaming services debuted, Apple TV+ and Disney+. In 2020, HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock launched. In December 2020 and December 2021, we launched our very own streaming service in the U.S. and Australia, respectively, Angelika Anywhere, which is created for film lovers of independent and foreign film, documentaries, and the more specialized movies from the major studios. We are considering expanding this streaming service to New Zealand in 2023. In January 2021, Discovery+ launched and ViacomCBS launched Paramount+ in early March 2021.

We are responding to these challenges generally by increasing the comfort and service levels available at our cinemas, by offering convenient online ticket reservation services with guaranteed seating, by investing in larger screens and enhanced sound, by offering more specialized and alternative product to our audiences, and by providing value for the moviegoer’s dollar. We are focusing on the fact that going to the movies is a special social experience, and we are working to make that experience the best that it can be. We must differentiate ourselves from other forms of video entertainment by emphasizing the special nature of seeing film and alternative content in a cinema environment and by developing ways to position ourselves to take advantage of the increased output of film and feature product. These are issues common to both our U.S. and international cinema operations.

Further competitive issues are discussed under Item 1A – Risk Factors.

Seasonality

Major films are generally released to coincide with holidays. This fact provides some balancing of our revenue because, with the exception of Christmas and New Years, there is no material overlap between holidays in the United States and those in Australia and New Zealand. Distributors will delay, in certain cases, releases in Australia and New Zealand to take advantage of Australian and New Zealand holidays that are not celebrated in the United States. However, the deferral of releases is becoming increasingly less common, given the need to address internet and other channels of distribution that operate on a worldwide basis and are less tied to holiday schedules.

REAL ESTATE

Overall

We engage in the real estate business through the development and our ownership and rental or licensing to third parties of retail, commercial and live theatre assets. We own the fee interests in both our live theatres, and in 10 of our cinemas (as presented in the preceding table within the “Cinema Exhibition” section). Our real estate business creates long-term value for our stockholders through the continuous improvement and development of our investment and operating properties, including our ETCs.

Our real estate activities have historically consisted principally of:

the ownership of fee or long-term leasehold interests in properties used in our cinema exhibition activities or which were acquired for the development of cinemas or cinema-based real estate development projects;

the acquisition of fee interests in land for general real estate development;

the licensing to production companies of our live theatres; and,

the redevelopment of our existing fee-owned cinema or live theatre sites to their highest and best use.

All of our leasehold interests are cinema operating properties. We utilize office space at the Village East cinema building for our corporate headquarters.

We have historically made use of third-party agencies to provide the on-site management and leasing administration functions of our Australia and New Zealand sites. In 2020, however, we terminated these arrangements and brought these activities in-house. All of our U.S. real estate operations are managed in-house, with operational support from a third-party for 44 Union Square.

In addition to our principal properties as set out below, we own certain historic railroad properties (such as our 8.2-acre North Viaduct and adjacent commercial properties in Philadelphia).

United States

Live Theatres – Minetta Lane and Orpheum

Included among our real estate holdings are two Off-Broadway style live theatres, operated through our Liberty Theatres subsidiary. We license theatre auditoriums to the producers of Off-Broadway theatrical productions and provide various box office and food & beverage services. The terms of our licenses are, naturally, principally dependent upon the commercial success of our tenants. While we attempt to choose productions that we believe will be successful, we have no control over the production itself. At the current time, we have two single-auditorium theatres in Manhattan:

the Minetta Lane (399 seats); and

the Orpheum (347 seats).

Liberty Theatres is primarily in the business of licensing theatre space. However, we may from time to time participate as an investor in a play, which can help facilitate the exhibition of the play at one of our theatres and do from time to time rent space on a basis that allows us to share in a production’s revenues or profits. Rental revenues, expenses, and profits are reported as part of the real estate segment of our business.

44 Union Square

At the end of 2019, we substantially completed the construction phase of our 44 Union Square redevelopment project, achieving approximately 73,000 square feet of net rentable area (calculated inclusive of anticipated BOMA adjustments) comprised of retail and office space. We have leased all the retail space to a national retailer for a flagship, state-of-the-art facility. We are currently working with CBRE to lease the office portions of the project. 44 Union Square/Tammany Hall, hailed as a dramatic pièce de résistance with its first in the city, over 800-piece, glass dome, brings the future to New York’s fabled past and in 2021 was awarded the (i) Design Award of Honor in the Renovation, Restoration and Adaptive Re-use category by the Society of American Registered Architects, (ii) 1st Place Addition Award by Retrofit Magazine, (iii) the Architecture + Collaboration Popular Choice Winner by the Architizer A+ Awards and (iv) the Architecture + Collaboration Jury Winner by the Architizer A+ Awards.

We believe 44 Union Square is attractive to potential office tenants interested in both (i) operating in New York City and (ii) seeking to have greater control over the size and design of their spaces in a post-COVID-19 environment. It is one of a very limited number of “brandable” sites available for lease in New York City and can be delivered immediately upon the execution of leases. Gallery and video images can be viewed at www.44unionsquare.com. An update on this project is provided in Item 7 – Recent Developments.

5995 Sepulveda Boulevard

We own an approximately 24,000 square foot office building with 72 parking spaces located at 5995 Sepulveda Boulevard in Culver City, California. We occupy approximately 12,500 square feet of our Culver City office building for administrative purposes. The remainder of the building is leased to an unrelated third-party. An update on this property is provided in Item 7 – Recent Developments.

Cinemas 1,2,3

We own, through our 75% managing member interest, the fee interest in our Cinemas 1,2,3 property in Manhattan. While we are evaluating the potential to redevelop this property as a mixed-use property, these endeavors have been deferred as we deal with the challenges posed by the COVID 19 pandemic. However, located on 3rd avenue, across from Bloomingdales on Manhattan’s Upper Eastside, this property is a prime long-term hold-for-development asset of our Company.

Australia

We own and operate three ETCs in Australia. Our revenues from these sites consist of rental income and other ancillary charges from our various tenants.

Newmarket Village

Located on 203,000 square feet of land in suburban Brisbane, Newmarket Village is currently comprised of approximately 102,000 square feet of net rentable area, including a Coles Supermarket and 43 other third-party tenants. We added a state-of-the-art eight-screen Reading Cinemas in December 2017.

Cannon Park

Comprising 9.4-acres across two properties, Cannon Park City Center and Cannon Park Discount Center, Cannon Park was acquired in December 2015. Our multiplex cinema is the anchor tenant for Cannon Park City Center, which features nine third-party F&B and retail tenants.

The Belmont Common

Anchored by our 10-screen Reading Cinemas and five F&B or third-party tenants, The Belmont Common is located in Perth, Australia, and is currently comprised of 103,000 square feet of land and 15,000 square feet of net rentable area.

New Zealand

Courtenay Central

Located in the heart of Wellington – New Zealand’s capital city – our Courtenay Central ETC is comprised, on a consolidated basis through various subsidiaries, of 161,000 square feet of land situated (i) proximate to the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum (attracting over 1.5 million visitors annually, pre-COVID), and (ii) across the street from the site of the future Takina, Wellington Convention and Exhibition Center (wcec.co.nz), the capital’s first premium conference and exhibition space, which is due to be completed in 2023. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, construction for this major public project is on track with plans including the creation of a public concourse linking through to Wakefield Street. When it is completed, not only will it be a major generator of foot traffic in the area, but its presence (together with the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum) will provide our property with the potential for unhindered view lines over- looking Wellington Harbor.

As previously reported, damage from the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake necessitated demolition of our nine-story parking garage at the site, and unrelated seismic issues caused us to close major portions of the existing cinema and retail structure in early 2019. Wellington continues to be rated as one of the top cities in the world in which to live, and we continue to believe that the Courtenay Central site is located in one of the most vibrant and growing commercial and entertainment precinct areas of Wellington. In 2019, UNESCO named Wellington as a UNESCO Creative City of Film. In 2021, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Wellington as the fourth “Coolest Little Capital in the World”. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the real estate team had developed a comprehensive plan featuring a variety of uses to complement and build upon the “destination quality” of the Courtenay Central location. Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, our real estate team is continuing to work with our consultants, potential tenants, and city representatives to advance our redevelopment plans for this property.

Our real estate holdings are described in further detail in Item 2 – Properties. Our real estate developments are described in Item 7 – Recent Developments.

Competition

A summary discussion of our view as to the competitive aspects of the markets where we own real estate properties is as follows:

United States

We believe that the COVID effect, while significant in 2020 and 2021, will not survive in the long-term as the human need for interaction will outweigh the reduced COVID post-vaccine risks. To meet this need for human interaction, we expect that U.S. retail real estate owners will continue to reuse the space vacated by anchor retailers to offer a variety of entertainment options and ultimately enhance the customer experience.

Demand for office space may decline in the near term as corporations adapt to employees’ “work-life balance” and leverage technology to automate tasks. However, our office space offering in the United States is limited. The available space in our Culver City office building is now completely leased. Our 44 Union Square office space is not generic in nature, given its Union Square location, its boutique size and brandability. The retail portion of our 44 Union Square property is now fully leased to a national retailer.

Australia and New Zealand

Over the past few years, there has been a noted stabilization in real estate market activity resulting in some increases to commercial and retail property values in Australia and to a lesser extent in New Zealand. Both countries have relatively stable economies with varying degrees of economic growth that are mostly influenced by global trends. Also, we have noted that our Australian and New Zealand developed properties have had consistent growth in rentals and values, despite the COVID effects. This is in part a product of the fact that our tenancies have focused on entertainment services (cinemas, food and beverage) and essentials (such as groceries and pharmacies), which has to some extent insulated us from internet competition. We remain optimistic that our Australian and New Zealand holdings will continue to provide value and cash flows to our operations.

BUSINESS MIX AND FOREIGN CURRENCY IMPACT

At December 31, 2021, the book value of our assets was $687.7 million, and our consolidated stockholders’ book equity was $105.1 million. Calculated based on book value, $316.2 million, or 46% of our assets, relate to our cinema exhibition activities and $257.2 million, or 37%, of our assets, relate to our real estate activities.

For additional segment financial information, please see Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements-- Note 1 – Description of Business and Segment Reporting.

We have diversified our assets among three countries: the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Based on book value, at December 31, 2021, we had approximately 49% of our assets in the United States, 40% in Australia and 11% in New Zealand compared to 49%, 39%, and 12%, respectively, at the end of 2020. This shift in the ratio is principally due to the monetization of certain real estate assets, the launch of our Reading Cinemas in Jindalee, Millers Junction and Traralgon in Australia, and currency fluctuations.

We have worked to maintain a balance both between our cinema and real estate assets and between our U.S. and our Australian and New Zealand assets. In 2021, we invested approximately $8.0 million in our U.S. assets: $3.4 million for the development of our real estate assets (principally for the construction of our 44 Union Square property) and $4.6 million for the improvements of our cinema assets (principally the renovations of our cinemas at Kahala and Kapolei, and upgrades of certain other cinemas). We invested approximately $5.6 million for the development of our cinema assets (principally the fit-out and launch of our Millers Junction (Victoria) and Traralgon (Victoria) cinemas). We invested approximately $0.2 million in our New Zealand assets, all of which was used for the development of real estate assets (principally on the predevelopment of our Courtenay Central asset).

At December 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $83.3 million, which are treated as corporate assets. Our cash included $10.9 million denominated in U.S. dollars, $49.5 million (AU$68.1 million) in Australian dollars, and $22.8 million (NZ$33.4 million) in New Zealand dollars. We had total worldwide non-current assets of $587.3 million, distributed as follows: $313.4 million in the United States, $221.1 million (AU$362.1 million) in Australia and $52.8 million (NZ$77.1 million) in New Zealand. We had no unused capacity of available corporate credit facilities at December 31, 2021.

For 2021, our gross revenues in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand were $61.8 million, $64.7 million, and $12.6 million, respectively, compared to $25.7 million, $31.3 million, and $5.8 million for 2020. All three countries posted revenue increases in 2021 as a result of fewer mandated closures in 2021 due to the wide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

As shown in the chart set forth in the International Business Risks section, exchange rates for the currencies of these jurisdictions have varied, sometimes materially. These ratios naturally have an impact on our revenues and asset values, which are reported in USD.  Notwithstanding these fluctuations, we continue to believe that, over the long term, operating in Australia and New Zealand is a prudent diversification of risk. Australia has been identified by the United Nations to be among the Top 10 countries in the World in terms of natural resources per person. Deutsche Bank has twice named Wellington the best place in the world to live. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has twice rated Australia as the best place to live and work in the world. In our view, the economies of Australia and New Zealand are stable economies, and their lifestyles support our entertainment/lifestyle focus.

HUMAN CAPITAL RESOURCES

Our Company employs experienced, diverse, and creative employees as they are among our best assets and are critical for our continued success. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately (i) 89 executive/administrative and 8 real estate employees who were primarily full-time and (ii) 20 live theatre and 1,908 cinema employees worldwide who were predominantly part-time/casual employees. A small number of our cinema employees in New Zealand are union members, as are our projectionists in Hawaii. None of our Australian-based employees or other employees are subject to union contracts. Overall, we are of the view that the existence of these collective bargaining agreements does not materially increase our costs of labor or our ability to compete.

We offer our employees a competitive benefits package. In the U.S., we offer a 401(k)-retirement savings plan (our “401(k) Plan”) that allows eligible U.S. employees to defer a portion of their compensation, within limits prescribed by the Internal Revenue Code, on a pre- and post-tax basis through contributions to the plan. We match contributions made by participants in our 401(k) Plan up to a specified percentage, and these matching contributions are fully vested as of the date on which the contributions are made. Currently, matching has been deferred as allowed by our 401(k)-plan due to COVID-19. For our employees in Australia and New Zealand, we offer superannuation plans in line with the requirements as they pertain to each government. We believe that providing a vehicle for retirement savings through our 401(k) Plan or superannuation plan, and making fully vested matching contributions in the U.S., in accordance with our compensation policies, adds to the overall desirability of our employee compensation package and further incentivizes our employees.

We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the “Code of Conduct”) designed to help our Directors and employees resolve ethical issues. Our Code of Conduct applies to all Directors and employees and is posted on our website. Our Board has established a means for employees to report a violation or suspected violation of the Code of Conduct anonymously. In addition, we have adopted an “Amended and Restated Whistleblower Policy and Procedures,” which is also posted on our website, and establishes a process by which employees may anonymously disclose to our Principal Compliance Officer alleged fraud or violations of accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters. We are firm supporters of equal rights and diversity, and have accordingly adopted the Anti-Discrimination, Harassment and Bullying Policy posted on our website.

Our Green Initiatives.

We strive to do our part in the fight against climate change.

United States

In our U.S. theaters we are looking at transitioning to paper straws and bamboo biodegradable cutlery in the immediate future. We provide recycle bins at all of our theaters. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we completed a variety of energy enhancements, including the installation of (i) LED Lighting retrofits to lower KWH Usage and reduce our energy consumption across all the theatres, (ii) modern and smart EMS systems at various locations, to efficiently control the current HVAC systems, and (iii) replacement HVAC package units to improve our carbon footprint. We have also done extensive research and analysis, but not yet implemented a project to install renewable energy, such as Solar Systems on the roofs of select cinema locations.

Australia and New Zealand

In our theaters in Australia and New Zealand, we are (i) using commercially compostable bamboo takeaway cutlery nationally, (ii) using commercially compostable paper straws (which are individually wrapped in paper to ensure we are COVID safe), (iii) using commercially compostable soft drink cold cups, coffee cups, popcorn boxes, takeaway pizza boxes and takeaway clamshell hot food boxes. We have achieved our 2021 goal to source only commercially compostable packaging, we expect all AU/NZ locations in Q2 2022 to be 100% converted to the new environmentally friendly stock. At our Burwood cinema in Australia, we are separating waste into three waste streams (compostable material/general waste/recyclable). At our Belmont ETC in Australia, we have installed Solar Panels to minimize our reliance on non-renewable energies.

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Our statements in this annual report, including the documents incorporated herein by reference, contain a variety of forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "intend," "future," and "anticipate" and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding the closures and reopening of our cinemas and theatres, including our expectations regarding renovations and addition of cinemas; our expectations regarding the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on a person’s desire for social interaction our expected operating results, including the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and our ultimate return to pre-pandemic type results; our expectations regarding the recovery and future of the cinema exhibition industry, including the strength of movies anticipated for release in the future; our expectations regarding people returning to our theatres and continuing to use discretionary funds on entertainment outside of the home; our expectations regarding retail real estate owner’s use of vacant anchor spaces; our expectations regarding the impact of streaming and mobile video services on the cinema exhibition industry; our belief regarding the attractiveness of 44 Union Square to potential tenants and ability to lease space on acceptable terms; our expectations regarding the timing of the completions our renovation projects, our expectations regarding credit facility covenant compliance and our ability to continue to obtain necessary covenant waivers; and our expectations of our liquidity and capital requirements and the allocation of funds.

Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following:

with respect to our cinema and live theatre operations:

the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the adverse effects on our anticipated cinema operations should there be further closings or restrictions mandated as a result of other variants;

the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants on our Company’s results from operations, liquidity, cash flows, financial condition, and access to credit markets;

the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants on short-term and/or long-term entertainment, leisure and discretionary spending habits and practices of our patrons;

the decrease in attendance at our cinemas and theatres due to (i) continued health and safety concerns, (ii) a change in consumer behavior in favor of alternative forms of entertainment, or (iii) additional regulatory requirements limiting our seating capacity;

reduction in operating margins (or negative operating margins) due to the implementation of social distancing and other health and safety protocols;

potentially uninsurable liability exposure to customers and staff should they become (or allege that they have become) infected with COVID-19 while at one of our facilities;

unwillingness of employees to report to work due to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic or to otherwise conduct work under any revised work environment protocols;

the adverse impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may continue to have on the national and global macroeconomic environment;

competition from cinema operators who have successfully used debtor laws to reduce their debt and/or rent exposure;

the uncertainty as to the scope and extent of government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic;

the disruptions or reductions in the utilization of entertainment, shopping, and hospitality venues, as well as in our operations, due to pandemics, epidemics, widespread health emergencies, or outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, or to changing consumer tastes and habits;

the number and attractiveness to moviegoers of the films released in future periods, and potential changes in release dates for motion pictures;

the lack of availability of films in the short- or long-term as a result of (i) major film distributors releasing scheduled films on alternative channels or (ii) disruptions of film production;

the amount of money spent by film distributors to promote their motion pictures;

the licensing fees and terms required by film distributors from motion picture exhibitors in order to exhibit their films;

the comparative attractiveness of motion pictures as a source of entertainment and willingness and/or ability of consumers (i) to spend their dollars on entertainment and (ii) to spend their entertainment dollars on movies in an outside-the-home environment;

the extent to which we encounter competition from other cinema exhibitors, from other sources of outside-the-home entertainment, and from inside-the-home entertainment options, such as “home cinemas” and competitive film product distribution technology, such as, streaming, cable, satellite broadcast, video on demand platforms, and Blu-ray/DVD rentals and sales;

our ability to continue to obtain, to the extent needed, waivers or other financial accommodations from our lenders and landlords;

the impact of major movies being released directly to one of the multitudes of streaming services available;

the impact of certain competitors’ subscription or advance pay programs;

the failure of our new initiatives to gain significant customer acceptance and use or to generate meaningful profits;

the cost and impact of improvements to our cinemas, such as improved seating, enhanced F&B offerings, and other improvements;

the ability to negotiate favorable rent abatement, deferral and repayment terms with our landlords (which may include lenders who have foreclosed on the collateral held by our prior landlords);

disruptions during cinema improvements;

in the U.S., the impact of the termination and phase-out of the so called “Paramount Decree;”

the risk of damage and/or disruption of cinema businesses from earthquakes as certain of our operations are in geologically active areas;

the impact of protests, demonstrations, and civil unrest on, among other things, government policy, consumer willingness to go to the movies, and the spread of COVID-19; and

labor shortages and increased labor costs related to such shortages and to increasingly costly labor laws and regulations applicable to part time non-exempt workers.

with respect to our real estate development and operation activities:

the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants may continue to affect many of our tenants at our real estate operations in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, their ability to pay rent, and to stay in business;

the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants on our construction projects and on our ability to open construction sites and to secure needed labor and materials;

the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants on real estate valuations in major urban centers, such as New York;

uncertainty as to governmental responses to COVID-19;

the rental rates and capitalization rates applicable to the markets in which we operate and the quality of properties that we own;

the ability to negotiate and execute lease agreements with material tenants;

the extent to which we can obtain on a timely basis the various land use approvals and entitlements needed to develop our properties;

the risks and uncertainties associated with real estate development;

the availability and cost of labor and materials;

the ability to obtain all permits to construct improvements;

the ability to finance improvements;

the disruptions to our business from construction and/or renovations;

the possibility of construction delays, work stoppage, and material shortage;

competition for development sites and tenants;

environmental remediation issues;

the extent to which our cinemas can continue to serve as an anchor tenant that will, in turn, be influenced by the same factors as will influence generally the results of our cinema operations;

the increased depreciation and amortization expense as construction projects transition to leased real property;

the ability to negotiate and execute joint venture opportunities and relationships;

the risk of damage and/or disruption of real estate businesses from earthquakes as certain of our operations are in geologically active areas;

the disruptions or reductions in the utilization of entertainment, shopping and hospitality venues, as well as in our operations, due to pandemics, epidemics, widespread health emergencies, or outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, or to changing consumer tastes and habits; and

the impact of protests, demonstrations, and civil unrest on government policy, consumer willingness to visit shopping centers, and the spread of COVID-19, among other things.

with respect to our operations generally as an international company involved in both the development and operation of cinemas and the development and operation of real estate and previously engaged for many years in the railroad business in the United States:

our ability to renew, extend, renegotiate or replace our loans that mature in 2023 and beyond;

our ability to grow our Company and provide value to our stockholders; 

our ongoing access to borrowed funds and capital and the interest that must be paid on that debt and the returns that must be paid on such capital, and our ability to borrow funds to help cover the cessation of cash flows we are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic;

our ability to reallocate funds among jurisdictions to meet short-term liquidity needs;

the relative values of the currency used in the countries in which we operate;

the impact that any discontinuance, modification or other reform of London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR), or the establishment of alternative reference rates, may have on our LIBOR-based debt instruments;

changes in government regulation, including by way of example, the costs resulting from the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley;

our labor relations and costs of labor (including future government requirements with respect to minimum wages, shift scheduling, the use of consultants, pension liabilities, disability insurance and health coverage, and vacations and leave);

our exposure from time to time to legal claims and to uninsurable risks, such as those related to our historic railroad operations, including potential environmental claims and health-related claims relating to alleged exposure to asbestos or other substances now or in the future recognized as being possible causes of cancer or other health related problems, and class actions and private attorney general wage and hour and/or safe workplace-based claims;

our exposure to cybersecurity risks, including misappropriation of customer information or other breaches of information security;

the impact of major outbreaks of contagious diseases, such as COVID-19;

the availability of employees and/or their ability or willingness to conduct work under any revised work environment protocols;

the increased risks related to employee matters, including increased employment litigation and claims relating to terminations or furloughs caused by cinema and ETC closures;

our ability to generate significant cash flow from operations if our cinemas and/or ETCs continue to experience demand at levels significantly lower than historical levels, which could lead to a substantial increase in indebtedness and negatively impact our ability to comply with the financial covenants, if applicable, in our debt agreements;

our ability to comply with credit facility covenants and our ability to obtain necessary covenant waivers and necessary credit facility amendments;

changes in future effective tax rates and the results of currently ongoing and future potential audits by taxing authorities having jurisdiction over our various companies;

inflationary pressures on labor and supplies, and supply chain disruptions;

changes in applicable accounting policies and practices;

changes in future effective tax rates and the results of currently ongoing and future potential audits by taxing authorities having jurisdiction over our various companies; and

the impact of the conflict events occurring in Easter Europe.

The above list is not necessarily exhaustive, as business is by definition unpredictable and risky, and subject to influence by numerous factors outside of our control, such as changes in government regulation or policy, competition, interest rates, supply, technological innovation, changes in consumer taste and fancy, weather, earthquakes, pandemics, such as COVID-19, and the extent to which consumers in our markets have the economic wherewithal to spend money on beyond-the-home entertainment. Refer to Item 1A - Risk Factors, as well as the risk factors set forth in any other filings made under the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, including any of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for more information.

Given the variety and unpredictability of the factors that will ultimately influence our businesses and our results of operation, no guarantees can be given that any of our forward-looking statements will ultimately prove to be correct. Actual results will undoubtedly vary and there is no guarantee as to how our securities will perform either when considered in isolation or when compared to other securities or investment opportunities.

Forward-looking statements made by us in this annual report are based only on information currently available to us and are current only as of the date of this 2021 Annual Report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or to revise any of our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable law. Accordingly, you should always note the date to which our forward-looking statements speak.

Additionally, certain of the presentations included in this annual report may contain “non-GAAP financial measures.” In such case, a reconciliation of this information to our GAAP financial statements will be made available in connection with such statements.

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Item 1A – Risk Factors

Like any other investment, investing in our securities involves risk. Set forth below is a summary of various risk factors that you should consider in connection with your investment in our Company. This summary should be considered in the context of our overall Annual Report on Form 10-K.

BUSINESS RISK FACTORS

We are in the cinema exhibition and real estate businesses. We discuss separately the risks we believe to be material to our involvement in each of these segments. We have discussed separately the risks relating to the international nature of our business activities, our use of leverage, and our status as a controlled corporation. While we report the results of our live theatre operations as real estate operations – because we are principally in the business of renting space to producers rather than in producing plays ourselves – the cinema exhibition and live theatre businesses share certain risk factors and are, accordingly, discussed together.

Cinema Exhibition and Live Theatre Business Risk Factors

Our cinema and live theatre businesses are dependent upon attendance and, accordingly, are vulnerable to the adverse effects of the coronavirus outbreak which has resulted in government ordered closures, imposition of social distancing requirements, and changes in film release patterns, and may even after reopening adversely affect the public’s acceptance of auditorium-based entertainment. These situations may be repeated in the event of future pandemics. As demonstrated by the governmental and public response to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses that bring large numbers of unrelated people together in an enclosed environment are particularly vulnerable to business disruption in the face of contagious disease with life threatening potential. Not only may government authorities order closures or reduce operating capacities, but the public may feel uncomfortable attending our performances in the face of such an infectious disease risk. Our cinema business has high fixed costs (rent and increasing labor) and our revenue in this segment (ticket sales, food and beverage sales, screen advertising fees) is directly tied to our success at attracting customers to our venues.

We are dependent upon third parties to supply the entertainment product we need for our cinemas and live theatres to attract customers. We do not produce the films we show at our cinemas and, generally speaking, we do not produce the plays that are performed at our live theatres. Film distributors have no obligation to supply us with film and producers have no obligation to make use of our live theatres.

We face competition from other sources of entertainment and other entertainment delivery systems. Both our cinema and live theatre operations face competition from “in-home” and mobile device sources of entertainment. These include competition from network, cable and satellite television, and Video on Demand, internet streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO+, Peacock, and AmazonPrime, and social media or user generated internet programing such as, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, and Snapchat, video games and other sources of entertainment. The quality of “in-home” and mobile entertainment systems, as well as programming available on an in-home and mobile basis, has increased, while the cost to consumers of such systems (and such programming) has decreased in recent periods, and some consumers may prefer the security and/or convenience of an “in-home” or mobile entertainment experience to the more public and presentation-oriented experience offered by our cinemas and live theatres. Film distributors have been responding to these developments by, in some cases, decreasing or eliminating the period of time between cinema release and the date such product is made available to “in-home” or mobile forms of distribution. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many distributors have moved product onto their proprietary streaming service platforms or onto third party platforms (like Netflix) either in lieu of or simultaneously with a cinema release. Also, even before the recent pandemic, some traditional in-home and mobile distributors had begun the production of full-length movies, specifically for the purpose of direct or simultaneous release to the in-home and mobile markets. Cinemas will need to meet these competitive factors to continue to attract customers. This may require substantial capital outlays and increased labor expense, which exhibitors may not be able to fully pass on to their customers.

We also face competition from various other forms of “beyond-the-home” entertainment, including sporting events, concerts, restaurants, casinos, video game arcades, and nightclubs. Our cinemas also face competition from live theatres and vice versa.

Supply chain disruptions may negatively impact our operating results. We rely on certain suppliers for a number of our products, supplies and services. Shortages, delays, or interruptions in the availability of food and beverage items and other supplies to our theatres and restaurants may be caused by adverse weather conditions; natural disasters; governmental regulation; recalls; commodity availability; seasonality; public health crises or pandemics; labor issues or other operational disruptions; the inability of our suppliers to manage adverse business conditions, obtain credit or remain solvent; or other conditions beyond our control. Such shortages, delays or interruptions could adversely affect the availability, quality, and cost of the items we buy and the operations of our business. Supply chain risk could increase our costs and limit the availability of products that are critical to our operations. Since we have begun reopening our cinemas, we have, in some cases, experienced difficulties in maintaining a consistent supply, seen delays in production and deliveries, been required to identify alternative suppliers, and suspended sales regionally or entirely. We expect these issues to

continue for the foreseeable future and plan to minimize the impact by focusing on the supply of those items with the greatest impact on our sales and operations.

We operate in a highly competitive environment with many competitors who are significantly larger and may have significantly better access to films and to funds than we do. We are a comparatively small cinema operator and face competition from much larger exhibitors who are able to offer distributors more screens in more markets – including markets where they may be the exclusive exhibitor – than can we. This may adversely impact our access to films, which may adversely affect our revenue and profitability. These larger competitors may also enjoy (i) greater cash flow, which can be used to develop additional cinemas, including cinemas that may be competitive with our existing cinemas, (ii) better access to equity capital and debt, (iii) better visibility to landlords and real estate developers, (iv) for the sake of building volume, to operate cinemas with margins below our threshold for cinema acquisitions and/or development, and (v) better economies of scale. Access to reasonably priced funding is increasingly important as cinema operators need to upgrade their presentation, food and beverage in order to compete with in-home entertainment options.

In the case of our live theatres, we compete for shows not only with other “for-profit” Off-Broadway theatres, but also with “not-for-profit” operators and, increasingly, with Broadway theatres. We believe our live theatres are generally competitive with other Off-Broadway venues. However, due to the increased cost of staging live theatre productions, we are seeing an increasing tendency for plays that would historically have been staged in an Off-Broadway theatre moving directly to larger Broadway venues.

We are vulnerable to a variety of factors which are beyond our control.

Our cinema and live theatre businesses may be vulnerable to fears of terrorism and random shooter incidents which could cause customers to avoid public assembly venues. Events, such as terrorist attacks and random shooter incidents may discourage patrons from attending our cinemas. We believe that recent shooting incidents have resulted in material increases in insurance premiums for cinema operators.

Our cinema business may be vulnerable to natural disasters. Natural disasters, such as tropical storms, floods, fires, and earthquakes, have damaged and forced the temporary closure, and are likely in the future to similarly impact, our cinema operations. A material portion of our cinemas are located in seismically active areas, such as California, Hawaii and New Zealand.

We are not in an essential business and accordingly may be more subject to general economic conditions than some other businesses. Going to a movie or a play is a luxury, not a necessity. Furthermore, consumer demand for better and better amenities and food offerings have resulted in an increase of the cost of a night at the movies. Accordingly, a decline in the economy resulting in a decrease in discretionary income, or a perception of such a decline, may result in decreased discretionary spending, which could adversely affect our cinema and live theatre businesses. Adverse economic conditions can also affect the supply side of our business, as reduced liquidity can adversely affect the availability of funding for movies and plays. This is particularly true in the case of Off-Broadway plays, which are often times financed by high net worth individuals (or groups of such individuals) and that are very risky due to the absence of any ability to recoup investment in secondary markets like – cable, satellite or internet distribution.

We face competition from competitors offering food and beverage and luxury seating as an integral part of their cinema offerings. The number of our competitors offering an expanded food and beverage menu (including the sale of alcoholic beverages) and luxury seating, has continued to grow in recent periods. In addition, more competitors such as AMC are converting existing cinemas to provide such expanded menu offerings and in-theater dining options. The existence of such cinemas may alter traditional cinema selection practices of moviegoers, as they seek out cinemas with such expanded offerings as a preferred alternative to traditional cinemas. In order to compete with these new cinemas, the Company has been required to materially increase its capital expenditures to add such features to many of our cinemas and to take on additional and more highly trained (and, consequently, compensated) staff. Also, the conversion to luxury seating typically requires a material reduction in the number of seats that an auditorium can accommodate which may translate into fewer movie tickets being sold and the shutdown (or limitation of activities) during the time required to complete such modifications.

Our failure to obtain and maintain liquor licenses at any of our cinemas could adversely affect our ability to compete. Each of our cinemas offering alcoholic beverages, is subject to licensing and regulation. Typically, licenses must be renewed annually and may be revoked or suspended for cause at any time. Alcoholic beverage control regulations relate to numerous aspects of the daily operations of each cinema, including minimum age of patrons and employees, hours of operation, advertising, wholesale purchasing, inventory control and handling and storage and dispensing of alcoholic beverages. The failure to receive or retain a liquor license, or any other required permit or license, in a particular location, or to continue to qualify for, or renew licenses, could have a material adverse effect on our profitability, our ability to attract patrons, and our ability to obtain such a liquor license in other locations.

We may be subject to increased labor and benefits costs generally. Like most market actors, we are subject to inflationary pressures which have resulted in increased costs of goods and increased cost of film. Our labor costs more as post COVID-19 worker shortages continue, particularly in the minimum wage sector where we operate. Our cinemas are a major user of electricity, and utility costs are

also rising. Given competitive pressures and other forces adversely impacting movie attendances, it may not be possible to pass all or any material portion of these increased costs on to consumers. In addition, we are subject to a variety of changing laws governing such matters as minimum wages, access to benefits and paid or unpaid leave, working conditions and overtime under which minor violations can result in material liabilities. In California and New York, in particular, law firms have developed which advertise for plaintiffs and bring such cases on a class action, contingent fee basis, where typically between 25% and 40% of any recovery goes to the law firm. Moreover, given the statutory basis of such claims, insurance is not available to cover such exposure. In recent periods, legislatures have been active increasing minimum wages, mandating minimum hours or imposing notice and leave provisions that make it increasingly difficult to adjust staffing levels to accommodate fluctuating cinema attendance levels, all of which have resulted in increased operating costs as we work to maintain a high level of amenity to our customers.

Real Estate Development and Ownership Business Risks

Specific Risks Related to Our Real Estate Business.

Our real estate business is vulnerable to the effects from the coronavirus outbreak which has adversely impacted our retail tenants' operations and, in turn, resulted in an increase in tenant defaults and rent reductions. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the closure or reduced capacity of certain of our retail tenants. All of our ETCs are anchored by our cinemas, which suffered temporary closures and/or reductions in seating capacities during the COVID-19 Pandemic, thereby reducing foot traffic to our ETCs. In some cases, we have been compelled to provide our tenants with rent abatements or deferrals.

Competition from the Digital Economy may adversely impact our ability to lease and obtain reasonable rents for our properties. An increasing amount of shopping is being done online, a trend that has been given momentum by the stay-at-home admonitions and restrictions associated with our battle against the COVID virus. This has adversely impacted retail tenants (particularly those dealing in consumer goods), which may impact our ability to attract such retailers and to obtain rents at historic levels. This is a particular risk to us, given our high percentage of retail tenants. Also, initially motivated by the need to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are rethinking the scope and extent of the need for their office space. Some markets may have become overbuilt, which may complicate our ability to lease our properties, to obtain reasonable rents, and to finance future development.

Many of our Properties are located in areas prone to natural disasters. Many of our properties are located in areas subject to a risk of fires such as California and Australia; of hurricanes, tropical storms and/or flooding, such as Australia, California, Hawaii and New York, New Jersey; or earthquakes in New Zealand, Hawaii and California. The availability of insurance for natural disasters (particularly earthquake) may be limited.

Our entertainment properties may be more subject to access litigation than other properties. Substantially all our properties consist of, or include as a material component, entertainment venues. These facilities may attract more access-based litigation (for example, claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act) than other types of real estate.

We operate in a highly competitive environment in which we must compete against companies with much greater financial and human resources than we have. We have limited financial and human resources, compared to our principal real estate competitors. In recent periods, we have relied heavily on outside professionals in connection with our real estate development activities. Many of our competitors have significantly greater resources and may be able to achieve greater economies of scale than we can. Given our structure as a taxable corporation, our cost of capital is typically higher than other real estate investment vehicles such as real estate investment trusts.

Risks Related to the Real Estate Industry Generally

Our financial performance will be affected by risks associated with the real estate industry generally. Events and conditions generally applicable to developers, owners, and operators of real property will affect our performance as well. These include (i) changes in the national, regional and local economic climate, (ii) local conditions, such as an oversupply of, or a reduction in demand for, commercial space and/or entertainment-oriented properties, (iii) reduced attractiveness of our properties to tenants, (iv) the rental rates and capitalization rates applicable to the markets in which we operate and the quality of properties that we own, (v) competition from other properties, (vi) inability to collect rent from tenants, (vii) increased operating costs, including labor, materials, real estate taxes, insurance premiums, and utilities, (viii) costs of complying with changes in law and government regulations including those relating to access, energy conservation and environmental matters, (ix) the relative illiquidity of real estate investments, and (x) decreases in sources of both construction and long-term lending as traditional sources of such funding leave or reduce their commitments to real estate-based lending. In addition, periods of rising interest rates or declining demand for real estate (for example, due to competition from internet sellers the demand for brick and mortar retail spaces has declined and may continue to decline, and due to the increasing popularity of tele-commuting demand for traditional office space has likewise declined and may likewise continue to decline), or the public perception that any of these events may occur, could result in declining rents or increased lease defaults. Increasing cap rates can result in lower property values.

Illiquidity of real estate investments could impede our ability to respond to adverse changes in the performance of our properties. Real estate investments can be relatively illiquid and, therefore, tend to limit our ability to vary our portfolio promptly in response to changes in economic or other conditions. Many of our properties are either “special purpose” properties that could not be readily converted to general residential, retail or office use. In addition, certain significant expenditures associated with real estate investment, such as real estate taxes and maintenance costs, are generally not reduced when circumstances cause a reduction in income from the investment, and competitive factors may prevent the pass-through of such costs to tenants.

Real estate development involves a variety of risks.

Real estate development involves a variety of risks, including the following:

The identification and acquisition of suitable development properties. Competition for suitable development properties is intense. Our ability to identify and acquire development properties may be limited by our size and resources. Also, as we and our affiliates are considered to be “foreign owned” for purposes of certain Australian and New Zealand statutes, we have been in the past, and may in the future be, subject to regulations that are not applicable to other persons doing business in those countries.

The procurement of necessary land use entitlements for the project. This process can take many years, particularly if opposed by competing interests. Competitors and community groups (sometimes funded by such competitors) may object based on various factors, including, for example, impacts on density, parking, traffic, noise levels and the historic or architectural nature of the building being replaced. If they are unsuccessful at the local governmental level, they may seek recourse to the courts or other tribunals. This can delay projects and increase costs.

The construction of the project on time and on budget. Construction risks include the availability and cost of financing; the availability and costs of material and labor; the costs of dealing with unknown site conditions (including addressing pollution or environmental wastes deposited upon the property by prior owners); inclement weather conditions; and the ever-present potential for labor-related disruptions.

The leasing or sell-out of the project. Ultimately, there are risks involved in the leasing of a rental property or the sale of a condominium or built-for-sale property. For our ETCs, the extent to which our cinemas can continue to serve as an anchor tenant will be influenced by the same factors as will influence generally the results of our cinema operations. Leasing or sale can be influenced by economic factors that are neither known nor knowable at the commencement of the development process and by local, national, and even international economic conditions, both real and perceived.

The refinancing of completed properties. Properties are often developed using relatively short-term loans. Upon completion of the project, it may be necessary to find replacement financing for these loans. This process involves risk as to the availability of such permanent or other take-out financing, the interest rates, and the payment terms applicable to such financing, which may be adversely influenced by local, national, or international factors.

The ownership of properties involves risk. The ownership of properties involves risks, such as: (i) ongoing leasing and re-leasing risks, (ii) ongoing financing and re-financing risks, (iii) market risks as to the multiples offered by buyers of investment properties, (iv) risks related to the ongoing compliance with changing governmental regulation (including, without limitation, laws and regulations related to access, energy conservation and environmental matters), (v) relative illiquidity compared to some other types of assets, and (vi) susceptibility of assets to uninsurable risks, such as biological, chemical or nuclear terrorism, or risks that are subject to caps tied to the concentration of such assets in certain geographic areas, such as earthquakes. Furthermore, as our properties are typically developed around an entertainment use, the attractiveness of these properties to tenants, sources of finance and real estate investors will be influenced by market perceptions of the benefits and detriments of such entertainment-type properties.

We may be subject to liability under environmental laws and regulations. We own and operate cinemas and other properties within the U.S. and internationally, which may be subject to various foreign, federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment or human health. Such environmental laws and regulations include those that impose liability for the investigation and remediation of spills or releases of hazardous materials. We may incur such liability, including for any currently or formerly owned, leased or operated property, or for any site, to which we may have disposed, or arranged for the disposal of, hazardous materials or wastes. Certain of these laws and regulations may impose liability, including on a joint and several liability, which can result in a liable party being obliged to pay for greater than its share, regardless of fault or the legality of the original disposal. Environmental conditions relating to our properties or operations could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations and cash flows.

Legislative or regulatory initiatives related to global warming/climate change concerns may negatively impact our business. Recently, there has been an increasing focus and continuous debate on global climate change including increased attention from regulatory agencies and legislative bodies. This increased focus may lead to new initiatives directed at regulating an as yet unspecified array of environmental matters. Legislative, regulatory or other efforts in the U.S. to combat climate change could result in future increases in the cost of raw materials, taxes, transportation and utilities for our vendors and for us which would result in higher operating costs for the Company. Also, compliance by our cinemas and accompanying real estate with new and revised environmental, zoning, land-use or building codes, laws, rules or regulations, could have a material and adverse effect on our business.

However, we are unable to predict at this time, the potential effects, if any, that any future environmental initiatives may have on our business.

Changes in interest rates may increase our interest expense. Because a portion of our debt bears interest at variable rates, increases in interest rates could materially increase our interest expense. Based on our debt outstanding as of December 31, 2021, if interest rates were to increase by 1%, the corresponding increase in interest expense on our variable rate debt would decrease future earnings and cash flows by approximately $2.7 million per year. Potential future increases in interest rates may therefore negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations and reduce our access to the debt or equity capital markets.

Uncertainty relating to the likely phasing out of LIBOR may result in paying increased interest under our credit facilities. Some of our variable rate indebtedness uses LIBOR as a benchmark for establishing the rate. LIBOR is the subject of recent national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals for reform. On July 27, 2017, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intended to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. LIBOR is no longer used to price new loans, and existing finance structures which are based on LIBOR are expected to be transitioned by June 2023 when certain time-based LIBOR rates will no longer be published. These reforms and other pressures may cause LIBOR to disappear entirely or to perform differently than in the past. At this time, it is not possible to predict the effect that any discontinuance, modification or other reform of LIBOR or any other reference rate, or the establishment of alternative reference rates, may have on LIBOR, other benchmarks, or LIBOR-based debt instruments. However, the use of alternative reference rates or other reforms could cause the interest rates payable under our credit facilities to be substantially higher than we would otherwise have expected.

International Business Risks

Our Company transacts business in Australia and New Zealand and is subject to risks associated with changing foreign currency exchange rates. During the current year, the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar strengthened against the U.S. dollar by 8.9% and 8.8%, respectively, compared to the prior year. Our international operations are subject to a variety of risks, including the following:

Currency Risk: while we report our earnings and net assets in U.S. dollars, substantial portions of our revenue and of our obligations are denominated in either Australian or New Zealand dollars. The value of these currencies can vary significantly compared to the U.S. dollar and compared to each other. We do not hedge the currency risk, but rather have relied upon the natural hedges that exist as a result of the fact that our film costs are typically fixed as a percentage of the box office, and our local operating costs and obligations are likewise typically denominated in local currencies. Set forth below is a chart of the exchange ratios between these three currencies since 1996:

In recent periods, we have repaid intercompany debt and used the proceeds to fund capital investment in the United States. Accordingly, our debt levels in Australia are higher than they would have been if funds had not been returned for such purposes. On a company wide basis, this means that a reduction in the relative strength of the U.S. dollar versus the Australian Dollar and/or the New Zealand dollar would effectively raise the overall cost of our borrowing and capital and make it more expensive to return funds from the United States to Australia and New Zealand. In 2021, we used a portion of the proceeds of certain asset monetizations to fund liquidity needs in the United States.

Risk of adverse government regulation: currently, we believe that relations between the United States, Australia, and New Zealand are good. However, no assurances can be given that these relationships will continue, and that Australia and New Zealand will not in the future seek to regulate more highly the business done by U.S. companies in their countries.

Risk of adverse labor relations: deterioration in labor relations could lead to an increased cost of labor (including future government requirements with respect to pension liabilities, disability insurance and health coverage, and vacations and leave).

Trade disputes and geopolitical instability outside of the U.S. may adversely impact the U.S. and global economies.

In 2021, global growth weakened, trade tensions heightened, and several emerging markets experienced significant downturns as macroeconomic and geopolitical developments weighed on market sentiments. Governmental policies of developed economies, such as the U.S., have a substantial effect on emerging markets, and the consequences of a trade war between two developed countries, like that of the U.S. and China, could further contribute to the adverse economic and political conditions of emerging and other developed economies. Additionally, North Korea’s nuclear weapons capabilities, Chinese activities relative to the South China Sea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine continue to be an ongoing security concern and worsening relations between the U.S. and North Korea, Russia and China continue to create a global security issue that may adversely affect international business and economic conditions. While it is difficult for us to predict the effect of such trade wars and heightened geopolitical and economic instability on our business, they could lead to currency devaluation, economic and political turmoil, market volatility, and a loss of consumer confidence in the broader U.S. economy.

Risks Associated with Certain Discontinued Operations

Certain of our subsidiaries were previously in industrial businesses. As a consequence, properties that are currently owned or may have in the past been owned, by these subsidiaries may prove to have environmental issues. Where we have knowledge of such environmental issues and are in a position to make an assessment as to our exposure, we have established what we believe to be appropriate reserves, but we are exposed to the risk that currently unknown problems may be discovered. These subsidiaries are also exposed to potential claims related to exposure of former employees to coal dust, asbestos, and other materials now considered to be, or which in the future may be found to be, carcinogenic or otherwise injurious to health.

Operating, Financial Structure and Borrowing Risk

Typically, we have negative working capital. As we invest our cash in new acquisitions and the development of our existing properties, we have negative working capital. This negative working capital is typical in the cinema exhibition industry because our short-term liabilities are in part financing our long-term assets instead of long-term liabilities financing short-term assets, as is the case in other industries such as manufacturing and distribution. In addition, the new lease accounting standard requires us to include our operating lease liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet. See Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements-- Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies – Operating Leases.

We are subject to complex taxation, changes in tax rates, adoption of new U.S. or international tax legislation and disagreements with tax authorities that could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. We are subject to many different forms of taxation in both the U.S. and in foreign jurisdictions where we operate, such as the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law in December 2017. The new laws are still evolving and require that we interpret the provisions of the law as we work to comply with them. The costs of compliance with these laws and regulations are high and are likely to increase in the future. Any failure on our part to comply with these laws and regulations can result in negative publicity and diversion of management’s time and effort and may subject us to significant liabilities and other penalties.

We have substantial short- to medium-term debt. Generally speaking, we have historically financed our operations through relatively short-term debt. No assurances can be given that we will be able to refinance this debt, or if we can, that the terms will be reasonable. However, as a counterbalance to this debt, we have certain unencumbered real property assets, which could be sold to pay debt or encumbered to assist in the refinancing of existing debt, if necessary.

We have substantial lease liabilities. Most of our cinemas operate in leased facilities. These leases typically have “cost of living” or other rent adjustment features and require that we operate the properties as cinemas. The COVID-19 pandemic, increased competition from internet, streaming and cable-based entertainment, and changes in film distribution have adversely affect the ability of our cinema operating subsidiaries to meet these rental obligations. Even if our cinema exhibition business returns to pre-Pandemic levels and thereafter remains relatively constant, cinema level cash flow will likely be adversely affected unless we can increase our revenue sufficiently to offset increases in our rental liabilities.

If our company suffers cybersecurity attacks, data security challenges or privacy incidents that result in security breaches, we could suffer a loss of sales, additional liability, reputational harm or other adverse consequences. The effective operation of our international businesses depends on our network infrastructure, computer systems, physical, virtual and/or cloud based, and software. Our information technology systems collect and process information provided by customers, employees and vendors.  In addition, third-party vendors’ systems process ticketing for our theaters.  These various information technology systems and the data stored within them are subject to penetration by cyber attackers.  We utilize industry accepted security protocols to securely maintain and protect proprietary and confidential information. However, in spite of our best efforts, our information systems may fail to operate for a variety of technological or human reasons.  An interruption or failure of our information technology systems and of those maintained by our third-party providers could adversely affect our business, liquidity or results of operations and result in increases in reputational risk, litigation or penalties.  Furthermore, any such occurrence, if significant could require us to expend resources to remediate and

upgrade information technology systems.  Since 2015, we have annually procured cybersecurity insurance to protect against cybersecurity risks; however, we cannot provide any assurance regarding the adequacy of such insurance coverage.

Our stock is thinly traded. Our stock is thinly traded, with an average daily volume in 2021 of only approximately 61,032 shares of Class A Stock. Our Class B Stock is very thinly traded with even less volume. This can result in significant volatility, as demand by buyers and sellers can easily get out of balance.

Ownership and Management Structure, Corporate Governance, and Change of Control Risks

Ongoing disputes among the heirs of James J. Cotter, Sr., over the past seven years have caused, and may continue to cause, uncertainty regarding the ongoing control of our Company by the Cotter family and have distracted and may continue to distract the time and attention of our officers and directors from our business and operations and may ultimately interfere with the effective management of the Company. Up until his death on September 13, 2014, James J. Cotter, Sr., the father of Ellen Cotter, James J. Cotter, Jr. and Margaret Cotter, was our controlling stockholder, having the sole power to vote approximately 66.9% of the outstanding Class B Voting Common Stock (the “Class B Stock”) of our Company. Under applicable Nevada Law, a stockholder holding two-thirds or more of our Company’s Class B Stock has the power at any time, with or without cause, to remove any one or more directors (up to and including the entire board of directors) by written consent taken without a meeting of the stockholders. Over the past seven years, there have been a variety of disputes between Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter, on one side, and James J. Cotter, Jr., and/or his estate on the other side, as to the control and disposition of this Class B Stock. James Cotter, Jr., passed away on March 10, 2021. The ultimate impact of the passing of James J. Cotter, Jr., upon the currently pending disputes relating to the control of our Company is uncertain. However, our Company is advised that a settlement in principle (the “Settlement in Principle”) has been reached between the parties to these disputes (including with respect to the below described motions by the GAL (as defined below)), which would resolve matters amongst such parties, including, without limitation, matters pending before the Superior Court (as defined below) and the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Division Seven, as described in more detail below. The Settlement in Principle is subject to execution of definitive documentation, and because such matters involve minor beneficiaries, to the approval by the Superior Court. The Settlement in Principle is expected to result in the ongoing control of our Company by the immediate family of James J. Cotter, Sr., because the Settlement in Principle provides that Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter (in a capacity to be decided later) will acquire the shares of the Class B Stock originally designated by the terms of the Cotter Living Trust (as defined below) for the children of James J. Cotter, Jr., which if such Class B Stock could be, and were to be, distributed today would represent 674,332 shares of Class B Stock.

Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter, in their individual capacities and as the Co-Executors of the Estate of James J. Cotter (the “Cotter Estate”) and as the Co-Trustees of the Living Trust established by the Declaration of Trust dated June 5, 2013, by James J. Cotter, Sr., as amended (the “Cotter Living Trust”) currently vote approximately 72% of the outstanding Class B stock. Of this approximately 67% of such Class B Stock is held by the Cotter Estate and the Cotter Living Trust, ultimately for distribution into a voting sub-trust (the “Cotter Voting Trust”) of the Cotter Living Trust. Margaret Cotter is the sole trustee of the Cotter Voting Trust. During his lifetime, James J. Cotter, Jr. in litigation (the “Trust Case”) brought in the California Superior Court for Los Angeles County (the “California Superior Court”), among other things, sought to have Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter removed as Trustees of the Cotter Living Trust, to have Margaret Cotter removed as the Trustee of the Cotter Voting Trust and to have the shares of Class B Stock held by the Cotter Estate, the Cotter Living Trust and/or the Cotter Voting Trust (and representing a controlling interest in our Company) sold. Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter have advised that they believe that this stock should be retained and held for as long as possible for the long-term benefit of grandchildren of James J. Cotter, Sr, as they believe is provided for in the document governing the Cotter Voting Trust and have opposed the efforts of James J. Cotter, Jr. to remove them as Trustees and to have this stock sold.

Upon motion brought by James J. Cotter, Jr., in the Trust Case, the California Court appointed a guardian ad litem (the “GAL”) to represent the interests of these grandchildren (who consist of the children of Margaret Cotter and of James J. Cotter, Jr.). The GAL has motions pending (i) to divide the Cotter Voting Trust into separate trusts, one for the benefit of Margaret Cotter’s children and one for the benefit of James J. Cotter, Jr.’s children, (ii) in order to achieve diversification of the assets of these trusts, to sell the Class B Stock eventually to be held by these trusts, and (iii) to immediately retain a valuation expert to advise him as to value of the Class B Stock to be eventually held by the Cotter Voting Trust. These motions are opposed by Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter acting in their capacity as Executors and Trustees. A motion has also been brought by Margaret Cotter and Ellen Cotter, as Co-Trustees of the Cotter Living Trust, to disqualify the GAL on the basis that he cannot simultaneously represent the interests of Margaret Cotter and James J. Cotter’s, Jr’s, children as the interests of those children differ. That motion was denied by the California Superior Court and that order is currently subject to appeal.

As a consequence of the California Superior Court’s ruling in the Trust Case that the amendment to the trust document memorializing the Cotter Living Trust supported by James J. Cotter, Jr. was not valid and that the amendment supported by Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter was the controlling document, Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter, as Co-Trustees of the Cotter Living Trust, have brought a motion to enforce the no-contest clause of the Cotter Living Trust, which if successful would remove James J. Cotter, Jr and his descendants as beneficiaries of the Cotter Living Trust. It would also moot Mr. Cotter, Jr.’s motions (to the extent that they survive his passing), as he would be neither a trustee nor a beneficiary of the Cotter Living Trust. Mr. Cotter, Jr., has opposed the Co-

Trustees motion to enforce the no-contest clause and brought an Anti-SLAPP claim against the Co-Trustees. That Anti-SLAPP claim was denied by the California Superior Court, which denial is now on appeal.

While our Company is not a party to the Trust Case, our Company has appeared in court, to protect (a) the business plan adopted by our Board of Directors and its determination that stockholder interests are best achieved by continuing with that business plan rather than selling our Company at this time and (b) in the event that the California Superior Court were to disregard the advice of our Board and order that a controlling interest in our Company be marketed or sold, that the interests of our Company and stockholders generally are protected in the context of any such change of control transaction. Our Company’s participation in the Trust Case since August 2017 has been overseen by a Special Independent Committee of the Board of Directors currently comprised of directors Doug McEachern and Judy Codding.

We continue to believe that, whether or not a final determination is made to sell the voting shares, the very commencement of a process to sell a controlling interest in our Company would pose risks to our Company and our stockholders for a variety of reasons, including the resultant potential for: (i) distraction of management and key employees from focusing on the conduct of our business, including the implementation of our three year business strategy, (ii) incurrence of additional general and administrative costs due to the need to implement employee retention programs and to incur legal expenses of the type and at levels not typically required in the ordinary conduct of our Company’s business, (iii) interference with contractual relationships, negotiations and potential negotiations with third parties important to our Company’s business, including, without limitation, current and future lenders, tenants, landlords, suppliers and co-developers, (iv) increased difficulty in hiring and retaining high quality employees, and (v) exposure of our Company to potential litigation claims of the type which often accompany any extraordinary corporate transactions together with the expense, distraction and time loss that typically results from any such litigation. If a decision to sell a controlling interest is made by the California Superior Court, then there would be the additional risk that control might be sold to an unqualified purchaser who might exploit such control position in a manner not consistent with the best interests of our Company or stockholders generally.

The California Superior Court, in the Trust Case, has jurisdiction over a potentially controlling block of our voting power. Should the California Superior Court order the sale of the Class B Stock intended for transfer to the Cotter Voting Trust, and such sale be completed, then there may be a change of control of our Company (depending on, among other things, who the ultimate purchaser(s) of such shares might be, the number of shares of Class B Stock distributed by the Cotter Estate to the Cotter Living Trust, and whether the California Superior Court orders a sale of all or only some portion to the Class B Stock to be held by the Cotter Voting Trust). We cannot predict what reactions, including appeals or other steps, might be taken by Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter in their respective capacities as Trustees under the Cotter Living Trust, or in other capacities (for example, as Co-Executors of the Cotter Estate or as stockholders acting in their own right), should the California Superior Court make such an order. We do note, however, that Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter have publicly stated that, if there is to be a sale of controlling shares, they intend to be the purchasers of such shares. We also cannot predict what action our Board of Directors would take in response, if any. However, our Board of Directors has an obligation to act in the best interest of our Company, and in the event the California Superior Court were to order a sale of the Class B Stock held by the Cotter Living Trust, our Board of Directors would be obligated to consider the interests of our Company and to act accordingly.

As foreshadowed in the beginning of this discussion, the recent passing of James J. Cotter, Jr., has rendered uncertain the status of his petition to remove Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter as Trustees, as to the GAL’s ongoing status given the differing interests of the children of Margaret Cotter and the children of James J. Cotter, Jr., and the GAL’s motion to divide the Voting Trust and sell the shares of Class B Stock held by the Cotter Estate, the Cotter Living Trust and/or the Cotter Voting Trust.

Furthermore, the uncertainty as to the future management and control of our Company could potentially adversely impact, among other things (i) our ability to develop and maintain favorable business relationships, (ii) our ability to attract and retain talented and experienced directors, executives and employees, (iii) the compensation and other terms needed to attract and retain such individuals (including, without limitation, the potential need for retentions agreements and other incentive arrangements typically put into place when control of a public company is uncertain), (iv) our ability to borrow money on favorable long-term terms, and (v) our ability to pursue and complete long-term business objectives.

The interests of our controlling stockholder may conflict with your interests. As of December 31, 2021, the Cotter Estate and the Cotter Living Trust beneficially owned 66.9% of our outstanding Class B Stock. At the present time, according to the books of the Company, Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter vote (including their direct holdings of 50,000 shares and 35,100 shares respectively of the Class B Stock), Class B Stock representing 71.9% of our outstanding Class B Stock. Our Class A Stock is non-voting, while our Class B Stock represents all of the voting power of our Company. For as long as the Cotter Estate, the Cotter Trust and/or the Cotter Voting Trust (referred to herein collectively as the “Cotter Entities”) continue to own shares of Class B Stock representing more than 50% of the voting power of our common stock, the Cotter Entities will be able to elect all of the members of our Board of Directors and determine the outcome of all matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, including matters involving mergers or other business combinations, the acquisition or disposition of assets, the incurrence of indebtedness, the issuance of any additional shares of common stock or other equity securities and the payment of dividends on common stock. The Cotter Entities will also have the power to prevent or cause a change in control and could take other actions that might be desirable to the Cotter Entities but not to other stockholders. To the extent that the Cotter Entities hold more than two-thirds of our outstanding Class B Stock, the Cotter Entities

will have the power under Nevada law at any time, with or without cause, to remove any one or more Directors (up to and including the entire Board of Directors) by written consent taken without a meeting of the stockholders.

In addition, the Cotter Estate or the Cotter Living Trust and/or their respective affiliates have controlling interests in companies in related and unrelated industries. In the future, we may participate in transactions with these companies (see Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements-- Note 21 – Related Parties).

While controlling stockholders may owe certain fiduciary duties to our Company and/or minority stockholders, these duties are limited. No assurances can be given that the Cotter Entities will not take action that, while beneficial to them and legally enforceable, would not necessarily be in the best interests of our Company and/or our stockholders generally.

We are a “Controlled Company” under applicable NASDAQ Regulations. As permitted by those Regulations, our Board has elected to opt-out of certain corporate governance rules applicable to non-controlled companies. Generally speaking, NASDAQ requires listed companies to meet certain minimum corporate governance provisions. However, a “Controlled Company,” such as we, may elect not to be governed by certain of these provisions. Our Board of Directors has elected to exempt our Company from requirements that (i) at least a majority of our Directors be independent and (ii) nominees to our Board of Directors be nominated by a committee comprised entirely of independent Directors or by a majority of our Company’s independent Directors. Notwithstanding the determination by our Board of Directors to opt-out of these NASDAQ requirements, we believe that a majority of our Board of Directors is nevertheless currently comprised of independent Directors. As a practical matter, subject to their fiduciary duties, Ellen Cotter and Margaret Cotter control the composition of our Board of Directors.

We depend on key personnel for our current and future performance. Our current and future performance depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our senior management team and other key personnel. The loss or unavailability to us of any member of our senior management team or a key employee could significantly harm us. We cannot assure you that we would be able to locate or employ qualified replacements for senior management or key employees on acceptable terms. Due to the uncertainty of our control situation, the ongoing availability of these employees and our ability to replace them is uncertain.

Item 1B – Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

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Item 2 – Properties

OPERATING PROPERTY

As of December 31, 2021, we own fee interests across our two operating segments in approximately 713,000 square feet of income-producing properties (including certain properties principally occupied by our cinemas) as follows:

(1)Rental square footage refers to the amount of potential area available to be rented to third parties. A number of our real estate holdings include entertainment components rented to one or more of our subsidiaries at fair market rent. The rental area to such subsidiaries is noted under the entertainment square footage.

(2)Represents the percentage of available rental square footage currently leased or licensed to third parties.

(3)Refers to the net carrying value of the land and buildings of the property presented as “Operating Property” in our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2021 (net of any impairments recorded).

(4)Owned by a limited liability company in which we hold a 75% managing member interest. The remaining 25% is owned by Sutton Hill Capital, LLC (“SHC”), a company owned in equal parts by the Cotter Estate or the Cotter Estate and a third party.

(5)Our Cannon Park City and Discount Centers are operated as a single ETC.

(6)Our Courtenay Central parking structure has been demolished due to damage suffered as a result of an earthquake on November 14, 2016. For further information on the on-going development projects of these properties, refer to succeeding section Item 7 - Recent Developments.

(7)This schedule does not include (i) our leasehold assets on cinemas under leased-facility model, (ii) those portions of the owned assets that are not income-producing or purely used for administrative purposes, and (iii) our assets on our legacy business principally in Pennsylvania.

ENTERTAINMENT PROPERTIES

As of December 31, 2021, we leased approximately 2,013,000 square feet of completed cinema space in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand as follows:

In certain cases, we have long-term leases that we view more akin to real estate investments than cinema leases. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 90,000 square feet of space subject to such long-term leases, which are reported as part of our Cinema Exhibition segment, detailed as follows:

(1)Rental square footage refers to the amount of area available to be rented to third parties. A number of our real estate holdings include entertainment components rented to one or more of our subsidiaries at fair market rent. The rental area to such subsidiaries is noted under the entertainment square footage.

(2)Represents the percentage of rental square footage currently leased to third parties.

(3)Refers to the net carrying value of the leasehold property presented as “Operating Property” in our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2021 (net of any impairments recorded).

INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PROPERTY

We are engaged in several investment and development projects relative to our currently undeveloped parcels of land. In addition, we are currently executing, or still pursuing to execute, our redevelopment plans on several of our existing developed properties to take them to their highest and best use. The following table summarizes our investment and development projects as of December 31, 2021:

Some of our income producing properties and our investment and development properties carry various debt encumbrances based on their income streams and geographic locations. For an explanation of our debt and the associated security collateral please see Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements--Note 11 – Borrowings.

EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES

In the United States, we occupy approximately 3,500 square feet at our Village East leasehold property in New York for administrative purposes and our principal executive offices. We occupy approximately 12,500 square feet of our Culver City office building for administrative purposes. The remainder of the building is leased to an unrelated third-party.

In Australia, we own an 8,300 square foot office building in Melbourne, Australia, approximately 5,000 square feet of which serve as the administrative office for our Australian and New Zealand operations (the remainder being leased to an unrelated third party). We have approximately 5,400 square feet of office space located in our Courtenay Central ETC in Wellington, New Zealand, which is currently closed due to seismic concerns. This office space used to house our accounting personnel and certain IT and operational personnel who are working remotely in the meantime.

OTHER PROPERTY INTERESTS AND INVESTMENTS

We own the fee interests in various parcels related to our historic railroad operations, currently comprised of 197-acres principally in Pennsylvania. These acres consist primarily of vacant land. With the exception of certain properties located in Philadelphia (including

the raised railroad bed near Center City, known as the Reading Viaduct), the properties are principally located in rural areas of Pennsylvania. These properties are unencumbered by any debt.

Item 3 – Legal Proceedings

The information required under Part I, Item 3 – Legal Proceedings is incorporated by reference to the information contained in Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements included herein in Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data on this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Item 4 – Mine Safety Disclosures

Not Applicable.

PART II

Item 5 – Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

MARKET INFORMATION

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ under the symbols RDI (Class A Stock) and RDIB (Class B Stock).

As of March 14, 2022, the approximate number of common stockholders of record was 369 for Class A Stock and 51, for Class B Stock.

We have never declared a cash dividend on either class of our common stock, and we have no current plans to declare a dividend.

Performance Graph

The following line graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return on RDI’s Class A Stock for the five-year period ended December 31, 2021 against the cumulative total return as calculated by the NASDAQ composite, a peer group of public companies engaged in the motion picture theater operator industry and a peer group of public companies engaged in the real estate operator industry. Measurement points are the last trading day for each of the five-years ended December 31, 2021. The graph assumes that $100 was invested on December 31, 2016 in our Class A Stock, the NASDAQ composite and the noted peer groups, and assumes reinvestment of any dividends. The stock price performance on the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

The following performance graph shall not be deemed to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, nor shall this information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into a filing.

Reading underperformed in 2021 compared to the market due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, delayed releases of movies and/or movies going straight to streaming or PVOD, and a weakening foreign currency exchange rate.

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UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Between December 14, 2020 and December 16, 2020, the Company awarded 114,803 non-transferable restricted stock units to certain members of the management team and other key employees pursuant to the 2020 Stock Incentive Plan; each restricted stock unit is subject to time-based vesting restrictions, and in some cases the satisfaction of certain performance criteria, and once vested will be convertible into one share of the Company's Class A Stock. The awards were compensatory in nature without cost to the officers and were made pursuant to exemptions from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, including Regulation D.

REPURCHASE OF EQUITY SECURITIES BY THE ISSUER AND AFFILIATED PURCHASERS

None.

Item 6 – Selected Financial Data

Part II, Item 6 is no longer required as the Company has adopted certain provisions within the amendments to Regulation S-K that eliminate Item 6.

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Item 7 – Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”)

OUR BUSINESS

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable economic instability all over the world, affecting our operations in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. The pandemic has caused patrons to lessen their exposure to others by avoiding our cinemas and retail centers and, in the United States, our live theatres or other public places where large crowds would be in attendance. In March of 2020, we temporarily closed all of our Company’s cinemas in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand in accordance with the directions and recommendations of the relevant local, state and federal authorities. In the U.S., we also temporarily closed our live theatres.

Although cinema attendances are still below pre-pandemic levels, the industry has experienced a positive shift in box office results in 2021. The releases of blockbuster films, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom: There Will Be Carnage, and No Time To Die have provided optimism for the cinema industry. Since the onset of the pandemic, we experienced our first quarter of positive operating results from our cinema operations in the fourth quarter of 2021. However, with the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants, the uncertainty with the cinema industry has continued.

No cinemas are currently closed due to the Delta or Omicron variant of COVID-19. As of the date of this 2021 Annual Report, one cinema in the United States and one cinema in New Zealand are closed due to reasons unrelated to the pandemic.

At the start of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, various trading restrictions, some enforced by the government, affected many of our unrelated third-party tenants at our ETC’s in Australia and New Zealand. Although there were varied trading restrictions, most of these properties remained open for business through the COVID-19 crisis. As of the date of this 2021 Annual Report, all of our tenants are currently open for business at our Australian and New Zealand properties with continued health and safety measures in place (with the exception of two tenants in Australia completing new fit outs). Most of the rentable retail portions of our Courtenay Central location in New Zealand continue to be closed due to seismic concerns, however, three tenants remain open and are trading as of the date of this 2021 Annual Report.

We have and will continue to experience into 2022 significant impacts on our cinema exhibition and real estate businesses. We have and may continue to experience the negative influence of (i) delayed releases of certain major motion pictures and (ii) recent announcements from certain major exhibitors collaborating with certain major studios in agreements to shorten and/or eliminate the theatrical window.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Recent developments in our two business segments are discussed below. For an overview of our two business segments, including a breakdown of assets that we own and/or manage, please see Part I, Item 1 – Our Business of this 2021 Form 10-K.

Cinema Exhibition

Key Performance Indicators

A key performance indicator utilized by management is food and beverage Spend Per Patron (“SPP”).

One of our strategic priorities is upgrading the food and beverage menu at a number of our global cinemas. We use SPP as a measure of our performance as compared to the performance of our competitors, as well as a measure of the performance of our food and beverage operations. While ultimately, the profitability of our food and beverage operations depends on a variety of factors, including labor cost and cost of goods sold, we think that this calculation is important to show how well we are doing on a top line basis.

Due to the lower attendances resulting from social distancing requirements, competition from other entertainment sources, the lack of new and compelling film product, and the reticence of customers to participate in social gatherings with third parties, management does not currently believe that a discussion of Reading’s key performance indicators will serve as a useful metric for stockholders. management intends to resume providing a discussion of our key performance indicators in future filings.

Cinema Additions

The latest additions to our cinema portfolio over the past three years ended December 31, 2021 are as follows:

Australia and New Zealand

Traralgon, Victoria, Australia: On December 15, 2021, we opened a new state-of-the-art five-screen Reading Cinemas in Traralgon, Victoria.

Millers Junction, Victoria, Australia: On June 16, 2021, we opened a new state-of-the-art six screen Reading Cinemas at the expanded Millers Junction Village featuring two TITAN LUXE auditoriums with DOLBY ATMOS immersive sound, luxury recliner seating in all auditoriums, and an enhanced F&B offering.

Jindalee, Queensland, Australia: On December 22, 2020, we opened a new state-of-the-art six-screen Reading Cinemas at Jindalee featuring a TITAN LUXE with DOLBY ATMOS immersive sound, luxury recliner seating in all auditoriums, and newly curated enhanced food and beverage offering.

Burwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: On December 5, 2019, we opened a new state-of-the-art six-screen Reading Cinemas in the Burwood Brickworks shopping center offering a TITAN LUXE with DOLBY ATMOS immersive sound, enhanced food and beverage offerings, and full recliner seating in all auditoriums.

State Cinema, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: On December 4, 2019, we acquired the leasehold interest and other operating assets of the iconic State Cinema for $6.2 million (AU$9.0 million). This leasehold interest features 10 screens, a roof top cinema and bar, a large café, and a bookstore.

Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand: To mitigate the ongoing temporary closure of Reading Cinemas at Courtenay Central, we opened a three-screen cinema that trades as The Hutt Pop Up by Reading Cinemas in June 2019.

Devonport, Tasmania, Australia: On January 30, 2019, we purchased the tenant’s interest and other operating assets of a well-established four-screen cinema in Devonport, Tasmania, Australia, for $1.4 million (AU$1.95 million). We commenced trading from this new cinema site on January 30, 2019.

Upgrades to our Film Exhibition Technology and Theater Amenities

Prior to COVID-19, we invested in both (i) the upgrading of our existing cinemas and (ii) the development of new cinemas to provide our customers with premium offerings, including state-of-the-art presentation (including sound, lounges, and bar service) and luxury recliner seating. As of December 31, 2021, all of the upgrades to our theater circuits’ film exhibition technology and amenities over the years are as summarized in the following table:

(1)Gold Lounge: This is our "First Class Full Dine-in Service" in our Australian and New Zealand cinemas, which includes an upgraded F&B menu (with alcoholic beverages), luxury recliner seating features (intimate 25-50 seat cinemas) and waiter service.

(2)Premium Service: This is our "Business Class Dine-in Service" in our Australian and New Zealand cinemas, which typically includes upgraded F&B menu (some with alcoholic beverages) and may include luxury recliner seating features (less intimate 80-seat cinemas), but no waiter service.

(3)Spotlight Service: “Spotlight” is our first dine-in cinema concept in the U.S. at Reading Cinemas in Murrieta, California. Six of our 17 auditoriums at this theater feature waiter service before the movie begins with a full F&B menu, luxury recliner seating, and laser focus on customer service.

(4)Upgraded Food & Beverage Menu: Features an elevated F&B menu including a menu of locally inspired and freshly prepared items that go beyond traditional concessions, which we have worked with former Food Network executives to create. The elevated menu also includes beer, wine and/or spirits at most of our locations.

(5)Liquor Licenses: Licenses are applicable at each cinema location, rather than each theater auditorium. For accounting purposes, we capitalize the cost of successfully purchasing or applying for liquor licenses meeting certain thresholds as an intangible asset due to long-term economic benefits derived on future sales of alcoholic beverages. As of December 31, 2021, we have pending applications for additional liquor licenses for eleven theaters in the U.S. and one in Australia.

United States

Kahala Mall renovation: In late 2019, we commenced the renovation of our Consolidated Theatre at the Kahala Mall in Honolulu. The renovation work was suspended at the end of the first quarter in 2020 as a result of the initial COVID-19 shutdown. This cinema reopened on November 5, 2021, with the opening of the Hawaii International Film Festival. The theatre features recliner seating throughout along with a state-of-the-art kitchen and an elevated F&B menu.

Kapolei renovation: During the fourth quarter of 2021, we commenced the renovation of our Consolidated Theatre in Kapolei, in Western Oahu, Hawaii, which relaunched on March 3, 2022, with eight screens featuring recliner seating and a renovation of the lobby areas.

As of the date of this Report, we have converted 110 of our 238 U.S. auditoriums to luxury recliner seating.

Australia and New Zealand

AU and NZ Renovations: From 2019 to 2021, we improved eight theaters: Harbour Town, Waurn Ponds, Maitland, West Lakes, Rhodes, Chirnside, and Dandenong in Australia, and The Palms in New Zealand.

Plans for 2022 and Our Cinema Business

By the end of 2022, we anticipate adding two new cinemas, totaling 13 screens, to our Australian cinema circuit. South City Square in Brisbane, QLD is an eight-screen complex, which will operate under the Angelika Film Center brand, and Busselton in Western Australia is a five-screen Reading Cinema. Both new cinema complexes are part of broader shopping center developments currently under construction.

Our focus with respect to new cinemas includes state-of-the-art projection and sound, luxury recliner seating, enhanced F&B (typically including alcohol service), and typically at least one major TITAN-type presentation screen. Our focus is on providing best-in-class services and amenities that will differentiate us from in-home and mobile viewing options. We believe that a night at the

movies should be a special and premium experience and, indeed, that it must be able to compete with the variety of options being offered to consumers through other platforms.

During 2022, we will continue to focus on the enhancement of our proprietary online ticketing capabilities and social media interfaces. These are intended to enhance the convenience of our offerings and to promote guest affinity with the experiences and products that we are offering. We will also be focusing on post-COVID-19 technology improvements and contactless experiences.

Expanding our online capabilities, in the third quarter of 2020 and fourth quarter of 2021, respectively, we launched the online ordering of a full F&B menu for our Angelika brand in the U.S. and launched a full F&B menu for our Reading Cinemas in Australia and New Zealand. In December 2020 and December 2021, respectively, we launched our very own streaming service, Angelika Anywhere, in the U.S. and Australia, which is curated for film lovers of independent and foreign film, documentaries, and the more specialized movies from the major studios.

Real Estate

Strategic Acquisitions

Exercise of Option to Acquire Ground Lessee’s interest in Ground Lease and Improvements Constituting the Village East Cinema – On August 28, 2019, we exercised our option to acquire the ground lessee’s interest in the ground lease underlying and the real property assets constituting our Village East Cinema in Manhattan. The purchase price under the option is $5.9 million. The transaction is currently scheduled to close on January 1, 2023. See Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements-- Note 12 – Pension and Other Liabilities and Note 21 – Related Parties for further information.

Strategic Asset Monetizations

United States:

On March 5, 2021, we monetized our approximately 202-acre raw land holdings in Coachella, California for $11.0 million (recognizing a gain on sale after costs to sell of $6.3 million over our $4.4 million net book value). As a 50% member of Shadow View Land and Farming LLC, the entity that owned the property, our Company received 50% of the sale proceeds, being $5.3 million. As raw land, this asset produced no operating income while continuing to generate carrying costs, such as taxes, insurance, and maintenance.

On June 30, 2021, we monetized our Royal George Theatre property in Chicago for $7.1 million. We realized a gain on sale after costs to sell of $5.0 million over our $1.8 million net book value.

Australia:

On June 9, 2021, we monetized our Auburn/Redyard Center (including 114,000 square feet of undeveloped land) located in Auburn, New South Wales for $69.6 million (AU$90.0 million). We recognized a gain on sale after costs to sell of $38.7 million (AU$50.1 million) over our $30.2 million (AU$39.1 million) net book value. As part of the transaction, we entered into a lease with the purchaser to continue to operate the cinema at that location.

New Zealand:

On March 4, 2021, we monetized our two industrial properties adjacent to the Auckland Airport in Manukau/Wiri in New Zealand, representing 70.4 acres, for $56.1 million (NZ $77.2 million). We recognized a gain on sale after costs to sell of $41.0 million (NZ$56.3 million) over our $13.6 million (NZ$18.7 million) net book value. As raw land, this asset produced no operating income while continuing to generate carrying costs, such as property taxes, insurance, and maintenance.

On August 30, 2021, we monetized our cinema building and land in Invercargill for $3.8 million (NZ$5.4 million) to the owner of the adjacent shopping center, which is currently undergoing a major redevelopment. As part of the transaction, we entered into a lease with the purchaser to continue to operate the cinema at that location and integrate the existing cinema within that newly redeveloped shopping center.

Value-creating Opportunities

The implementation of most of our real estate development plans has been delayed due to COVID-19 and the need to conserve capital. However, we continue to believe that our Company’s strong real estate asset base will provide (i) increased financial security through the potential sale of certain non-core real estate assets or (ii) provide collateral for strategic re-financing, in each case to meet liquidity demands. We intend to continue to emphasize the prudent development of our real estate assets.

United States:

44 Union Square Redevelopment (New York, N.Y.) – Initially, during the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City shut down non-essential construction and businesses, including construction work at our site. The shutdown has since been lifted. On August 31, 2020, we received a temporary certificate of occupancy for the core and shell of the building, which has been continuously renewed pending construction of tenant improvements.

On January 27, 2022, we entered into a long-term lease with a national retailer for the lower level, ground floor and second floor of the building. We expect the tenant to take occupancy in 2022, following the completion of certain work for which we are responsible. We have retained CBRE as our leasing agent for the upper floors of the building. Our leasing team continues to pursue potential tenants to fill the remainder of the space, although no assurances can be given that we will be able to lease the space on acceptable terms in the near term.

Sepulveda Office Building (Culver City, C.A.) – On May 27, 2020, we leased on a multi-year basis the entire second floor of our office building in Culver City, California (approximately 12,000 usable square feet) to WWP Beauty (wwpinc.com), a global company with over 35 years of experience providing the cosmetics and personal care industries with a range of packaging needs. On the date of the lease, possession of the space was turned over to WWP Beauty, which was responsible for building out its space. This work was completed in October 2021.

Minetta Lane Theatre (New York, N.Y.) – Prior to COVID-19, our theatre was used by Audible, to present plays featuring a limited cast of one or two characters and special live performance engagements on the Audible streaming service. Due to COVID-19, no shows were presented between March 2020 and October 8, 2021, the date on which public performances resumed. In late 2019, we completed an initial feasibility study for the potential redevelopment of this asset. We will refocus our efforts on this project at a later date as New York City continues to show signs of recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the interim, we renewed our license arrangement with Audible which extends through March 15, 2023, with a one-year option to extend held by Audible.

Cinemas 1,2,3 Redevelopment (New York, N.Y.) – We have received the consent of the 25% minority member of the ownership entity for the redevelopment of the property. We continue to evaluate the potential to redevelop the property as a mixed-use property. As our negotiations with our neighbor for a joint development did not bear fruit and given the closure of our two cinemas in New York City’s Upper East Side, we have determined to continue to operate this location as a cinema for at least the near term. All other redevelopment activity related to this location has been suspended, until we are able to develop a better understanding of the ongoing effects of COVID-19 on our assets and the market.

Australia:

Newmarket Village ETC, (Brisbane, Australia) – We continue to work on the expansion and upgrading of our Newmarket Village ETC. The site includes a 23,000 square foot parcel adjacent to the center, improved with an office building. Over the next few years, we will be evaluating development options for this space. The center is currently 96% leased.

Cannon Park ETC, (Queensland, Australia) – we acquired two adjoining properties in Townsville, Queensland, Australia comprising of approximately 9.4-acres in 2015. The total gross leasable area of the Cannon Park City Center and the Cannon Park Discount Center is 105,000 square feet. Our multiplex cinema is the anchor tenant at the Cannon Park City Center, which we continue to work on and improve. This site is currently 87% leased.

New Zealand:

Courtenay Central Redevelopment (Wellington, New Zealand) – Damage from the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake necessitated demolition of our nine-story parking garage at the site, and unrelated seismic issues caused us to close major portions of the existing cinema and retail structure in early 2019. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, our real estate team had developed a comprehensive plan featuring a variety of uses to complement and build upon the “destination quality” of the Courtenay Central location. Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, our real estate team is continuing to work with our consultants, tenants, potential tenants, and city representatives to advance our redevelopment plans for this property. Given the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, we have no fixed time frame for the commencement of the redevelopment of this property. Relatively recent developments, including the near completion of the future Takina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Center (wcec.co.nz), the capital’s first premium conference and exhibition space, the loosening of certain height and density restrictions, and the lack of comparable building sites, have enhanced the value of the assemblage.

For a complete list of our principal properties, see Part I, Item 2 – Properties under the heading “Investment and Development Property.”

Corporate Matters

Stock Repurchase Program – On March 10, 2020, our Board of Directors authorized a $25.0 million increase to our 2017 stock repurchase program, bringing our total authorized repurchase amount remaining to $26.0 million, and extended the program to March 2, 2022. Through December 31, 2021, we had repurchased 1,792,819 shares of Class A Non-Voting Common Stock at an average price of $13.39 per share (excluding transaction costs). No shares were purchased during the year ended December 31, 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our overall liquidity, our stock repurchase program has and will likely continue to take a lower capital allocation priority for the foreseeable future.

Board Compensation and Stock Options Committee – Refer to Part II, Item 8 – Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements-- Note 15 – Share-Based Compensation and Repurchase Plans for details regarding our Board, Executive and Employee stock-based remuneration programs.

OVERALL RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

In this section, we discuss the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. For a discussion of the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, please refer to Part II, Item 7, “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
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The following table sets forth the overall results of operations for the three years ended December 31, 2021:

CONSOLIDATED RESULTS

2021 vs. 2020

Net income attributable to Reading International, Inc. increased by $97.1 million to $31.9 million. This increase was due to (i) $92.2 million of gains on sales of assets related to the strategic monetization of our Coachella and Manukau landholdings, Royal George property, Auburn/Redyard Center, and Invercargill property in 2021 in response to the liquidity needs resulting primarily from closure of our cinemas due to the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) an improvement by $26.4 million in our cinema segment operation results attributable to lower COVID-19 cases and better film product in 2021, and (iii) the resolution of an insurance claim related to damage done by the Kaikoura earthquake.

The increase was offset by a (i) $10.9 million increase in income tax expense to $5.9 million, due to income tax from the monetization of certain real estate assets, (ii) $4.3 million increase in interest expense to $13.7 million related to the completion of our 44 Union Square development, interest prior to completion having been capitalized, (iii) $3.7 million increase in general and administrative expense to $16.6 million related to the payment of bonuses in 2021 (no senior management officer bonuses were paid related to years 2019 or 2020), (iv) the establishment of a $4.0 million accrual of the settlement of certain wage and hour claims, and (v) the non-recurring legal settlement of $0.8 million entered in favor of our Company in the James Cotter Jr. derivative litigation by the Nevada Supreme Court during the third quarter of 2020.

BUSINESS SEGMENT RESULTS –2021 vs. 2020

Presented below is the comparison of the segment operating income of our two business segments for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively: