European cinema technologies specialist sees earnings jump year-on-year and is now eyeing the Chinese market.

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Ymagis Group, the European specialist in digital technologies and exhibitor services for the cinema industry, has reported a 13% rise in revenues in the year 2016.

Revenues totalled €178.2m for the year, including €52.3m in the fourth quarter.

The most significant growth was registered in the company’s content services division, which pulled in €47.7m in 2016, a 94.2% rise in comparison with the previous year.

Those earnings were driven by the operations of the business under the Eclair banner, which covers post-production, theatrical distribution services, digital distribution services, versioning and accessibility, restoration, and preservation of film content.

While the bulk of that year-on-year revenue increase is accounted for by the new business brought in as a result of Ymagis completing its acquisition of Eclair Group in July 2015, earnings in Q4 2016 were notably up 35.4% in comparison with the same period in 2015.

The company’s exhibitor services division, which is handled by the CinemaNext side of the business and includes cinema equipment sales and installation as well as customer support, grew 3% to €61.2m in 2016.

Virtual Print Fee (VPF) revenues were down 5.8% for the year.

Looking to the future, the company has recently signed agreements to provide services in Italy, Spain, Germany, Turkey and Eastern Europe, and it also has an eye on the Chinese market, with talks ongoing with China Film Equipment Corporation (CFEC) about a potential deal.

In an interview with Screen last year, Ymagis CEO Jean Mizrahi discussed dividing the business into two distinct brands (Eclair and CinemaNext) as well as casting his eye over the future of the European cinema market.

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