As part of its expansion strategy, European cinema operator UGC Cinemas has announced a number of initiatives including the acquisition of the Warner Village Cinema in Nottingham as well as plans to invest £20m in its existing UGC Cinema in Ealing, West London.

UGC plans to add an additional two screens to the existing 12-screen Nottingham multiplex and the company says it will retain all the current management and staff.

The deal was negotiated on behalf of Village Theatres by John Sullivan of leisure property consultants OzSeeker and marks the closing stages of Village's complete exit from the UK exhibition sector. Industry sources predict that the remaining four active sites in Village's UK estate will also soon be sold - but to different operators.

Managing director of UGC Cinemas (UK & Ireland) Margaret Taylor said: "The acquisition of Nottingham is a reflection of UGC's commitment to city centre sites and comes at an exciting time, as we are days away from unveiling extensive plans to transform our Ealing site in West London into a 17-screen state of the art cinema with 3000 seats."

UGC Cinemas is also in the second phase of the re-development of its Dublin cinema, which is undergoing a Euros 13m transformation to become the largest cinema in Ireland with 17 screens, due to be fully opened at the end of November.

Other developments for UGC include the £500,000 refurbishment of its multiplex in Brighton and the £1.3m refurbishment of London's Shaftesbury Avenue cinema.