Belgian venture capital firm GIMV has sold its entire 10% stake in exhibition company Kinepolis Group, realising capital gains of Euros 5.5m, according to the company.

GIMV sold its 686,860 shares for an estimated Euros 13m after Kinepolis posted results showing a consolidated net profit of Euros 2.7m for 2003 - despite a difficult year for the exhibitor. Shares were bought by a range of institutional investors in Belgium and abroad, according to GIMV's website.

While Kinepolis' total admissions across its international estate fell by 11.4% to 24.2 million for 2003, cost-cutting measures, price increases and the sale of some of its cinemas, as well as a 23.8% reduction in its debts meant that the group's performance exceeded expectations for 2003.