Theresurrected Kinowelt Group trebled its year-on-year annual profits to $4.3m (Euros3.6m) on revenues of $95.1m (Euros 78.5m), up 41%

TheLeipzig-based group says the "extraordinarily high" growth in overallturnover was largely thanks to the success of the theatrical division with suchreleases as Mr & Mrs. Smith (3.5m admissions) and TheMarch Of The Penguins (1.4m). Turnover in this divisionincreased more than sixfold from 2004's $3.3m (Euros 2.7m) to $22.3m (Euros18.4m) last year.

Kinowelt'shome entertainment division remained the group's cash cow with turnover in thissegment climbing by 19.1% to $64.1m (Euros 52.9m) generated from the sale ofnew films and library titles on DVD.

"For2006, the management of Kinowelt is reckoning with a growth in turnover to$115m (Euros 95m), up 21%," managing director Bertil le Claire announced.

"Asignificant part of this turnover will again come from the home entertainmentsegment. This is due, firstly, to our strong DVD catalogue with now almost1,000 active titles. Secondly, we will release 30 new titles on DVD each monththis year."

The theatrical division is also set to be a majorsource of revenue for the Group in 2006 with such attractive releases as GoodNight, And Good Luck, Big Momma's House 2, Super Ex-Girlfriend andJust My Luck planned for the coming months.