As the saying goes, “There’s no business like show business” and Strong Global Entertainment (Tii:SGE), who May 16 was listed on the New York Stock Exchange after its IPO, has a foothold in the large format projection screen industry and is expanding into other areas of the entertainment world.
The company isn’t new and began life more than 80 years ago as Ballantyne, but it has always provided mission-critical products and services to cinema exhibitors and entertainment venues. The company, now based in Charlotte, N.C., with a market cap of about $34 million and net income in the last year of approximately $760,000 manufactures and distributes premium large format projection screens, provides comprehensive managed services, technical support and related products and services primarily to cinema exhibitors, theme parks, schools, and similar venues.
As a manufacturer and distributor of projection screens systems, the company has contractual relationships to supply projection screens to major cinema exhibitors, including IMAX Corporation (Tii:IMAX), AMC Entertainment Holdings (Tii:AMC), and Cinemark Holdings (Tii:CNK), and other cinema operators worldwide.
STRONG/MDI Screen Systems, a subsidiary of Strong Global Entertainment, recently announced that it had signed a 3-year agreement as the preferred worldwide cinema screen supplier for Kinepolis Group. Based in Belgium, Kinepolis is a cinema exhibitor with operations in nine countries across Europe and North America.
“Kinepolis takes great pride in providing a top-quality cinema experience to their patrons, and we are pleased to have been selected to meet their projection screen needs,” said Ray Boegner, president of Strong Entertainment. “As an industry leader, we’re pleased to support Kinepolis as they bring consumers the greatest theatrical viewing experience.”
Nicolas Hamon, P&S compentence center manager for Kinepolis said: “Kinepolis’ mission is to offer the 'ultimate movie experience' to film and entertainment enthusiasts. The screen plays a key role when it comes to thrilling our audiences. When a patron comes to one of our theatres, they want to be mesmerized by the movie going experience and our ability to deliver this depends greatly on the image quality. We have selected Strong/MDI because of their high calibre, consistent products, and their dedication to providing unmatched service.”
In addition to traditional projection screens, the company also manufactures and distributes its Eclipse curvilinear screens, which are specially designed for theme parks, immersive exhibitions, as well as simulation applications.
Strong Global Entertainment also provides maintenance, repair, installation, network support services and other services to cinema operators, primarily in the United States. Many of its customers choose annual managed service arrangements for maintenance and repair services.
The company also provides maintenance services to customers on a time and materials basis. Its field service and network operations center (NOC) staff work hand in hand to monitor and resolve system and other issues for its customers. The NOC, staffed by software engineers and systems technicians, operates 24/7/365 and monitors its customers’ networked equipment remotely, often providing proactive fixes to systems’ issues before they cause failures.
The company recently launched Strong Studios, a wholly owned subsidiary of Strong Technical Services, with the goal to expand its entertainment business to include content creation and production of feature films and series. The launch of Strong Studios is intended to further diversify the company’s revenue streams and increase its markets, while leveraging and expanding its existing relationships in the industry.
