Good day, and welcome to the Cineplex Inc.'s second quarter 2018 analyst call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Pat Marshall, Manager Communications. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Before beginning the call, we would like to remind you that certain statements being made are forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions regarding the information currently available. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause results to vary include, among other things, adverse factors generally encountered in the film exhibition industry, risks associated with national and world events, discovery of undisclosed material liabilities, and general economic conditions. I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Ellis Jacob.
Thank you, Pat. Good morning, welcome to Cineplex Inc.'s 2018 second quarter conference call. We are pleased you could join us this morning. I will begin by providing a top-line overview of our second quarter results and a summary of our key accomplishments during the period. We will look at some of the most anticipated movies to complete the year's film slate, followed by a brief outlook of our businesses for the balance of the year. At the conclusion of my remarks, our Chief Financial Officer, Gord Nelson, will provide an overview of our financials, we will follow with the question-and-answer period. Cineplex reported a record second quarter with increases in revenue across all reportable segments, benefiting from the period's strong film product, media results, and additional locations with direct growth.
Total revenue of CAD 409.1 million increased 12.4%. Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 67.8 million increased 78.3% versus the same period last year. On a last 12-month basis, adjusted EBITDA is CAD 259.7 million, reflecting the revenue growth as well as our continued focus on diversification. Top-performing films for the quarter included Avengers: Infinity War, which had the highest grossing opening weekend ever in North America; Deadpool 2; Incredibles 2, which set the North American box office record for biggest opening weekend for an animated film; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Solo: A Star Wars Story. The second quarter was strong for Cineplex, with box office revenue up 9.7% and attendance up 5% versus the prior period. In addition to this, our ongoing focus on per-patron metrics resulted in all-time quarterly records for BPP of CAD 10.82 and CPP of CAD 6.59.
As I have said before, when there's quality content available, guests will come out to see. The movie business is healthy and thriving, and the second quarter was a great example of this with the blockbuster records I just mentioned. I would like to highlight some of our key accomplishments during the second quarter. Beginning with film entertainment and content, during the quarter, we were pleased to open Cineplex Cinemas East Hills in Calgary, which features seven auditoriums, including an UltraAVX auditorium with D-BOX and the Clubhouse, a unique auditorium specifically designed for families with young children. In July, subsequent to quarter end, we opened two new theaters, Cineplex Cinemas Pickering and VIP, and the first phase of Cineplex Cinema Seton and VIP in Calgary. The second phase of Seton, which includes our VIP Cinemas experience, will open to the public next week.
We also announced plans to add four VIP auditoriums and a licensed lounge to our existing Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton Cinemas this fall, and plan to open a new theater at The Centre Mall in Saskatoon in 2019. Alternative programming included record results from international film programming due to strong-performing Punjabi and Hindi films in select markets across the country. Additional performances included two live shows and multiple encores from the Metropolitan Opera, as well as the classic ballet, Giselle, broadcast live from the Bolshoi Ballet. Within theater food service, in addition to the record CPP mentioned earlier, we launched an expanded partnership with Uber Eats. You can order our famous popcorn and other popular concession items bundled with digital movie rentals right to your door.
The service is available through 66 Cineplex theaters in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec, with plans to expand the offering to 25 additional locations in the coming months. The Cineplex Store remains a strategic area of focus for us. During the second quarter, registered users of the store increased by 40%, and we recorded an 88% increase in device activations compared to the prior year period. We continue to see this area of the business evolve and grow, and it has become one of many initiatives that differentiate Cineplex from other film exhibitors worldwide. Adoption of our online offerings, including ticket purchases, continues to grow. During the quarter, 32.3% of total admissions were purchased online or via mobile devices. Moving to media. Our media business reported a record second quarter. Cinema media revenues increased 12.3%, primarily due to an increase in showtime advertising.
Digital place-based media revenue increased 9.9% due to an expanded client base, which contributed to increased project installation revenue and advertising revenue. The increased project installation revenue was in part due to our partnership with AT&T and 7-Eleven to design, develop, and implement various digital menu board solutions supporting 7-Eleven's U.S. convenience store hot food program. To date, CDM has deployed their solutions in 240 stores across the U.S. We continue to pursue opportunities around the globe to expand our digital media footprint with some of the world's top brands. Moving on to amusement, gaming, and leisure. During the quarter, we opened our fifth location of The Rec Room in London, Ontario, and have been pleased with its performance to date. The five locations reported second-quarter revenue of CAD 15.7 million and a store-level margin of 13%.
There's an element of seasonality in this business. Weather can have an impact on results. During the second quarter, Alberta had an unseasonably warm May, which negatively impacted the results in this market, in particular Edmonton, where we have two locations. If we exclude the Edmonton locations, the store-level margin of the remaining locations would have been 22%. We also announced plans to open a new Playdium location in Brampton, Ontario by converting our existing Cineplex Odeon Orion Gate Cinema. The redesigned space will include approximately two-thirds games and attractions and one-third fresh food and beverage options targeting teens, young adults, and families. Both this location and our previously announced Playdium Whitby location are scheduled to open in 2019. We anticipate having a total of nine locations of The Rec Room and two Playdiums in operation by the end of 2019.
Subsequent to the quarter end, we announced an expansion agreement with The VOID that will provide Cineplex with the exclusive rights to operate the VR experience in Canada. With our first location already successfully operating at The Rec Room in Toronto, the plan is to open additional VOID experience centers over the coming years, both inside and outside of Cineplex-operated properties. The next location is set to open at The Rec Room West Edmonton Mall next week. Speaking of P1AG, in June, we announced an exclusive agreement with Cinemark to install, operate, and service amusement gaming equipment in over 270 Cinemark locations across the U.S.
As part of the agreement, P1AG will also pilot three premium gaming locations featuring the latest interactive amusement and redemption games with a variety of great prizes. The expanded partnership leverages P1AG's national infrastructure and industry experience as one of North America's leading providers of amusement solutions. In esports, WorldGaming announced its Rocket League Canadian Championship tournament. The top eight teams from the regional finals will compete in Toronto at our Scotiabank Theatre later this month. Additionally, WorldGaming was named the official tournament operator for the U.S. and Canadian qualifiers of the 2018 World Electronic Sports Games in partnership with Alisports. These Olympic-style games will last over seven months and involve more than 65,000 players from over 190 countries competing for a CAD 5.5 million prize pool. WorldGaming will host the national events via online qualifiers and live finals for both the U.S. and Canada.
Following this, winners from each country will meet in China to attend the grand finals. Our Scene program continues to grow as we reach 9.2 million members by the end of the quarter. We have gained tremendous insights into our customers and their behaviors with over 10 years of data. We continue to focus on leveraging this data through marketing automation to drive customer behavior, as well as accelerating our adoption on artificial intelligence and machine learning for more robust consumer insights. Aside from our revenue initiatives, we continue to be diligent and focused on our costs. We are well on our way to achieving the CAD 25 million in annualized cost reductions that we had previously communicated by the end of this year. Let's take a look at some of the films in store for the balance of the year.
The third quarter got off to a strong start with movies like Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hotel Transylvania 3, and Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Opening next weekend, we have the highly anticipated film Crazy Rich Asians, a movie based on the best-selling book. The Nun, an offshoot of The Conjuring series, opens on September 7th, and on September 28th, the animated comedy Smallfoot, starring the voice of Zendaya and Channing Tatum, hits theaters. We have a number of films opening on October 5th, including Venom, starring Tom Hardy as the Marvel supervillain, and A Star Is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, which has already generated strong Oscar buzz. Next up is Jamie Lee Curtis's return to the big screen in the 11th installment of the Halloween franchise, which opens on October 19th.
Moving into November, we have Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddie Mercury Queen story, opening November 2nd, and the animated Dr. Seuss The Grinch starring Benedict Cumberbatch, opens on November 9th. Also on November 9th, we have The Girl in the Spider's Web, the sequel to the popular crime thriller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. On November 16th, the Wizarding World franchise returns to theaters with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet opens on November 23rd, and on December 14th, we have both Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an animated Spider-Man movie, and Mortal Engines, the post-apocalyptic adventure film based on the novel. Right in time for the holidays, the highly anticipated Mary Poppins Returns opens on December 19th with a star-studded cast, including Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, and Dick Van Dyke.
We close out the year with four great films, all opening on December 21st, including the next film in the DC Extended Universe, Aquaman, the new Transformers film, Bumblebee, the James Cameron film, Alita: Battle Angel, and Holmes & Watson, which stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. As you can see, the film slate looks strong for the remainder of the year, with a lineup of films that includes something for everyone. We are also very encouraged by what is to come in 2019. Overall, Cineplex experienced a strong second quarter and accomplished a great deal. We continue to pursue our diversification strategy, leveraging synergies within the Cineplex ecosystem and identifying new opportunities for revenue growth. As we move into 2018 and look ahead to 2019, we remain confident in our approach.
With a strong film slate on new theater openings, added VIP cinema locations, and continued growth of The Rec Room, Cineplex Digital Media, and Player One Amusement Group, we believe we are well-positioned for long-term success by investing in the future. With that, I will turn the call over to Gord.
Thanks, Ellis. I am pleased to present the second quarter financial results for Cineplex Inc. For your further reference, our financial statements and MD&A have been filed on SEDAR this morning and are also available on our investor relations website at cineplex.com. We continue to execute our diversification strategy. For the second quarter, total revenue increased 12.4% to CAD 409.1 million, a second-quarter record with increases across all reportable segments contributing to the growth. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 78.3% to a second-quarter record CAD 67.8 million, primarily a result of this growth. Cineplex's second-quarter box office revenue increased 9.7% to CAD 187.2 million, compared to CAD 170.7 million in the prior year. This was a result of the impact of a 5% increase in attendance, coupled with a BPP increase of 4.4%, which established an all-time quarterly record of CAD 10.82, up from CAD 10.36 in 2017. Food service revenue increased 20.6% to CAD 122.3 million.
Included in food service revenue is CAD 8.3 million from The Rec Room. Excluding revenue from The Rec Room, theater food service revenue increased by 14.6% from the prior year due to the previously mentioned increase in attendance, combined with a 9.3% increase to concession revenue per patron to an all-time quarterly record of CAD 6.59. The CPP growth was attributed in part to increased basket size and expanded food offerings, including those available at Cineplex's VIP cinemas, Outtakes, and additional licensed locations. Total media revenue increased CAD 4.2 million, or 11.5%, to CAD 40.8 million for the quarter. Cinema media, which is primarily theater-based, increased 12.3% due to higher cinema advertising, with strong results from the automotive sector and a shift in spending this quarter due to the stronger film slate. Digital place-based media revenue increased 9.9% compared to the prior year, primarily due to higher project installation revenue related to 7-Eleven.
During the quarter, we increased our location count by 2.3%, or 308 new locations, to a total of 13,461 locations. Amusement revenue increased CAD 2.9 million or 6.3% due to strong revenue growth from The Rec Room, which contributed CAD 5.4 million of amusement gaming and other revenue. This was offset by a decrease in amusement gaming revenue from P1AG due in part to a decline in children's attendance mix in the exhibition sector, the impact of foreign exchange rates on U.S. source revenue, and a non-recurring item in the prior year. There were significantly fewer family-friendly films in Q2 2008 versus Q1 2017, and using Cineplex as a proxy, although our overall attendance was up 5%, our children's attendance category was down 17.9%. With respect to The Rec Room, we opened the fifth location at CF Masonville Place in London, Ontario during the quarter.
Revenue grew CAD 12 million over the prior year, with four locations open for the full quarter and the fifth for part of the quarter, as compared to one in the prior year. Margins were down as compared to the first quarter due to unseasonably warm weather during May in Alberta. Ellis provided some more color earlier on this impact. Turning briefly to our key expense line items. Film cost for the quarter came in at 54.7% of box office revenue, as compared to 53.6% reported in the prior year, reflecting the impact of the strong titles in the second quarter of this year. Cost of food service for Q2 2018, excluding CAD 2.3 million incurred at The Rec Room, was 20% as compared to 22.7% in the prior year period, and cost of food service at The Rec Room was 27.1%, in line with expectations.
Other costs of CAD 213.8 million increased CAD 2.3 million, or 1.1%. Other costs include theater occupancy expenses, other operating expenses, and general and administrative expenses. Theater occupancy expenses were CAD 52.8 million for the quarter versus a prior year actual of CAD 52.6 million. Other operating expenses were CAD 143.2 million for the quarter versus a prior year actual of CAD 138.9 million, an increase of CAD 4.3 million. Increases included CAD 8.6 million related to additional Rec Room locations and CAD 2.3 million in same-store theater payroll due to increased business volumes and minimum wage changes in excess of labor efficiencies. These increases were offset by the initial impact of our business unit-level cost reduction program and business interruption proceeds of CAD 3.7 million as a result of the fire at Cineplex Cinemas Empress Walk, reported as a credit to other costs.
With respect to the CAD 2.3 million theater payroll increase, I would note that our focus on labor hour efficiencies resulted in a CAD 2.1 million efficiency reduction impact. This was offset by a CAD 3.2 million wage rate increase impact, which includes the 21% increase in minimum wage in Ontario and a CAD 1.2 million volume impact based on the higher attendance levels. G&A expenses were CAD 17.8 million for the quarter, which was CAD 2.1 million lower than the prior year, due to a CAD 3.6 million reduction in share-based compensation expenses, mainly due to Cineplex's lower share price and a CAD 1.3 million reduction in G&A expenses, primarily a result of our cost reduction program. These savings were partially offset by restructuring costs in the amount of CAD 2.8 million related to this program.
As we had said earlier, we expect that the annualized impact of the business unit and G&A cost reduction program to be approximately CAD 25 million. This will ramp up over the remainder of the year. Business unit-level cost reductions will be reflected in the other operating expenses as detailed in our MD&A. Net CapEx for the second quarter was CAD 23.1 million as compared to CAD 52.2 million in the prior year. We continue to estimate that our net CapEx for 2018 will be approximately CAD 125 million and CAD 150 million for 2019, reflecting in part the CapEx for our anticipated Topgolf location in 2019. As Ellis mentioned earlier, we have steadfastly focused on creating a diversified entertainment and media company for the future. We are prepared to prudently use both our operating cash flow and our credit facilities to invest in these new businesses.
We continue to remain comfortable with where Cineplex Inc. is positioned today. We are in the early execution phase of a number of our diversification initiatives. Our balance sheet allows us to continue to invest in these growth initiatives to deliver future value for our shareholders. That concludes our remarks for this morning. We'd now like to turn the call over to the conference operator.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, that is star one at this time. We'll go first to Tim Casey with BMO.
Thanks. Good morning. Three from me. Gord, could you talk about the concession margins? What drove that up so nicely in quarter-to-quarter there from almost 300 basis points there is, and is that sustainable back half of the year? Two, just a clarification on the fire insurance of CAD 3.7. I'm assuming that's a one-off, there's no more carry-through in subsequent quarters. Thirdly, on Cineplex Media, a nice gain there. Could you talk a little bit about how dynamic advertiser demand is? I guess where I'm going is if the movie slate is unexpectedly better or worse, do you see a quick demand change by advertisers, or is the inventory pre-bought and so you kind of have a feel for it going into the quarter? If you could just flesh out that for a bit, that'd be helpful. Thanks.
Sure. Thanks, Tim Casey. On your first two questions on the concession margin, you've noticed the last three quarters, we've have lifts anywhere between 6%-9% on CPP. A component of that relates to some pricing changes that have been reflected in both late 2017 and into 2018, as well as some of the adjustments to the Scene program where cash discounts were replaced with point rewards. In addition, we see continued basket size increases lifting the CPP. Those first two elements that I mentioned, with them, you don't get necessarily the corresponding increase in the cost of food items. That is, in essence, what is helping our margin side of things. Costs are relatively contained, and we've got these increases from the CPP side. On the business interruption question, the Scene location has now opened in July.
The business interruption claim that we made would've been from the anticipated date of opening and from the fire date until the actual opening date. As I mentioned, it is in July, there could be a small additional amount in the third quarter, but I would say substantially all of the estimated interruption claim amounts have been reflected in the second quarter results.
Tim, just to follow up on that, we also have, with our restructuring costs, a one-time charge in our numbers. Yes, there are costs from extraordinary items which kind of offset each other.
For on the media question then, Tim, just in terms of anticipation. As we digitize, obviously there can be speed of execution based on estimated performance of films, but usually there's a production period where the campaigns are being developed in advance to associate themselves with certain films. I would say you probably don't see as much as you would expect in terms of people being a lot of reaction because of the pre-planning process of the campaigns. We do have the ability to move some of it, particularly in the digital pre-show, send some campaigns in if there's highly anticipated product. I would say there is a lot of pre-planning on these campaigns, and not as much kind of movement at last minute.
I'm not sure whether your next question is on how if films don't perform, how that impacts us, and as we've mentioned before, we typically don't sell our cinema advertising on a CPM model basis. Issues that you may see in the NCM results, such as make good type items, aren't as prevalent in our business model.
Thanks for that. Just to follow up, Gord, do you think an 80% margin on concessions is sustainable, or is it going to be somewhere between 77% and 80% on a go-forward?
Yeah, no, I would say, looking in the near term, I would say that 80% margin is our sustainable level.
Thank you.
Thanks, Tim.
We'll go next to Derek Lessard with TD Securities.
Thanks, and good morning, everybody. You've talked about your initiatives over the next five years, accounting for about two-thirds of your profits. I was just wondering if there's any change to that timeline, whether or not you think you can accelerate it, maybe, in that timeline specifically, are you only talking about the initiatives you've announced, or should we assume that there's other opportunities not discussed?
It's a great question. For us, it's all about focusing on making smart decisions as we move forward and picking the right locations as we grow both The Rec Room, Topgolf, and some of the other initiatives that we are focused on. As we see strong results and opportunities, we are going to basically look at those opportunities within the CapEx that we've talked about, making sure that we are always diligent as to our leverage ratio and where Cineplex stands from a balance sheet perspective. Really in response to your question is if we see opportunities for growth, we are basically going to look at moving forward with them.
There's basically things like VR, which we announced with The VOID. We look at opportunities in that area also as it is something that we think is important for the future growth of the business.
Okay. Maybe just switching gears to the digital media, is the 7-Eleven a new contract that you just announced? Just wondering how big of a rollout this would be.
Yes, Derek. Look, as we've provided commentary over the past number of calls is we actively pilot with customers, which can ultimately lead to contracts amongst a full deployment scenario. I would characterize 7-Eleven one as a
That we're happy to name them today as one that we're continuing to grow with them. I think, as we mentioned in our results today, that we showed some significant growth in the first quarter due to that relationship. I wouldn't characterize it necessarily as a contracted relationship at this point.
Okay. Maybe just one final one for me before I re-queue. Just wondering, Gord, maybe if you could quantify the higher excuse me, operating cost for London Rec Room and maybe just lay out the overhead cost for the amusement and leisure segment, how should we be looking at those costs?
Sorry, the London, what was the second part of that question?
Yeah. The overhead cost for the amusement and leisure segment.
Yeah. In the MD&A, which I think is maybe where you're referring to, is we break out the store-level margins for The Rec Room locations. We break out the P1AG operating results. There's a component of overhead, obviously, for the amusement and leisure sector, which includes our LBE initiatives, includes our amusement solution initiatives, and includes our WorldGaming initiatives. There is a component of overhead in that amount. In the second quarter itself, with the opening of the London location, you tend to see pre-opening costs of approximately CAD 1 million, which also in those overhead and pre-opening numbers.
Okay. Thanks for that.
We'll go next to Kenric Tyghe with Raymond James.
Thank you, good morning. I wonder if we could just sort of speak to or revisit the Canadian industry performance versus the U.S. and what appears to be a fairly persistent tracking error. I know in the past you've spoken to sort of relative appeal of the mix, perhaps fewer titles released north of the border versus south or similar. As strong as the performance was in quarter, that gap was pretty noticeable. Could you perhaps just sort of walk us through some of that dynamic and how we should think about its evolution?
Yes, certainly, Henrik. This quarter it looked like in Canada we were up close to 10%, and in the U.S. they were up over 24%. Looking at the different components, last year in Canada, we had in Quebec a movie called "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" which did a significant amount of business. This year, the Quebec feature we have, "La Bolduc," did less than half of the business that that particular film did. We also had movies that opened in the U.S. that did not penetrate Canada. A movie like "Overboard" which did close to $50 million in the U.S. and didn't have much of an impact in Canada. The other thing is with the U.S., we've seen the MovieP ass, and we feel from looking at the numbers in the U.S., that that's had an impact.
The range I've seen publicly from anywhere from 4% to 8% as far as the impact on the difference between us and them. That will change over time as the different proposals are out there. We also saw the U.S. premium large formats. We did a lot more before they had started, and now they are catching up. That's resulted in them doing a higher box office than us because they followed our focus in that particular area. Those are all the different components I would say add up to where we are today. There are certain movies, when I look at it for the quarter to date in the third quarter, we are basically slightly ahead of the U.S. Things change depending on one or two movies that either under or over-perform in Canada versus the U.S.
That's great color. Thanks very much, Ellis. Could we just switch quickly to The Rec Room? I know you called out some of the weather-related challenges in Edmonton, where previously you'd also highlighted the dynamic of a mall-based location. Could you sort of speak to us outside of weather how the Edmonton business is evolving with The Rec Room?
We continue to do well, and it's a little tougher market than the other ones because we've got two locations in the market compared to our other markets within the rest of the country. As we open these locations, there's great learning, and we've been able to get synergies from what we've done on an overall basis. We still have some softness in the West Edmonton Mall location, and we are opening our The VOID there next week, and we will continue to work on improving those locations moving forward. We are very pleased with the performances of the other locations and also, Masonville without the university kids are still doing quite well from a startup perspective.
Great. Thank you. Just a final one from me. Gord, with respect to your 2019 CapEx commentary, if Topgolf were to be a big unexpected surprise or win, is there some flex in that CapEx number, or is it simply a constraint from a real estate point of view that regardless of how well it does or doesn't do 2019 would just be a single Topgolf planned location or launch?
I would say at this time, look, we're going to try and just get that first one up out of the box and then we'll move on from there. I would say, yeah, it would be extremely unlikely to have a second Topgolf location in that 2019 CapEx number.
We will continue to pursue other locations. Again, I think in 2019, like Gord says, we will probably have one open.
Great. Thanks very much. I'll leave it there. Congrats.
Thanks.
We'll go next to Jeff Fan with Scotiabank.
Thanks. Good morning. Got a few here. Maybe to start off on digital media, it looks like the installation ramped up a bit in the second quarter. Do you expect that to continue into the second half and therefore the revenue trajectory to continue that acceleration? On P1AG, it looks like the revenue there was a little bit soft, I think, in the second quarter in general, down mid-single digit. Wondering if you can talk about that business in general and what caused that softness and the Cinemark deal, perhaps talk about when that can kick in and how that would impact that trend. Just on The Rec Room, understanding that there is this seasonality or weather impact, as you were, I guess, projecting the return of this business, I'm wondering how that factored into your 25% margin and cash return on that business.
How much did the seasonality factor in? Can we still expect that on a full-year basis, even with the seasonality, that you'll get those types of returns? Thanks.
Thanks, Jeff. On the first question on CDM and the revenue trajectory, we're obviously pleased with the 10% growth in the second quarter. We highlighted that we're rolling out with 7-Eleven and see continued opportunity there. We're comfortable that yes, you're going to continue to see those growth levels over the foreseeable future. On P1AG, let me provide a little bit of additional color on the results. I tried to highlight in my prepared comments the disconnect between the attendance growth, yet the decline in children's attendance. Obviously, we have the data for our own circuit in Canada, but when you look at the top 15 films as an example, in 2018, there's really only one film which I would call family-friendly versus about seven in the prior year. Our children's attendance in our circuit was down almost 18%.
Obviously, they're some of the key gamers from an amusement solutions perspective. That definitely had an impact on our results, and you see that Cineplex's results from amusement gaming were down about 5% too. In the U.S., about a quarter of our revenue comes from the exhibition sector. I would say that you would assume similar level of declines in children's attendance, so the impact in that sector. We had a foreign exchange impact, which was about 2%, just slightly over 2% of the variance versus the prior year. We had a one-time adjustment as related to some of the acquisitions, a revenue-related item in the prior year results that also impacted the year-over-year change by about 2%. Decline in children's attendance in the exhibition side of the business, foreign exchange, and a non-recurring item in the prior year results.
With respect to Cinemark, we were pleased to announce that relationship during the second quarter. I want to make one comment. When we built that strategy of creating the national footprint in the U.S., part of the reason for that was we believe that there's an ability to take share away from competitors in a more regionalized business model that existed in the U.S. I think this is a good example of that, and customers looking to our expertise, obviously, delivering results in the exhibition space. Just early days on the Cinemark rollout, so we'll continue to see some of that, and then we're excited about that and potentially other opportunities in the future.
Jeff, on your question on The Rec Room, as far as the Edmonton weather impact, I think what we should have focused on sooner was the better cost control as we saw the changing dynamic there. I don't think it's something that will continue to impact us on an annual basis.
Okay, thanks guys.
We'll go next to Adam Shine with National Bank Financial.
Thanks a lot. Good morning. Ellis, you highlighted we're 10 years into the Scene program. The only data we really tend to get is the number of members and 100K added basically every quarter. Is there any additional color you can share today or maybe in future just in regards to how indeed incentives are being driven, degree of frequency of a Scene member versus maybe non-Scene members, and anything else that might shed a bit more color in terms of the productivity you're getting out of the program?
Adam, we have a significant amount of information and stratifications of the data. We are now looking at artificial intelligence to better use the data to control costs and generate higher revenue. We've got the benefit of now having it introduced into The Rec Room, and it will eventually be part of our other opportunities in amusement and leisure. Our focus is really about owning your entertainment time and entertainment dollar as we move forward. It's not just about movies, it's about all your experiences, including your experiences online. We could spend another hour talking about the data just to let you know, we feel that this is one asset that provides us with a huge advantage in being able to communicate with our guests and give them the best experience possible under all of those circumstances.
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
We know a significant amount of information. We have to be careful because we don't want to also overuse the information to turn the guests away. It can provide us with great opportunities to continue to grow in different areas of the business. Sorry, you were going to-
I was just going to interject in terms of, do you think there's ever a time where you're prepared to give, let's say, miles issuance and redemption, or that's really something that remains proprietary, and you don't want to give it out competitively?
I think it's something like the program was designed to increase the incidence of movie uptake and also now broadened it to all of the entertainment venues that we offer. I think the redemption versus earn, it could be used in so many different areas, including our concession stands, including our box office, and also with the Cara food network that you can earn and redeem points.
Okay. Maybe one for Gord, just on a follow-up to Jeff's question regarding Cinemark. I think your comment to him was basically, stay tuned for a bit of a ramp there. Not necessarily something significant in terms of a material bump to necessarily revenues, let alone profitability, heading into the back half of the year, or maybe it does indeed ramp up into Q4 plus.
Yeah, look, it's fully deployed now. You're going to see the impact, but again, as I mentioned, the exhibition sector as a percentage of our total U.S. business is about 25%.
Yeah.
It will have an impact. Obviously, it will have an impact in the exhibition sector, but it's still only a quarter of the overall business.
Understood. Thanks a lot.
Thanks.
We'll go next to Rob Goff with Echelon.
Thank you very much, good morning.
Good morning.
Two questions. Thanks. Two questions, if I might. The first one would be just to perhaps give us some insights into the experience you've had, the incremental contributions related to recliners, and your thoughts on pushing them further out across your platform. The second, perhaps broader question would be that of esports, your thoughts there on monetization and your partnership with Alisports.
On the recliner side of things, we've got approximately 10% of our circuit now with recliners. We've seen some good returns, both at the box office and also increased CPP in these locations. All of our new locations that we are opening will have recliners. We've got, as we mentioned, Seton, Pickering, and East Hills that have opened. Pickering and Seton that have opened in the last couple of months, and they're all theaters with recliners. We're looking at other opportunities where we see a benefit in introducing them, but we have to be careful because it's also a capacity utilization issue that we need to focus on in certain of the locations before we convert them.
On the esports question, Rob, I know you're very well-versed in the space. The primary revenue source in the esports space is always advertising and sponsorship. The relationship now with Alisports to host the World Electronic Sports Games gives us two premier events that are now global events. Our focus has primarily been Canadian-based events. Those online events culminating in live events, which will take place in California and Toronto, are exciting opportunities for us. We still see non-endemic brands on the tipping point, where they're looking to associate with the esports audience, and should be coming online fairly soon in the broader esports spectrum. Having this event, this premier event, is just another element in enhancing the overall experience for the gamers on our WorldGaming platform. We're excited about that opportunity.
Very good. Thank you, and congrats.
Thank you.
We'll go next to Drew McReynolds with RBC.
Yeah, thanks very much. Good morning. A couple from me. Just first, maybe on Topgolf. I think last quarter, Ellis, you just talked about potential announcement with respect to the first location. Just wondering, how confident you are that you're still on track for a 2019 launch?
Yes, Drew, we are very close to an announcement in the greater GTA area. We should be hearing about that shortly. We are focusing to open our first location by the end of 2019.
Okay. Now, great. Gord, I may have missed this earlier. With respect to that CAD 25 million in targeted cost savings, what have you achieved, I guess, in the quarter, kind of exiting the quarter?
Yeah. Look, I think we're pleased with the results to date. I typically said we would ramp up to the CAD 25 million on an annualized basis at the end of the year. If you looked specifically at our results, then particularly in the MD&A, where we identify the G&A and the other operating expense line items, I think, and you would see that G&A was down about CAD 1.2 million year-over-year, and some of the other operating expenses that we've identified were down about CAD 2.8 million. Between those two, you're at about CAD 4 million in the quarter, which if you annualize, is CAD 16 million in annualized basis. I initially said when we announced the program, we would kind of ramp up a third, a third, a third to achieve the CAD 25 million.
I think we're a little bit ahead of the game right now, and we're still confident on reaching that number at the end of the year.
Okay, that's very helpful. Two others. First, just on the BPP growth, a little stronger certainly than what I was looking for, and I'm looking at your premium mix, so clearly driven by core price increases. Wondering if you could just shed some light on kind of that strategy going forward, just what kind of pricing power you think still exists in your ability to raise core prices. Then secondly, on the virtual reality initiatives, obviously early days, but wondering, I guess, over the medium term, what kind of CapEx intensity those venues or those offerings, what kind of CapEx requirements would they require? Thank you.
Drew, I'll take your first question on BPP and the part of the question. The one thing to also note is, as I provide a lot of commentary about kids' attendance, how it kind of impacted the amusement solutions business, that 18% decline in children's attendance. Converse is that it helps on a BPP perspective because fewer kids which come in at a lower ticket price. You've got the premium initiatives, a shift in mix away from child to the higher-priced tickets. That also helped contributed to the overall BPP increase, which sounds like it was a little higher than you were expecting. Then on pricing, I'll let Ellis make a comment on kind of future prospects.
Yeah. On pricing, we have been really very focused on using efficiency and effectiveness to drive attendance. When I look at pricing around the world, even specifically in the U.S. compared to what we are charging, I think there's opportunity. Again, we view that as the last lever to drive our bottom line because it's important to get more people into the box and have those opportunities. We continue to look at pricing from an overall perspective.
On VR, typically, when we bucket out the categories of CapEx going forward, we talk about a premium offering CapEx of about CAD 10 million a year, which could include VR concepts in that amount. When we talk about The Rec Room, the cost of a The Rec Room, typically, whatever the VR installation is, it would be included in kind of that new build cost of a The Rec Room. It would be bucketed within that kind of CAD 10 million of premium and other initiatives.
Okay, that's all very helpful. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Drew.
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one at this time. It appears there are no further questions in queue. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Ellis Jacob for any additional or closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning. We hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and look forward to speaking with you again during our third quarter conference call in November. Have a great weekend.
That concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.