Cathay Cineplexes to shut after talks with creditors fall through

Cathay Cineplexes, a cinema operator, will enter into voluntary liquidation, its parent company mm2 Asia announced on Monday, Sep. 1.

No agreement with creditors

In a Singapore Exchange (SGX) company filing, mm2 Asia's CEO Melvin Ang shared that Cathay Cineplexes had attempted to negotiate amicable resolutions with various creditors, but was "unable to arrive at a mutually agreeable restructuring outcomes of its payment obligations".

Claimants listed in the filing include DBS Trustee Limited, Century Square, HSBC Institutional Trust Services and Lendlease Retail Investments.

After considering Cathay Cineplexes' financial position and the "absence of restructuring outcomes", the cinema's board of directors decided that it was "no longer feasible" for it to continue operating.

Its remaining four outlets are at Causeway Point, Downtown East, Century Square and Clementi 321.

Losses increased

On Aug. 28, mm2 Asia saw its group net loss surge to S$122.4 million in the 2025 fiscal year, according to financial results.

This marked a substantial increase from its S$1.9 million loss the year before.

Total revenue fell to S$165.1 million in 2025 for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31.

This was a 13.9 per cent year-on-year fall from its revenue of S$191.8 million in 2024.

The fall in revenue occurred even though there was an increase in revenue in the second half of 2025.

mm2 Asia experienced a net loss of S$118.4 million in the second half of 2025, an almost 10-fold increase compared with the S$12.8 million loss in the same period the previous year.

The share of losses of associated companies for the full 2025 fiscal year was S$82.8 million, a sharp increase from S$11.9 million in 2024.

"The second half of FY2025 was exceptionally challenging, especially with the legal and financial issues from our cinema business," said mm2 Asia executive chairman Melvin Ang in the Aug. 28 filing.

"We recognise our cinema landlords as valued partners in our business ecosystem. However, the road to recovery has been longer than anyone expected (and) we can understand their position."

Timeline

Founded in 1939, Cathay Cineplexes started out as Cathay Cinema and was housed in The Cathay along 2 Handy Road, near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.

It was Singapore's first air-conditioned cinema.

In 2022, Cathay Cineplex shut the outlet following a "business decision", mm2 Asia's then-CEO Chang Long Jong said.

Between Jun. 30, 2023 to Jun 30, 2024, it closed its three other branches in Cineleisure, Parkway Parade and AMK Hub.

Earlier in February, the cinema chain launched a "Save our screens" campaign selling S$100 voucher sets comprising 10 movie tickets and 10 sets of popcorn and drink combos.

It closed its West Mall outlet that same month, while its Jem outlet closed a month later in March after its lease was terminated by the landlord due to S$4.3 million in unpaid rental arrears.

On Jul. 2, 2025, mm2 Asia announced that it received a statutory demand of about S$3.4 million by the landlord of its Jem outlet.

On Jul. 16, the company announced that it had received more demand letters for payment totalling S$3.3 million by the landlords of its Century Square and Causeway Point outlets.

mm2 Asia also sought to postpone the deadline for paying S$54 million bond by six years, from December 2025 to December 2031.

On Jul. 29, it again received payment demand related to its Jem and Downtown East outlet.

In response to queries from SGX, mm2 Asia wrote on Aug. 4 that the cinema chain was able to keep going despite the financial woes.

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