MoviePass Looks Cheap. The Company, Not Just a Subscription

(Bloomberg) -- Know someone with $10 million to spare?

That’s how much equity value was remaining in MoviePass parent Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. after the company’s latest attempt to boost its stock price. A proposed one-for-500 reverse stock split sent the shares careening 28 percent Monday to close at less than two cents each.

In theory, the movie subscription experiment might not even be worth that much.

Helios & Matheson is now trading below its net cash value, with cash and equivalents at $15.5 million as of its latest filing for the period ended June 30. It also now has a negative enterprise value of $23.4 million when accounting for the negative minority interest, likely due to the loss-making activities at MoviePass.

Cash and equivalents could be even lower. The company burned through $27 million in cash between the first and second quarters and began limiting subscribers in August to three movies a month. There’s also competition knocking. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Cinemark Holdings Inc. both have their own movie subscription plans, with the latter recently announcing a doubling of its membership rolls. In addition, Sinemia Inc. Monday launched an unlimited 2D movie ticket subscription service in the U.S. at $29.99 month, in what the company calls a “sustainable” plan.

Shares fell further on Tuesday, down as much as 29 percent in early trade.

But if you want to take a shot at owning the troubled firm, you may have to contend with more than just the lack of profitability. Triton Funds LLC was reported last month to be preparing to approach Helios shareholders about a potential takeover.

--With assistance from Anousha Sakoui.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brad Olesen in New York at bolesen3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Will Daley at wdaley2@bloomberg.net;Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net

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