The return of cinema-goers around the globe has helped boost the revenue of software company Vista Group International. 

The company reported revenue up 12 per cent to $98.1 million in the year to December 31, compared to its 2020 year. 

At the same time expenses fell 9 per cent to $91.1m resulting in its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) climbing back into the black at $6.5m compared to an ebitda loss of $11.4m in 2020. 

Kimbal Riley, Vista Group chief executive, said the result reflected a strong second half with blockbusters returning to cinemas including Spider-Man: No Way Home breaking many pre-pandemic records globally, even with restrictions in many countries. 

The North American box office bought in more than $2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, closing in on levels last seen in the fourth quarter of 2019, before the global Covid-19 pandemic hit. 

"The movie-goer passion for the big screen has not been dented by the pandemic." 

In a statement, the company said while its market share remained difficult to confirm, estimates for Vista Cinemas were that it had retained its 51 per cent shares of the global market excluding China. 

Vista Cinema, the largest part of the group, saw its revenue rise 14 per cent to $66.5m while recurring revenue was up 31 per cent to $53.2m. 

Riley said the underlying platform for Vista Cloud was completed by the end of the year with its first customer going live early this year and an expanding pipeline of prospective customers. 

While Vista Digital, which delivers content through mobile, web and kiosk, grew its site count to 146. 

Movio - Vista's campaign management and data analytics arm only saw its full-year revenue rise 2 per cent to $15.1m. But its second-half revenue was $8.6m, up from $6.5m in the first half of 2021. 

Riley said Vista Group's balance sheet remained strong with $60.4m of cash and $37.8m of undrawn debt facilities still available. 

"Assuming the current level of box office recovery continues throughout 2022, with cinema remaining open, albeit with some volume restrictions, and a stable film release schedule, Vista Group expects revenue for the full year to 31 December 2022 to be in the range of $118m-$123m." 

The group made a net loss of $9.8m for the year, down from a net loss of $51.8m in 2020. 

Vista shares plunged in March 2020, with the arrival of the pandemic signalling closures of cinema chains around the world. 

Since then its shares have recovered some of the way but still have a lot further to go to reach the $2.95 they were trading at in early March 2020. They closed yesterday at $2.05. 

Last month Vista bought up US rival Retriever Solutions in a cash-and-share deal worth up to US$6.5m ($10m) with earnouts. 

Vista said the deal will put software into more than 200 new sites, strengthening its position in the US, and opening opportunities for its new Vista Cloud. 

It did not detail the impact on earnings or revenue.