OREANDA-NEWS. January 19, 2012. The A1 investment company announces the purchase of 55.66 percent of shares of the Formula Kino cinema network. Thus, the A1-controlled Kronwerk Cinema and Formula Kino networks attain the leading position in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, and Novosibirsk, with a 7-percent share (the second place) in the Russian Federation's market by the number of movie theatres.

By 31 December 2011, the number of the Kronwerk Cinema movie theatres had totalled 19 (17 in Russia and two in the Ukraine); auditoria - 130 (113 in Russia and 17 in the Ukraine). As of 31 December 2011, the number of the Formula Kino movie theatres totalled 14; auditoria - 90. At the end of the year 2011, Kronwerk Cinema and Formula Kino jointly owned 33 movie theatres (31 in Russia and 2 in the Ukraine) and 220 auditoria (203 in Russia and 17 in the Ukraine). In 2012, it is planned to open at least six new movie theatres with 56 auditoria—in Saint-Petersburg (three movie theatres), Krasnodar, Ryazan, and Syktyvkar.

In regard to the future development of film presentation in the Russian market, the plans of А1 provide for the creation of a leading company, complying with the highest international standards of corporate governance, as well as with the modern requirements for film presentation technologies and audience-attracting services.

The President of А1 Mikhail Khabarov has remarked that Formula Kino is one of the most high-tech assets in the Russian market of film presentation, with a high degree of the digitization of auditoria (more than 50 percent), two flagship movie theatres situated in the centres of two capitals—Moscow (the Evropeysky shopping and entertainment centre) and Saint Petersburg (the Galereya shopping and entertainment centre)—and Russia's only movie theatre based on the IMAX Sapphire technology (at the AFIMALL City shopping and entertainment centre). "The acquisition of Formula Kino turns us into the leaders by the number of auditoria in the country's biggest cities—Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, and Novosibirsk", stressed the President of А1.