UPDATE 1-Cinemark Q3 results top Wall Street view
* Q3 shr $0.19 vs est $0.16
* Q3 rev $496.8 mln vs est $478.5 mln
* Says Q4 box office off to good start
* Says South American countries outpace U.S.
Nov 9 (Reuters) - Movie-theatre operator Cinemark Holdings Inc (CNK.N) posted better-than-expected quarterly results, partly helped by its strong performance in the South American countries and increased presence in international markets.
"The fourth quarter box office is off to a good start, as patrons continue to enjoy the cinema as an exciting, low cost form of entertainment," Chief Executive Alan Stock said in a statement.
The company said South American countries continue to outpace the U.S. economic recovery and it benefited from "solid" industry trends and the expansion of its international portfolio.
Net income for the third-quarter rose 3 percent to $21 million, compared with $20.4 million in the year-ago quarter. On a per share basis, net income was flat at 19 cents.
Revenues rose 4 percent to $496.8 million. Attendance for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose by 4.5 percent.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of 16 cents a share, on revenue of $478.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
On Sept. 30, the company operated 4,908 screens across the United States, Canada and Latin American countries. It had signed commitments to open 3 new theatres with 30 screens by the end of 2009 and open 10 new theatres with 112 screens subsequent to 2009.
Shares of the Plano, Texas-based company closed at $11.73 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
