The Palace Amusement Company (1921) Limited

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What it is

Palace Amusement is Jamaica’s cinema company, operating movie theatres across the island through three lines of business: running the cinemas themselves, buying and renting films from international distributors, and selling advertising on its screens.

It is the local representative for United International Pictures — the pipeline for Paramount, Universal, DreamWorks and Disney product — and its parent company distributes Warner Bros., Sony and 20th Century Fox titles; theatres currently in operation include Carib 5 in Cross Roads, Palace Cineplex in Liguanea, and Sunshine Palace in Portmore.

Who owns it

The company is controlled by Charles “Douglas” Graham through Russgram Investments Limited, which holds 65.9%, plus Graham’s own direct stake of 7.7% — a combined grip of roughly 73.6%, leaving a free float of about 26% (our calculation).

In 1962, Russgram Investments — then owned by Russell Graham — bought control of Palace from J. Arthur Rank and appointed Douglas Graham as managing director; in 1989, Russell sold Russgram to his son Douglas, who has held control ever since.

Who runs it

Douglas Graham, now 89, has been managing director for 62 years and also serves as the company’s chairman. Carol Lee serves as Financial Controller, and Scott Graham as Assistant General Manager.

The company was founded in 1921 by Jamaican Audley Morais, and listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on 12 July 1973.

The money, in plain words

For the financial year ended June 2025, Palace swung to a loss: it bled JMD 146.95 million (≈ US$938K), reversing the JMD 60.32 million profit it had posted the year before. That loss ate through 11.1% of every dollar of sales — a net loss margin of –11.1% (our calculation) — where a healthy cinema chain would aim for a low-single-digit positive margin.

Revenue fell 5.5% from JMD 1.4 billion to JMD 1.32 billion (≈ US$8.4M), hurt by lower box-office receipts and concession sales; at the same time, operating expenses climbed to JMD 1.47 billion, reflecting higher utilities, staff costs, and maintenance of ageing infrastructure across the four-cinema network.

What it is doing now

The most consequential recent event is the permanent closure of Palace Multiplex in Montego Bay, which was destroyed by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025; the company disclosed in March 2026 that directors Douglas Graham and Melanie Graham had determined it was “not financially viable to rebuild.”

A JMD 192 million insurance payout in the March 2026 quarter flipped that quarter to a JMD 109 million profit, narrowing the nine-month net loss to just JMD 6.2 million (≈ US$1.2M and US$40K respectively; our calculation using stated FX rate). To replace the lost Montego Bay revenue, Palace entered a partnership with Trend Media and Caribbean Premier Sports Limited to screen live sporting events and premium programming at its remaining theatres, starting May 2026.

What to watch

• Three screens, not four. With one of four cinema locations now permanently gone, total revenue base has shrunk materially — the company must drive higher spending per patron and fill seats more often to compensate.
• Debt pressure. The company carries a JMD 622.5 million debt load, with JMD 112.8 million of that falling due in the near term (≈ US$3.97M and US$720K respectively; our calculation) — tight for a company still in loss.
• Streaming vs. cinema. Changing consumer preferences and rivalry from streaming services dragged box-office receipts even as blockbuster titles were released — a structural headwind, not a one-off.
• Generation Alpha thesis. Palace is citing research that Generation Alpha — born from 2013 onward — shows a stronger preference for big-screen experiences than older demographics, making younger Jamaicans central to its long-term case.
• Governance concentration. The concentrated ownership structure provides stability of control but limits options for raising equity from the public market — a constraint if the balance sheet needs reinforcing.

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This is news, not investment advice.