Cineworld boosted by Star Wars and Beauty and the Beast

Star Wars: The Last Jedi has taken more than £73m at UK and Irish box offices

Blockbusters such as Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, and Dunkirk helped to boost sales and profits at Cineworld last year.

The world's second-largest cinema chain said sales rose by 12% to £890.7m, with profits up 23% to £120.5m.

Cineworld expanded last year by buying US cinema chain Regal for $3.6bn.

The group now has 9,500 screens in 10 countries including the US - the world's most lucrative cinema market.

Chief executive Mooky Greidinger said the company was confident that the "transformative acquisition" of Regal would be successful.

Cineworld's results showed sales of refreshments and other items accounted for almost a quarter of revenue, rising 11% to £220.4m.

That was faster than growth in ticket sales, which rose 6.4% to £553.7m. The average ticket price in the UK and Ireland was 26p higher at £6.51.

Revenues at its screens in the UK and Ireland rose 6.2% to £525m.

Cineworld said it was expecting the strong run to continue into this year, with films such as Solo: A Star Wars Story, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Mary Poppins Returns coming up.

Shares in Cineworld rose 3.5% to 248.6p, valuing the company at £3.4bn.