SHARES GO ON WILD RIDE

Shares of Movie World parent company Village Roadshow Limited tumble after profit warning

GOLD Coast theme park operator Village Roadshow blamed punters staying away during the Commonwealth Games for a profit warning that wiped more than $70 million off the company’s value.

Shares plunged more than 10 per cent in intraday trading as investors punished the company, before closing down 15.23 per cent, or 48c, at $2.67 – a six-year low. The Melbourne-based company said yesterday it expects its full-year net profit to be below what it forecast in February, when it said it expected a result in the range of $12 million to $17 million.

The company now expects its full-year result to be within the range of a loss of $10 million to break even.

Village, which owns Movie World, Sea World, Wet’n’Wild, Australian Outback Spectacular and Paradise Country on the Gold Coast, blamed low patronage during a wet March and the Commonwealth Games for the poor result.

Village Roadshow’s Gold Coast parks are yet to recover from the impact of the fatal accident at Ardent Leisure’s Dreamworld in 2016.

Village Roadshow corporate communications manager Ramen Sikand said the company took a neutral view on the impact of the Commonwealth Games leading up to the event. However, Mr Sikand said, the negative impact was surprising.

“We took a neutral position because we never had experienced that kind of event on the Gold Coast,” he said.

“However, we expected better attendance than what we had there.”

The company had decided not to increase staff levels during the Games.

“We had a normal staffing level (for that period), which was higher than average due to the school holidays.”

Mr Sikand said Village is hopeful that the Games will draw larger crowds to Gold Coast themeparks.

“Overall the Gold Coast’s profile has been increased not only within Australia, but within Asia as well. We do not know the impact but we think it will be positive.”

Village said the result of its pricing and marketing strategy would not be apparent until May/June.

Movie World operator Village Roadshow has issued a profit warning after visitor numbers were affected by the Commonwealth Games.