Ready to dream again
New Ardent board members want investment to revitalise Dreamworld
AN activist shareholder appointed to the board of Dreamworld owner Ardent Leisure has firmly backed plans to revitalise the ailing theme park.
Gary Weiss – executive director of Ardent’s largest shareholder Ariadne Australia – and fellow director Brad Richmond were yesterday installed to the board ahead of a planned shareholder vote. Ariadne has spearheaded fierce criticism of Ardent in the wake of the Dreamworld tragedy last October, accusing the board of strategic errors and “losing its way”.
Dr Weiss told the Gold Coast Bulletin they wanted to see more investment in the Coomera park to restore its fortunes.
“We are here to assist in delivering better outcomes for all the component parts of the company and to improve returns for all security holders,” he said.
“We are strong believers in Dreamworld and its future because it does have a good future.”
In July, Ariadne released a rescue plan for the company, which it said could unlock $1 billion of additional value.
Ariadne accused Ardent of underinvesting in its theme parks over the past decade, leading to the company falling behind Movie World operator Village Roadshow.
It called for the sale of 25ha of surplus land adjacent to Dreamworld at Coomera, which would be reinvested into the park to fund improvements.
Yesterday, Mr Weiss backed the plan but said he was open to learning more about how the company functioned.
“We think that (the July plan) is the pathway to restore value,” he said. “It was devised from the outside from our own analysis.
“Now we are inside the tent we can get a better understanding of the important levers (driving the company). It is critical to properly examine the future requirements moving forward.”
Ardent had opposed the appointment of Dr Weiss and Mr Richmond until releasing a statement on Sunday that called for a “collaborative and unified board”.
Last week Ardent outlined a $62.6 million loss for last financial year, largely due to the Dreamworld tragedy.
The Dreamworld closure and drop in visitor numbers reduced group revenue by nearly 15 per cent to $586 million while the theme parks operations suffered a 34 per cent fall in revenue to $70.9 million and an earnings loss of $3.4 million.