Dreamworld wipes debt, flags $60M in new attractions
DREAMWORLD parent company Ardent Leisure is primed to announce up to $60m in new attractions as visitors return to its Gold Coast theme parks in droves.
Shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting heard revenue was up 154 per cent for the first quarter of FY23, with earnings and ticket sales value at their highest levels since 2017.
The company reported a $97.4m loss for FY22, despite posting its highest best ticket sales value and lowest costs in five years.
The net loss held a $455.7m silver lining for shareholders.
Ardent’s annual general meeting heard the sale of its Main Event business to Dave & Buster’s for $1.2bn allowed it to wipe a billion dollars of debt and still have change to pay $455.7m directly into shareholder pockets.
Dreamworld and WhiteWater World together posted a 35 per cent year-on-year revenue increase for FY22 – the highest in five years and better than its preCovid FY19 result.
Ardent attributed its extended net loss — up to $97.4m from $86.9m the previous year – to one-off significant expenses, including transaction costs for the Main Event deal.
The bottom line belied Ardent’s best-looking balance sheet of recent years – debt free and featuring unencumbered and potentially undervalued themepark assets.
Ardent flagged a $50-60m pipeline of new attractions for the next four years, with announcements to be made before Christmas.
CEO Greg Yong said Ardent had achieved its first quarter of positive earnings since the Thunder River Rapids tragedy in 2016.
“I cannot state how excited we all are to have seen our first quarterly profit for Dreamworld since October 2016,” he said.
“This is a meaningful milestone in our recovery journey but is just the start.”
Mr Yong praised staff of the theme parks and SkyPoint for generating the sector’s highest guest service scores for the quarter and said a “significant announcement” was upcoming.