Hey, where did everybody go?
SeaWorld shares flop 13% as visits sink
SeaWorld Entertainment may need a decade to recover from the image problem caused by the documentary “Blackfish,” a top theme park consultant told The Post on Thursday.
Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, said that while SeaWorld executives blame poor second quarter attendance on a drop in tourism in Florida, where it runs five of its 11 parks, it is likely it is also still feeling the impact from the 2013 documentary.
“The imagery issues have not had enough time to go away,” Speigel said. “This is a 10-year turnaround.”
Speigel made his comments hours after SeaWorld reported attendance was off 7.6 percent in the quarter, to 5.98 million, resulting in a 5.2 percent drop in revenue.
The dropoff sparked a 13.2 percent decline in SeaWorld shares, to $12.88. Earlier in the day, the stock hit a 52-week low.
Chief Executive Joel Manby said an “overall downturn” in the Orlando market — home to its biggest park — hit in the second half of June just as the critical summer season got underway.
Management in March announced it was ending orca breeding and orca shows. At the time, SeaWorld’s shares enjoyed a spike to more than $20 a share.
“I think that was a shortterm stepping stone to a long-range plan,” Speigel said.
“The perception of SeaWorld among the public hasn’t gone away, but it’s not at the [poor] level it was 18 months ago,” Speigel said.
SeaWorld’s second quarter attendance has fallen from 7.2 million in 2012 to 6.6 million in 2014 to its present 5.98 million.
“They have to continue to diversify the brand in the public’s eye,” Speigel said.
A sizable SeaWorld shareholder requesting anonymity told The Post he believed the most recent attendance fall is largely due to Brazilians not traveling to Florida as they did in the past: “The Brazilian real is so weak they can’t travel.”
Still, the shareholder has issues with the CEO.
“Manby [who became CEO in April 2015] has the right approach and tone, but he is moving too slowly,” the shareholder said. “I’d like to see him hit harder with the message that SeaWorld is the only for-profit company that saves animals.”
Manby, who until now has never been a public company CEO, also should have said earlier he was going to miss his own profit forecast so that there would have been a more gradual impact, the shareholder said.
“If I was on the board, I would say you don’t have an unlimited period of time. I know he’s feeling the pressure,” the shareholder said.
SeaWorld, when factoring in the quarterly numbers, now has debt equal to 4.7 times its EBITDA.
If the multiple rises to 5.0, it will need to refinance its debt and could withdraw its dividend, the shareholder said.