I felt like this article probably needed its own thread as it covers a number of elements mentioned in multiple topics currently.

Village Roadshow dumps theme park development amid surging losses and debt deal breach

Entertainment giant Village Roadshow has dumped development plans at one of its theme parks and revealed it breached a half billion-dollar loan condition as the company’s losses blew out by more than 54 per cent.

The Melbourne-based company’s latest financial report, for 2025-26, recorded a net loss of $38.6m – sharply higher than the $25m loss for the previous year

Village – which operates Movie World, SeaWorld and Wet’n’Wild as well as more than 50 movie cinemas nationwide – spent more than $4m on restructuring and staff redundancies, but boosted executive pay by 18 per cent, the report said.

It also closed down cinemas as it faced board upheaval and a bitter civil court stoush with former executives it has accused of embezzling more than $2.5m.

The financial report said Village wrote off $1.9m worth of “capital work in progress due to a terminated development”, partially offset by a $700,000 cost recovery, in its theme parks segment.

Village – which has been contacted for comment – did not specify in its report which development had been axed but currently has $330m approved plans for a 600-room hotel and function centre next to Movie World.

The company lost $11.4m in annual interest charges alone to lease back 154ha of Gold Coast land it sold to a superannuation fund for $100m in 2017.

But the company’s closest shave for the year was a breach of its secured $575m loan agreements with a “syndicate of local and international lenders” which saw $531.5m reallocated to its current liabilities.

Village received a written waiver from the lenders after falling $4.9m short of its interest cover ratio – that is its ability to pay the interest on its loans, based on earnings – after June 30.

The company’s current liabilities were $809.8m as of June 30, while current assets were $182.2m.

Despite the setbacks, Village is confident it can meet upcoming loan covenant tests and is able to continue as a going concern.

The report declared more than $400,000 was paid to related parties in FY25, including $323,149 for uniforms from Leaf Group, which is directed by Paul Aberdeen – the son-in-law of co-chairman Robert Kirby.

The uniform contract - which the report said was established in 2003 before Mr Aberdeen married Nina Kirby - was down compared to the previous year’s spend of $637,206.

Village also purchased $98,923 in boutique wine for its Gold Class cinemas and SeaWorld Resort from Yabby Lake International – in which the Kirby family are shareholders.

It also paid $12,000 to insure artworks provided to the company by an unnamed entity related to Robert Kirby.

The report said all the related party transactions were carried out “under arm’s length terms and conditions”.

Despite closing down two cinemas in the financial year, Village kept $165.1m in goodwill on the books for its cinemas division, based on the assumption box office revenue will return to pre-Covid levels.

Village had 1559 employees as of June 30, down from 1631 the previous year.

The company was listed publicly on the ASX until a majority buyout by private equity firm BGH Capital in 2020.

BGH’s investors include Australian Super as well as multiple large pension funds for government employees in Canada, Singapore, and the United States.

Village has moved to settle its blockbuster civil case against two former executives and has not filed a police report.

No charges have been laid and this masthead is not suggesting criminal wrongdoing.

The matter has been scheduled for mediation on December 9.

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/business/gold-coast/village-roadshow-dumps-theme-park-development-amid-surging-losses-and-debt-deal-breach/news-story/9f193e02e4556d54a7193a3d1feb6808?fbclid=IwdGRleAVXT-5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBWZkaWQWURjTLuTdYx3kDTlBvFd1KuDhBIkOl3NydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR_qmZXxw-JjsKNqqQ-iAy7AI8e__1eRC8nS1-huZq5FZCtK5igoN__c6YRZtg_aem_1btEc61sbtAHvS6_cbW45w

This is a bit of clickbait. Nowhere in the article does it say the theme parks are making a loss. The $38.6 million loss is for the entire Village group, which includes the cinemas and other businesses. That doesn't mean the parks are doing well, though. I wouldn't be surprised if they're financially in the poop, but the article doesn't provide the figures to prove it.