Village Roadshow CEO: Dreamworld is no longer a competitive factor

The owners of Movie World, Sea World and Wet'n'Wild have reported theme park earnings of nearly $40 million for the half year and a record-breaking January period just hours after the announcement of a $12 million loss at Dreamworld.

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Hopefully the lack of direct competition doesn't have them rest on their laurels. They've already slipped on their efforts with Scooby Doo half arsed effects coaster. 

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Attendance at Village Roadshow's parks is down – 2.3 million for the six month period against 2.5 million for the prior year, however yield is significantly up and has resulted in half-year earnings up by 24 per cent on last year to $39.7 million, which includes $2.6 million from the recently opened Topgolf.

For all who lambasted VRL for upping the prices and ending the age of the discounted annual passes - this is proof that the higher priced tickets do reap rewards, and that the punters they lost wouldn't have spent much more than the $99 they paid for the pass.

completely agree Alex... funnily a comment made by the DW CEO on the call this morning in response to a question on their price increases was: "We were surprised how "elastic" the market is with cost." When asked to elaborate, he said that them increasing their prices didn't seem to concern people and alluded to his thoughts being that people would pay regardless as they want to visit.... he also mentioned once SV opens and has had time settle, that they'll evaluate whether their value makes a further price increase relevant...

I'm impressed they bought the hypercoaster outright. I wish they announced their FY20 plans.

Just now, Naazon said:

I'm impressed they bought the hypercoaster outright. I wish they announced their FY20 plans.

that usually isn't a big focus of the Half Year presentation... unless its something that will be visible or impacting their P&L in some way prior to June 30. 

Mention of a new Ski show?  Yes/No

What annoys me on this front is Village practically gift wrapped DW a place in the market. They basically said we're going to move on our prices, you can now have the advantage on price if you want. DW's response was to raise prices too. So stupid.

 

Village raised their price, saw a tiny decrease in attendance but much higher profits. DW raised prices, much lower attendance and slightly less revenue. Good going there Ardent you sure understand the pressures facing your business.

20 hours ago, Skeeta said:

Mention of a new Ski show?  Yes/No

I don't think they like to highlight things which will reduce the guest experience

Edited February 23, 20196 yr by joz

Whoever put together the investor presentation at VRL apparently didn’t know Carnivale moved to Sea World 😂

 

 

If Dreamworld were to hit the market, do you think Village would buy it? Just for the larger parcel of land with better proximity to public transport even?

Nope. 

6 hours ago, AlexB said:

For all who lambasted VRL for upping the prices and ending the age of the discounted annual passes - this is proof that the higher priced tickets do reap rewards, and that the punters they lost wouldn't have spent much more than the $99 they paid for the pass.

Total Revenue is up by $9M, which is up $4M over two years prior and expenses are up $5.5M on two years prior.  So no, they're not terrifically more profitable than two years ago.  They've increased revenue 6% which would be impressive if they could do it for years to come.  (And pretty conveniently have a park up the road offering less competition than expected which is a short term win and a long term loss.)

If ticket revenue is up 27%, the rest of the business has not done much differently.  Ticket sales down 5%, admissions down 8%.  Admissions down 16% on three year ago.  Probably works out to be tickets have gone from $40 to $50M while the rest is flat.  That does imply average in-park spend to be up though.

Still count me as surprised they didn't get nervous earlier and discount things and on that front I was wrong.

14 hours ago, joz said:

DW raised profits, much lower attendance and slightly less revenue. Good going there Ardent you sure understand the pressures facing your business.

By raising profits? I’m confused. 

9 hours ago, RossL said:

Total Revenue is up by $9M, which is up $4M over two years prior 

Total revenue or EBITDA?

I’ve had a Dreamworld annual pass for at least the last 5 years, usually make it up to the Gold Coast 3-4 times a year so generally works to be good value. 2019 is the first year I haven’t automatically rolled it over, too many major rides closed during last year’s visits and no sign of SkyVoyager opening soon. So for the first time in a long time, looks like we will just enjoy the Village parks on next month’s trip. I suspect a lot of GC visitors will be making a similar call.

Edited February 22, 20196 yr by aaronm

If you go during peak season, generally rides are open. They are just getting ‘maintenance’ this year during off season.

*Maintenance being closing a couple of rides in off season.

Edited February 23, 20196 yr by Gold Coast Amusement Force

2 hours ago, GoGoBoy said:

Total revenue or EBITDA?

Revenue for the GC Parks.  EBITDA for GC Parks is still down about $1.5M on two years ago.  EBITDA for the Theme Parks division is still down about $2M on two years ago.

1 hour ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

If you go during peak season, generally rides are open.

Except this year, last year and the year before that.

2 hours ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

If you go during peak season, generally rides are open. They are just getting ‘maintenance’ this year during off season.

*Maintenance being closing a couple of rides in off season.

I don’t think I’ve seen more than 5 of the “big 9” open at once in the last two years. Some, like Tower of Terror, are often closed even outside of planned maintenance periods.

Even outside of the rides it’s become mediocre, the animal enclosures are increasingly sparse or empty. Gumbuya World has a far more impressive collection of Aussie animals at a much smaller park.

3 hours ago, aaronm said:

I don’t think I’ve seen more than 5 of the “big 9” open at once in the last two years. Some, like Tower of Terror, are often closed even outside of planned maintenance periods.

Even outside of the rides it’s become mediocre, the animal enclosures are increasingly sparse or empty. Gumbuya World has a far more impressive collection of Aussie animals at a much smaller park.

There's 7 of them open at the moment 🤔

15 hours ago, Flynn_Smith said:

There's 7 of them open at the moment 🤔

That's impressive, since your post was at 5pm - and we all know all the rides shut at 4...

On 22/02/2019 at 9:23 PM, ads086 said:

If Dreamworld were to hit the market, do you think Village would buy it? Just for the larger parcel of land with better proximity to public transport even?

I think the only situation where VRL buys Dreamworld is to acquire the rides and slides that are worthy of salvage, to move to their parks to fill the gaps at a bargain basement price of $100M, hold a wonderland-style fire-sale for every tom, dick and harry who wants to buy used cash registers, pavers, and anything else not bolted down (and some things that are), and while thats happening, convince their buddies in GCCC to approve an MCU, and then flog the land to someone else for a tidy profit.

15 hours ago, Flynn_Smith said:

There's 7 of them open at the moment 🤔

Well actually the day you posted this, hwsw, gd, Buzzsaw, wipeout were all closed. So 5 were actually open.

36 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Well actually the day you posted this, hwsw, gd, Buzzsaw, wipeout were all closed. So 5 were actually open.

My mistake. I was just going off what the website said, which says only the Wipeout and HWSW were closed.

 

40 minutes ago, AlexB said:

That's impressive, since your post was at 5pm - and we all know all the rides shut at 4...

I think you could understand what I meant..

2 hours ago, Flynn_Smith said:

My mistake. I was just going off what the website said, which says only the Wipeout and HWSW were closed

This was kind of my point, you have the rides that are announced as being closed, then there’s usually a couple more surprise closures once you get to the park. It’s a lottery of disappointment.

VRTP results a partly a benefit of better weather versus the same period last year. Just sayin.