G’Day Group on path to becoming a $2 billion company

The country’s largest holiday park operator will inject more than $200m into acquisitions and upgrades this year amid a boom in regional tourism.

G'Day Group chief executive Grant Wilckens at McCracken Country Club. Picture: Tom Huntley

The country’s largest holiday park operator will inject more than $200 million into acquisitions and upgrades this year as part of an ambitious plan to become a $2 billion company.

G’Day Group, which runs more than 300 holiday parks and resorts across the country, has been on an acquisition spree since the onset of Covid-19, amid a surge in domestic tourism fuelled by international border closures.

In the 12 months to June, the company spent about $100 million on acquisitions, including luxury lodge El Questro in Western Australia and Kings Canyon Resort in the Northern Territory.

According to financial statements lodged with ASIC, additions to the G’Day Group network helped boost full-year revenue by 32 per cent to $208.8 million, while net profit more than tripled from $4.2 million to $13.4 million. The result included $5.8 million in acquisition costs, up from $1.5 million in the previous year.

G’Day Group chief executive Grant Wilckens said the company had continued to diversify its accommodation portfolio during the pandemic, and that trend was likely to continue into 2022.

“Late last year we bought two resorts, golf courses and convention centres, and earlier this year we purchased one of the luxury lodges of Australia in El Questro, along with the iconic Kings Canyon Resort,” he said.

“We’ve really grown as a company and broadened our offering from the traditional caravaning and camping to the luxury end of the scale.

“We are on track to spend $100 million in acquisitions this financial year, equalling what we spent last year. However, in addition, this year we are spending significantly more on developments at $125 million.

“The reality is that we achieved our goal of becoming a $1 billion company and we have our sights set on being a $2 billion company in the next three-to-five years.

“We will likely have more than 100 owned parks and resorts on top of our licensed network, making us one of the leading tourism business in Australia.”

G’Day Group includes the Discovery Parks network of more than 80 company-owned properties, as well as the G’Day Parks portfolio of holiday parks which operate under a licensing arrangement.

The Adelaide-based company is backed by major shareholder Sunsuper and is currently valued at about $1.25 billion.

Mr Wilckens said bookings in South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and parts of Queensland were now higher than pre-pandemic levels, while demand in harder hit NSW and Victoria was also slowly picking up.

G’Day Group is planning a $40m Florida-style resort at McCracken in Victor Harbor.

“A captive domestic travel market has been a big opportunity for our sector,” he said.

“We’ve welcomed a new type of guest into our holiday park properties that probably wouldn’t have considered a regional holiday pre-Covid. In many parts of the country, we’ve never been busier.

“The back half of last financial year saw a downturn in NSW and Victoria, however restrictions are lifting and we are seeing these states rebounding with pent up energy to travel.

“There remains so much uncertainty around how overseas travel will operate in the near term, and we’re hopeful that the regional travel boom is here to stay for a while yet.”

G’Day Group is planning a $15m upgrade at Kings Canyon, while on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, it is seeking approval for a major redevelopment of the McCracken Country Club, which it picked up last year.

As part of a restructure to drive the company’s growth agenda, it recently appointed Amanda Baldwin to the role of chief investment officer, and is currently looking to add chief strategy, financial and marketing officers to its senior leadership team.