Ardent Leisure's annual loss narrowed to $60.9 million in the year to June as increased spending on safety, repairs and maintenance and a higher tax bill more than offset higher revenue from new US entertainment centres and theme parks including Dreamworld.

Ardent's net loss marked an improvement on the prior year's $90.7 million figure, due largely to a $75 million devaluation it suffered a year earlier on its Dreamworld-centred Theme Parks division. An increase in revenue from continuing operations lifted the company to EBITDA earnings of $11.7 million from a loss of $54 million in 2018.