Village Roadshow shares plunge while Ardent Leisure withdraws guidance for Main Event business

Shares in Movie World owner Village Roadshow have plummeted 20 per cent today amid a broader sharemarket rout brought on by coronavirus fears.

SHARES in Movie World owner Village Roadshow have plummeted 20 per cent today amid a broader sharemarket rout brought on by coronavirus fears.

By 3.16pm today Village shares had fallen by 20.69 per cent or 54c, wiping $105.4 million of the company’s market capitalisation.

Speculation takeover offers from private equity firm BGH and funds group Pacific Equity Partners have fallen through is believed to be behind the massive fall in the stock price.

Village posted a net loss of $28.2 million, compared with a $355 million loss in the prior corresponding period, for the half-year.

Movie world owner Village Roadshow has seen its stock price plummet today.

Village wasn’t the only company to see its share price fall today.

Ardent Leisure, which owns Dreamworld and other theme parks on the Gold Coast, lost 6.4 per cent of its share price to fall to 36.5c.

The company also announced that because of coronavirus it was withdrawing its FY20 earnings guidance for its Main Event business, which runs entertainment centres in the US.

It said it expects the impact of coronavirus to continue for longer than first thought.

“Both Main Event and Theme Parks are pursuing a range of mitigating actions in response to the downturn in guest attendance,” it said in a statement.

PWR Holdings, which makes cooling systems for nearly all forms of race cars, saw its stock price fall 9 per cent today. Pictured is CEO Kees Weel. Pic Tim Marsden

“These include adjusting operating costs, deferring non-essential capital investment, and reviewing other non-critical business activities and discretionary expenses. The Theme Parks division will continue to focus marketing efforts on the domestic market in the short to medium term.”

Other stocks to fall included Ormeau-based PWR Holdings, which makes cooling systems for the fastest vehicles on earth. The company saw its stock price fall by 9.1 per cent, or 34c, to $3.39.

That is well below its 52-week high of $5.16.

Shares in casino operator Star Group lost 5 per cent while shares in embattled Donut King operator Retail Food Group were down 6.4 per cent at one stage before recovering ground later to be just 3 per cent lower.

The benchmark S & P/ASX200 was down 374.6 points, or 7.06 per cent, at 4930 at 1pm today after dropping into 4000-point territory for the first time since April 2016.

Late in the morning, the market was down 20.47 per cent for the week and analysts are bracing for weeks more of volatility until coronavirus cases peak globally.

The prior worst period was 15.65 per cent down in a single week in October 2008, which was just after the onset of the global financial crisis, while November 2008 recorded weekly falls of 8.9 per cent and 7.5 per cent.

Already the turbulence has wiped $400 billion off Australia’s wider market this week and more than $700 billion since its all time high in February.