Movie World operator Village Roadshow closes in on sale of 154ha of themepark land

VILLAGE Roadshow is in negotiations with a buyer to sell its landholding on the Gold Coast.

Movie World owner Village Roadshow says it is close to a sale of 154ha of land on the Gold Coast where its themeparks are based. Picture: Nigel Hallett

MOVIE World operator Village Roadshow says it is in exclusive negotiations with a buyer to sell its 154ha landholding on the Gold Coast – home to Wet’n’Wild, Australian Outback Spectacular, Paradise Country and Village Roadshow Studios.

The sale was announced in September by the Melbourne-based company, which has been under pressure to cut its soaring debt via asset sales following a tough year, in which it announced a $66.7 million loss.

The land, if sold, would be leased for 30 years, with the company also outlining six 10-year options, meaning a total leasing period of 90 years.

Village’s profit was hit hard by the tragedy at rival Ardent Leisure’s Dreamworld last year, which caused a sharp drop in visitor numbers and earnings at its theme parks.

STRUGGLING VILLAGE ROADSHOW TO SELL LAND

Yesterday chairman Robert Kirby, in an address to the company’s annual meeting, said the theme park operator was in “exclusive negotiations with a preferred bidder”.

“The negotiations, which are anticipated to be completed in the next 90 days, will correct our balance sheet and gearing,” he said.

In other news from the annual meeting, the company says it is still experiencing low visitor numbers a year after the fatal accident at Dreamworld, but expects to start paying dividends again this financial year.

VILLAGE ROADSHOW POSTS FULL-YEAR LOSS

The company said Gold Coast theme park attendance to October 31 was 5.4 per cent behind the prior corresponding period, which was largely before four people died in a Dreamworld ride malfunction.

But it expects to see a pick-up in attendance during the Christmas and summer holidays and forecasts its theme parks division will deliver a “substantial improvement” in 2018 full-year earnings, compared to the prior year. So far in the 2018 financial year, Village Roadshow’s cinema exhibition division’s performance has been significantly below the same period last year.

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