Dreamworld counting on vaccine rollout, as Ardent’s Main Event rebounds

As Ardent Leisure’s Main Event chain gets a boost from the US vaccine rollout, its Gold Coast theme park is still bracing for ‘challenging’ times.

Dreamworld on the Gold Coast.

As Ardent Leisure’s Main Event chain enjoys a comeback in part thanks to the US vaccine rollout, its Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast is still bracing for “challenging” conditions ahead.

As Ardent named Greg Yong as it new CEO of theme parks and attractions, it said attendances had been hit by the snap lockdown in Greater Brisbane before the Easter school holidays.

Departing theme parks chief executive John Osborne warned of lean times for Dreamworld until conditions are more certain.

“It is expected that conditions will remain challenging for the remainder of fiscal 2021 and the first half of fiscal 2022,” he said.

While “optimistic” about trading in the second half of fiscal 2022, this was “largely contingent on the Australian vaccine rollout, no COVID-19 outbreaks and resultant domestic border confidence,” Mr Osborne said.

Ardent shares rose by 8.1 per cent to $1.00 on Wednesday as investors responded positively to the outlook.

The group said Mr Osborne was stepping down as theme parks boss for personal reasons, but would remain as a consultant. His replacement, Mr Yong, has been chief operating officer of Ardent Leisure Theme Parks and Attractions since 2019. He was previously at Village Roadshow Theme Parks.

Meanwhile a recovery is emerging in the company’s Main Event chain, as vaccinations are rolled out across the United States.

Main Event’s comeback has been driven by strong consumer demand associated with the US vaccine rollout, favourable COVID-19 statistics and federal stimulus payments.

Main Event president Chris Morris said the company was “optimistic that consumer demand will remain robust as long as the United States does not suffer any setbacks in case counts or vaccine efficacy”.

In Australia, Ardent was hit by state border uncertainty this month that was exacerbated by extreme adverse weather conditions for the first week of the holidays, including over the Easter weekend.

But the company said the improvement in weather in the second half of the holidays also saw an improved trading performance.

“While attendance numbers compared to the prior period have remained largely consistent with the previous update, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation for the remainder of the year will be impacted by the loss of the JobKeeper subsidy,” Ardent said.

The new Steel Taipan rollercoaster project and the park’s Brickman exhibit were well received, along with the Bluey Live Interactive Experience and Monster Trucks.

Ardent said there was $18.8m in cash available to the Australian business, while $5.3m was drawn under a $63.7m Queensland state loan facility.

Dreamworld’s Steel Taipan rollercoaster.

The US-based Main Event chain was regaining momentum but was still down 18.8 per cent in January 2021 versus the trend to end the second half of calendar year 2020.

Constant centre performance for its reopened locations for February was down 21.5 per cent but this includes the impact of savage winter storms.

The company is now assessing centres on a two year basis as they were all closed when the pandemic hit. On this basis, for the March period, constant centre performance was up 23 per cent reflecting good consumer demand driven by spring breaks.

Main Event generated the highest sales volume week ever and also had strong momentum in April. The US business has more than $US75m while a revolving line of credit remains fully drawn at $US25m.