Ardent eyes profit as visitors return to Dreamworld

Ardent says trading at Dreamworld continued to improve, with attendances up 32.6 per cent between December 10, 2017 and February 13, compared to the same period a year earlier.

Theme parks and entertainment centres operator Ardent Leisure expects to trade profitably in the second half of the financial year as the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast attracts more visitors.

Dreamworld suffered steep falls in visitor numbers following a fatal accident on the Thunder River Rapids ride in October 2016, and the park's subsequent 45-day shutdown.

The drop in visitors severely impacted Ardent's profits.

"We have seen a recovery in visitation [to Dreamworld] since the tragic incident in October 2016," said Ardent chairman Gary Weiss.

Weiss said trading at Dreamworld continued to improve, with attendances up 32.6 per cent and revenue up 55.6 per cent between December 10, 2017 and February 13, compared to the same post-accident period a year earlier.

However, the recovery has not been as fast as Ardent would have liked, prompting the company to book a further impairment charge against Dreamworld of A$22.8m ($24.5m), which the company flagged earlier in February.

Ardent's chief executive of theme parks, Craig Davidson, said Dreamworld's visitor numbers were increasing now that all its attractions were operating following safety and engineering reviews.

"Now I see a clean runway: we've got every piece of the park operating, and we're back to our normal scheduling of down-times, we've got some new attractions coming, and I think we're going to see the trend continue," Davidson said.

And, Ardent expects that tiger cubs born in late January and the completion of Corroboree stage II - an interactive depiction of Indigenous culture - will also boost visitor numbers in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games.

A DreamWorks walk-through attraction and a Flying Theatre are also set to open later in the year.

Meanwhile, Ardent has announced the appointment of Chris Morris as chief executive of Main Event, Ardent's bowling and entertainment centres business in the US which generated more than 80 per cent of the group's first-half revenue from continuing operations.

Main Event's revenue grew by 25.4 per cent to US$128 million ($174.8 million) as 10 new centres opened in 2017 made contributions, and the centres attracted more walk-in customers.

Ardent's net loss of A$15.6m for the period from July 1 to December 26 is less than a third of its A$49.3m net loss for the six months to December 31, 2016.

The result - for 179 days, compared to the previous first-half's 184 days - includes the Dreamworld impairment charge.

But Ardent expects to trade profitably in the second half, generating both positive earnings and profit.

ARDENT NARROWS FIRST-HALF LOSS

• First-half net loss of A$15.6m, compared to a loss of A$49.3m a year earlier

• Revenue down 16.3% to A$265.6m

• Interim distribution of A2c per security, in line with the prior corresponding period