More losses and impairments will give Village Roadshow another slide in annual profit for the year to June 30 after which will be a replay of the 2015-16 result.
Village said a year ago that full-year profit slumped 64% to $15.66 million, weighed by $35.2 million in impairments.
The one-off hits to profit included restructuring costs of $7.6 million, a $5.1 million write down of assets and $22.5 million in investment losses.
The group’s adjusted earnings of $50.9 million were broadly in line with both market forecasts and the 2014-15 outcome.
Yesterday Village told the ASX that the market can expect this year’s ‘adjusted” profit to be around half that – in the range of $20 to $30 million.
Village said that a combination of last year’s fatal accident at Ardent Leisure’s Dreamworld (which it said is still significantly hitting visitor numbers and earnings at its own theme parks) and a big impairment at Wet n” Wild in Sydney will drive the result lower.
Village Roadshow, which owns parks in Australia and Asia, said it expects full-year earnings from its theme parks division to come in at $55 million, the lower end of its of its previous $55 to $65 million guidance.
“The Australian theme park operations continued to be significantly impacted by the tragedy,” the company said in a trading update,” the company said. Four people were killed when the popular Thunder River Rapids ride at Ardent’s Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast malfunctioned on October 25.
While the company said its cinema division’s earnings were also expected to be lower than last year’s all-time record.
And It also revealed a $65 million pre-tax impairment against Wet’n’Wild in Sydney which will make the biggest hole in the earnings line. The compay said this cut was made after “its year end review of asset carrying values.”
The group expects net profit after tax before material items and discontinued operations to be between $20 million and $30 million.
Shares in Village Roadshow jumped 1.7% to $4.07, a not too bad achievement given the 1.2% slide in the ASX 200.
