Operator
...would now like to hand the conference over to Dr. Gary Weiss, Chairman of Coast Entertainment Holdings Limited.
Please go ahead.
Gary Weiss
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for the presentation of the FY26 full year results for Coast Entertainment Holdings Limited.
My name is Gary Weiss and I'm the Chairman of Coast Entertainment. I'm joined today by our Chief Executive Officer, Greg Yong, and our Chief Financial Officer, Jose de Sacadura.
Turning to slide 2, I'll begin our presentation with a brief overview of the group's key highlights for the year, after which I will hand over to Jose and Greg to take you through the financial results and operating performance in more detail. Turning to slide 3, which highlights our key highlights for the year.
As outlined in our announcement to the market on 20 July, the group is pleased to report a strong performance in FY26, with solid growth across every key operating metric. It is worth noting up front that FY26 is a 53-week year, and our statutory results reflect an additional week of trading compared to the 52 weeks reported in FY25.
While this has contributed to the reported numbers, the underlying like-for-like performance across the business has been excellent, as Greg will explain shortly. In FY26, the theme parks and attractions business delivered strong growth across every key measure.
Ticket sales increased 33% on the prior year, while total visitation reached 2 million guests, up 29.3%. Operating revenue also rose 20.8% to $116.5 million, with the business achieving record revenues for food and beverage and retail.
Notably, earnings growth once again significantly outpaced revenue growth, with theme parks and attractions EBITDA, excluding specific items, increasing 113.6% to $18.8 million. This highlights the continued operating leverage in the business, as incremental revenue from higher visitation increasingly flows through to the bottom line.
As a result of continued strong annual pass sales, deferred revenue also grew 58.7% to $20.2 million, providing a solid revenue base heading into FY27. At a consolidated level, EBITDA, excluding specific items, increased 236.5% to $13.8 million, and the group returned to net profitability, delivering a statutory net profit after tax of $6.1 million for the year.
The group also generated positive net cash flows during the period, ending the year in a strong financial position, with $35 million in cash, no debt, and a fully undrawn bank loan facility of $20 million, providing the group with ample liquidity and funding flexibility. Beyond the operating result, FY26 has also been a landmark year for unlocking value in the group's underlying assets.
As announced on 20 July, we have now received planning approval for our 55-hectare Coomera landholding, providing greater certainty over the development potential for the site and opportunities to realize long-term value for shareholders. Following that approval, we commissioned independent valuations of both Dreamworld and SkyPoint, enabling the directors to determine fair values of $295.9 million and $51.7 million for Dreamworld and SkyPoint, respectively, both well above their current book values.
Together with $136.1 million of available tax losses, providing a tax benefit of $40.8 million, most of which is not recognized on the balance sheet, these point to substantial value not yet reflected in our net assets, which Jose will expand on shortly. Looking ahead, while trading conditions remain very challenging for many in the retail and discretionary sectors, the group enters FY27 with strong fundamentals, positive momentum, and a much clearer pathway to unlocking the value of our landholdings.
With that, I will hand over to Jose to take you through the group's financial results in more detail.
José de Sacadura
Thank you, Gary, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide 4, I'll take you through the group's consolidated financial performance for FY26.
As Gary noted, FY26 is a 53-week year, our statutory results reflect an additional week of trading compared to FY25. My remarks will focus on the statutory results for the year, with Greg later providing further detail on like-for-like performance.
As this slide shows, FY26 operating revenue increased 20.8% to $116.5 million, reflecting the continued positive momentum of recent years, a strong contribution from new attractions added over the last 18 months, increased marketing and promotional activity, and, of course, the additional week of trading. These also drove a 29.3% increase in total visitation to our venues.
What is particularly pleasing, though, is that this was achieved amid a very difficult trading environment, and once again, with a higher mix of annual pass sales for which revenue is recognized over 12 months rather than up front. As Gary mentioned, this change in ticketing mix resulted in a 59% increase in deferred revenue compared to June 2025, and provides a solid revenue base for FY27.
Note that the group's results can be impacted from time to time by certain unrealized and non-recurring specific items. Although not significant to the group's pre-tax results in FY26, it is worth remembering that the prior year benefited from $5.8 million of insurance income relating to the FY24 summer storms.
These and other specific items are set out in Appendix 2 to this presentation. Excluding specific items, theme parks and attractions EBITDA more than doubled to $18.8 million, reflecting the growth in revenue as well as improved operating leverage, with higher visitation being absorbed across our largely fixed cost base.
Corporate costs increased slightly to $5 million in the year, reflecting a stabilized cost base following several years of active cost reduction initiatives. As always, we continue to apply a disciplined approach to managing these costs.
At a consolidated level, EBITDA, excluding specific items, more than tripled to $13.8 million, marking the third consecutive year of positive and growing consolidated group EBITDA. Below EBITDA, depreciation increased by $1.8 million, reflecting our expanded asset base following the significant capital investment of recent years.
The income tax benefit for the year of $6.2 million includes the recognition of $4.8 million of previously unrecognized deferred tax assets, together with a $1.4 million benefit for the utilization of previously unrecognized tax losses and deductible temporary differences. As Gary mentioned, at the bottom line, the group returned to net profitability, delivering a statutory net profit after tax of 6.1-- $6.1 million, much improved compared to the loss of $0.1 million reported in FY25.
Moving to slide 5, where we take a look at the group's cash flows and capital management. As you can see, the group continues to maintain a strong and flexible financial position.
As at 30 June, we held cash balances of $35 million, an increase of $1.1 million on the prior year. This increase has been largely underpinned by strong operating cash flows, which more than doubled to $19.7 million, reflecting the stronger trading performance and higher annual pass sales for which cash is received up front.
Capital expenditure for the year totaled $16 million, comprising $6.7 million of maintenance CapEx and $9.3 million of development CapEx, primarily relating to the King Claw attraction, which launched in mid-December. Importantly, this investment was comfortably funded by the group's operating cash flows, which also covered $3.7 million of share buyback costs earlier in the year.
Looking ahead, we anticipate development CapEx of approximately $17 million in FY27, the largest component of which is expected to relate to the replacement of the Motocoaster attraction, for which Greg will provide some additional color shortly. As mentioned in our half-year presentation, back in December, we renewed and increased our bank loan facility to $20 million.
This facility continues to provide the group with additional liquidity and funding flexibility, and remains fully undrawn to date. As always, the board continues to evaluate capital management options for the group, having regard to its operating performance, its capital position, and future funding requirements, including for our land development opportunities, and of course, prevailing market conditions.
Any decisions in this regard will be made with a view to maximizing long-term shareholder value. Turning to slide 6.
As Gary touched on earlier, FY26 has been a landmark year for demonstrating the underlying value of the group's assets. As at 30 June, the group's reported net assets stood at $224.2 million, or 58 cents per share.
However, this really doesn't tell the full story. As I've mentioned in the past, the group's property, plant, and equipment and intangible assets are carried in the balance sheet at historical cost, net of accumulated depreciation and impairments.
This doesn't reflect the true value of these assets. Following the planning approval for our Coomera landholding, we engaged CBRE to undertake fresh independent valuations of both Dreamworld and SkyPoint.
As announced on the 13th of August, having regard to these valuations, Dreamworld's fair value was determined by the directors to be $295.9 million, almost $103 million above its current book value of $193 million. That value includes an immediate uplift of $52 million relating to the surplus landholdings adjoining the theme parks, and also assumes a further $38.5 million uplift, potentially achievable through higher and better use of the car park area, which would require its relocation.
The fair value is stated on a gross basis and excludes any potential transaction costs, as well as costs of providing access to and infilling of certain developable areas, relocation of the car park, and otherwise complying with development approval conditions. I must note that the quantum of and responsibility for such costs are yet to be determined at this stage.
SkyPoint's fair value was similarly assessed by CBRE at $51.7 million, $41.5 million above its book value of $10.2 million. This represents a $14.7 million uplift since its last valuation in December 2023, and reflects the strong financial performance of recent years.
In addition, the group continues to hold $121.6 million in tax losses and a further $45 million in deductible temporary differences, which are not recorded in the balance sheet. Together, these represent $50 million of unrecognized deferred tax assets, which, notwithstanding the conservative accounting treatment, remain fully available for future use by the group.
Adjusting for these items, you can see that the group's pro forma net asset position is closer to $418.4 million, or $1.08 per share. That's 80 cent 87% higher than our reported net assets and well above our current share price.
Finally, as recently announced, given the optionality and uplift in value unlocked by the Dreamworld planning approval, the board has appointed Barrenjoey Advisory to lead a comprehensive review of capital and funding options to help maximize this value for shareholders, and we look forward to updating the market as that work progresses. With that, I'll now hand over to Greg to take you through the performance of our theme parks and attractions business.
Greg Yong
Thanks, Jose, and good morning to everyone today. I have four objectives today that I want to get through.
Firstly, to discuss the FY26 results, the momentum that we've seen in the business and its resilience despite significant headwinds that we've discussed over recent years. Secondly, to show you exactly why we're very bullish about the opportunities to grow earnings through revenue and efficiency initiatives.
Third, to illuminate some of the programs on foot that will unlock this growth. Lastly, to reiterate the investment thesis for Coast and why we believe there is still significant upside to come.
Slide 8 highlights some of our key successes over the last 12 months, and I'll touch on these in detail throughout the presentation. Overall, FY26 was a year of strong financial performance.
Operationally, we continued to strengthen the Dreamworld experience by opening King Claw on time and on budget, launching Australia's first annual dining pass, achieving 98% attraction uptime, and we maintained our strong focus on safety with the introduction of Australia's first walk-through attraction metal detector. Importantly, these initiatives are translating into the guest experience, with Dreamworld achieving the best guest satisfaction scores on the Gold Coast for all Gold Coast theme parks for the fifth consecutive year.
We also continued to strengthen the Dreamworld brand through partnerships with Big Brother and Australian Geographic, and we were very proud to be appointed the official theme park partner of the Australian Olympic Team, another important milestone that reflects the growing strength and the relevance of the Dreamworld brand. Beyond the operating business, finally securing the planning approval for our land development provides another important avenue to unlock long-term growth.
During the year, we delivered several major launches, as shown on slide 9. In September, we launched Wild with Australian Geographic.
This is a strategic partnership with one of Australia's most trusted environmental brands, and the precinct combines immersive experiences with a strong focus on conservation, whilst also supporting future growth in the education segment. In November, Big Brother returned to Dreamworld, providing significant national exposure for Dreamworld through Channel 10 and helping to drive increased interest in the park.
In December, we successfully opened King Claw. As the fastest gyro swing in the Southern Hemisphere, King Claw represents a significant step up from its predecessor, The Claw, both in scale and in the guest experience.
As you'll see in the numbers, it is already proving to be another strong drawcard for Dreamworld, reinforcing our continued investment in high-quality attractions. Slide 10 speaks to just how strong visitation growth has been.
We welcomed just over 2 million guests in FY26, representing the highest attendance since FY16. FY26 marked the first full-year contribution from Rivertown following its opening in December 2024.
Together with the successful launch of King Claw in December 2025, these investments helped drive attendance growth of around 29% on FY25, or 27% up on a like-for-like basis. Importantly, and as shown in the chart, visitation continued to grow during the second half despite cycling strong comparative periods following the Rivertown opening.
This growth is clearly attributable partly to the investment in King Claw. During the peak summer holidays, Dreamworld recorded its highest-ever daily attendance, and the photograph in this slide shows the main and the overflow car parks operating at full utilization.
Pleasingly, our NPS for the day was also very strong, and that proves that we can deliver a great guest experience even on our largest attendance days. Recent years' growth continues to be underpinned by strong local demand, but at the same time, we continue to see significant opportunity outside our local market.
Interstate visitation, particularly from New South Wales and Victoria, continues to grow, reflecting targeted marketing initiatives and increasing brand awareness, but we see tremendous opportunity for further penetration into these markets over the coming year. Internationals, we've spoken about, also continues to recover, but still remains well below historical levels.
A point to note on that would be the Gold Coast international arrivals, which are currently 63% of the pre-COVID levels, and China is only 30% of those pre-COVID levels, highlighting a meaningful medium-term growth opportunity as these international markets continue to recover. Turning to slide 11, and some really great reading here.
As mentioned earlier, our guest satisfaction scores remain strong, and the important point here is it's not easy to do that given the substantive increases we've seen in attendance, we're very, very pleased to see these results. We've talked a lot about what we've delivered operationally: our strategic initiatives, our new attractions, and the strong guest demand.
Slide 12 shows how those achievements translated into our financial performance, driving higher revenue, improved operating leverage, and a significantly stronger earnings result. Jose and Gary have already covered the financials in good detail earlier, I'm just going to touch on some of the metrics briefly.
Ticket sales grew 24% on a like-for-like basis, and importantly, they're now surpassing FY16 levels, with growth across all ticket types, particularly annual passes, and supported by continuous momentum from new attractions, increased marketing, and promotional activity. Operating revenues reached $116.5 million, up 19% like-for-like, and we delivered record food and beverage and retail revenues, which were up 22% on a like-for-like basis.
Our deferred revenue balance increased almost 60% to $20.2 million, driven by the strength of our annual pass sales and providing very good additional revenue visibility into FY27. Importantly, the revenue growth translated into significantly stronger earnings, with EBITDA, excluding specific items, more than doubling to $18.8 million, on a like-for-like basis, up 118%, our highest results since FY16, and our margin, excluding specific items, continues to improve, reflecting the operating leverage that we continue to build as the business scales.
Turning to slide 13, and you'll notice that the revenue per cap has softened to $58 in FY26 from $61.70 on a like-for-like basis in FY25. I want to spend a moment explaining this because the movement is largely a function of the significant growth in visitation and the changing mix of our guests, rather than a deterioration in the underlying economics.
As we've discussed, our annual passholder base has grown materially over the year, and we've talked about this a lot as well, that pass revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the life of the pass, and so as passholders visit more frequently, the revenue recognized per visit naturally reduces. On a like-for-like basis, visitation grew 26.5%, outpacing revenue growth by 19%, and per cap is simply the arithmetic outcome of that gap.
We're also seeing a higher proportion of repeat and local visitation, and this naturally carries a lower per cap yield than a single-day interstate visit. Importantly, every time we get an annual passholder visiting again, it creates new opportunities for in-park spending.
In this context, the most important measure for us is total revenue, and that is now higher than what it was in FY16. Slide 14 provides a simple example to illustrate the accounting effect and the mathematical dilution I've just described.
A single-day ticket priced at $109 is recognized in full when the guest visits, resulting in a revenue per cap of $109 for that visit. In contrast, an annual pass priced at $169 is recognized evenly over its 12-month life, which works out to be around $14 per month, but more importantly, the entire $169, the cash, is received up front.
If that passholder visits twice in a month, the revenue per cap equates to approximately $7 per visit for that month. As annual passholders represent a greater share of our visitation, and as they visit more frequently, the reported revenue per cap is diluted.
Importantly, that does not mean that the pass is generating less revenue. Rather, the same pass is actually being spread evenly across a number of visits, and every visit we can get provides further opportunities for in-park spending, and therefore, higher lifetime value.
This is an important dynamic because we continue to grow our annual passholder base and build a more recurring and a more resilient revenue profile. Turning to slide 15.
Over the long term, our strategy is to grow per cap yield in a methodical and a considered way, and this slide shows how far we've come since FY16. Ticket sales increased 33%, or 24% on a like-for-like basis, again surpassing FY16 levels, and ticket sales per cap are up 28% against FY16, reflecting our ability to grow yield over time, even in a more constrained operating environment.
We're very happy with our in-park spends, seeing record in-park revenue in FY26 and in-park revenue per cap up 62% compared to FY16. While revenue total per cap softened slightly against FY25, for the reasons mentioned, it still remains 40% higher than what it was back in FY16.
Slide 16 is all about really putting FY26 into perspective. It shows how far the business has come and how far it's evolved over the past decade.
While some momentum has built since FY21, our product mix, our customer mix, and the way that we recognize annual pass revenue have all changed compared to FY16. For local guests, an annual pass represents compelling value and encourages more frequent visitation.
From our perspective, it's our highest-priced ticket, it represents that recurring relationship with our guests, and provides multiple chances for additional spending throughout the year. More importantly, it creates a renewal opportunity at the end of the pass.
This strategy clearly is delivering. As I mentioned earlier, we see further opportunity from other markets, interstate and internationally.
There's also one critical difference when comparing FY26 to FY16. Since FY19, annual pass revenue has been recognized on that straight-line basis over the 12-month life of the pass, but back in FY19 it was sorry, back in FY16 it was based on usage and visitation.
Despite this change, we've now exceeded the FY16 revenue levels whilst carrying $20.2 million of deferred revenue at the year end. When we look back at the business over the past decade, we've not only rebuilt revenue beyond FY16 levels, but we've done so with a larger annual passholder base, a more recurring revenue profile, and further upside to come as interstate and international visitation continues to recover.
Slide 17 steps back and it looks at the milestones we've achieved over the past 7 years against a backdrop of sustained external headwinds. Since FY20, the business has navigated COVID-19, an ongoing period of high inflation, and successive interest rate increases, the severe summer storms of FY24, and Cyclone Alfred in March last year.
The external environment remains challenging in the second half of FY26, with a further three interest rate increases, higher fuel prices associated with the conflict in the Middle East, and resultant subdued consumer confidence. We returned the theme park and attractions business to positive EBITDA, excluding specific items, back in FY23, following the disruption of COVID, and since then, successfully opened several major attractions in a very difficult construction environment, and more recently, received planning approval on that landholding back in July.
It is also important to recognize that the business now operates under a fundamentally different cost structure. Coast Entertainment is a standalone business today, whereas historically, the theme park business benefited from shared services infrastructure within the former Ardent Group.
Despite that structural change and the external challenges that we've navigated, FY26 has delivered our highest EBITDA, excluding specific items, since FY16, and has more than doubled earnings since FY25. Importantly, the business today is operating from a much stronger and more sustainable platform than it was previously, and I think this slide demonstrates the resilience of the operating platform we've built against all of those headwinds.
More importantly, as conditions improve, and these conditions will improve, this business is incredibly well positioned to optimize performance when that happens. Turning to slide 18 and an early look at trading in FY27.
July trading continues to be resilient. The growth is moderating as we cycle a strong comparative period where FY25 ticket sales were up 66% on the prior year, and we continue to navigate a challenging consumer environment.
It's worth noting that July isn't directly comparable to the prior year, given FY26's 53-week year has shifted our trading dates out by 1 week, and that's important because under our reporting calendar, last year's end of financial year promotion was included in the July results, whereas this year it was included in the June results. With that context, total revenue increased 10%, or 7% on a like-for-like basis, over the prior period, with deferred revenue in July being up 27% on the prior period.
Again, SkyPoint delivered its highest-ever revenue result. Ticket sales were slightly below the prior comparative period on a like-for-like basis, while total visitation increased 4%, supported by the continuing success of King Claw and our larger annual passholder base.
EBITDA, excluding specific items, was up 4%, though slightly down on a like-for-like basis. As always, current trading conditions shouldn't be taken as a guide to future performance, but that said, we remain optimistic that consumer demand will continue to strengthen as the macroeconomic conditions improve.
Turning to slide 19, and I'd like to spend a few minutes on where we see the next phases of value creation for this business. As I often say to the team and to you, there's no room for complacency.
We've made significant progress, but we remain focused on continually improving the guest proposition and identifying new ways to grow the business. Slide 20 sets out the three key levers that underpin that growth.
Firstly, growing attendance and revenue through reach, brand, and experience. Simply put, bringing more people to our properties remains the foundation of our strategy.
When we say through reach and brand, we mean through the quality and the innovation of our sales, our marketing, and our partnerships. Our focus on experience, be it immersive new attractions or events, is backed by an absolute focus on sector-leading service.
To be frank, my goal is actually to provide the best experience in Australia, and I think we're absolutely on target to do just that. Second, operational excellence through scale-driven efficiency.
This means leveraging technology to improve efficiency and enhance how we operate our properties. We believe there are tangible initiatives underway that allow us to continue to create operating leverage while our attendance still scales.
We're already seeing pragmatic use cases being implemented through AI, and as we've said before, we think about technology as an enabler of our fundamentals, not just because it's fashionable. Third, transforming Dreamworld into a genuine multi-day destination.
If we can unlock the latent value in our landholding in a strategic way that's complementary to our core businesses, we see substantive opportunities to grow in both revenue and in yields. This, in our minds, is the real unlock to materially higher guest spends than what we're seeing today.
Lastly, as always, I stress that safety underpins everything we do in this portfolio. It is truly our North Star and our most fundamental value embedded at every level of the organization.
Turning to slide 21, and I want to reinforce the points I've just made in relation to growing attendance and revenue. This slide demonstrates just how much demand upside still remains.
Our attendance today is still 17% below FY16 levels, even though Southeast Queensland's catchment has grown from 2.9 million people to 3.5 million people over the period, and Gold Coast visitation has grown from 11.2 million to 14.7 million in the same time. This means our penetration of a significantly larger market remains well below what it was a decade ago.
Our view is that there are very clear pockets of demand and clear pockets of underpenetration, both inside and outside the local market. That gives us clear confidence that there's further room to grow.
As we've talked about, international visitation to the Coast also remains well below pre-COVID levels, and simply regaining that ground represents meaningful sources of incremental growth. Looking ahead, the underlying market continues to expand.
Greater Brisbane alone is projected to grow by 1.2 million people to almost 4 million by 2046. Together, these factors give us huge confidence that there is significant headroom to grow attendance.
As the next few slides will show, we're deploying a number of initiatives to capture that opportunity. Slide 22 showcases one of our new event formats this year, Christmas in July, a new super unique after-dark festive event complementing our daytime Winterfest offering.
Across five magical nights, Dreamworld transformed with festive light displays, live entertainment, Santa appearances, snow, and a spectacular fireworks finale, alongside winter activities, including ice skating and marshmallow toasting. As this is a separately ticketed event, Christmas in July generated incremental revenue through ticket sales and paid in-park experience, and we saw really strong uptake on our bundled premium offerings.
I'm incredibly optimistic that we're on a winner with this one. It is, as we speak, the largest Christmas in July event on Earth, and I can assure you we have much larger aspirations for it for next year.
Slide 23 covers another new recurring revenue initiative. In late June, we launched Australia's first theme park annual dining pass.
For 12 months, this pass allows guests to claim one meal and one snack on every visit, alongside of our entry ticket. It's designed to provide excellent value for our regular guests and has seen strong take-up so far, whilst encouraging repeat visitation and converting guests who may not have otherwise purchased food and beverage in the parks.
Like our annual passes, dining pass revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the 12-month period, and this provides another recurring and predictable revenue stream for the business. Slide 24 introduces Dreamworld Plus, our new program designed to turn our growing customer base into a higher-value, longer-term set of members.
Through a rolling calendar of exclusive offers and experiences, from meals and merchandise discounts to ride upgrades, Plus is designed to increase visitation frequency, grow secondary spend, and ultimately support annual pass renewals. This is all about getting passholders to derive one more visit, get extra value from their pass, something that we think is absolutely critical to retention and ultimately growing lifetime value.
Slide 25 features Wahs World, our partnership with the New Zealand Warriors, which saw Dreamworld transformed for a week takeover. This included reskinning our massive highway billboard, Warriors-themed food and beverage, a fan march, a game day watch party at the Dreamworld theatre, and meet-and-greets with Warriors legends.
It is a great example of how we're using strategic partnerships to broaden our reach, engage new audiences, and create new reasons to visit the park. As I'm sure many of the Warriors are one of the hottest brands in the NRL today, and their mantra of "no retreat and no surrender" is absolutely working both on and off the field, and we believe this partnership puts Dreamworld front of mind for any Kiwi looking to visit the theme parks on their next Gold Coast holiday.
Slide 26 shows our expanded year-round events calendar, which includes recurring events as well as new formats and activations. We continue to refresh the calendar to keep offering relevant and engaging events, giving guests more reason to continue to visit throughout the year.
Slide 27 turns to our second growth lever, which is operational excellence. This includes using intelligent forecasting to tactically extend trading hours, thereby increasing dwell time and in-park spends; rolling out more self-service kiosks and digital ordering capabilities to reduce queues, improve throughput, and increase basket values; re-innovating on our mobile vending program to capture impulse spends in high-traffic locations; and using digital tools to target offers throughout the day at Dreamworld via our website, to create a more personalized guest journey.
We're also using AI, robotics, and automation to improve decision-making, enhance operational efficiency, and to reduce our cost base, and we are already seeing tangible benefits from these initiatives. Slide 28 turns to our third growth lever and the next phase of Dreamworld's transformation.
As previously announced, Motocoaster permanently closed in February after 19 years of operation. A new attraction will open in late 2027 as Lost Mine Mayhem, an ATV-style family coaster reimagined as an immersive jungle mine adventure.
The redevelopment will include new trains, upgraded control and launch systems, and a lower minimum rider height, broadening the attraction's appeal to families, whilst also improving loading efficiency. Importantly, by retaining existing track infrastructure, we can deliver a significantly enhanced theming and ride experience for somewhat less than a complete replacement.
Lost Mine Mayhem will beautifully complement Rivertown, creating another compelling family attraction and strengthening our overall guest experience at Dreamworld. Slide 29 brings us to the Coomera landholding itself.
As announced to the market back on the 20th of July, following the ministerial call-in of our development application in October 2025, the Queensland Government approved the development application for our full 55-hectare site, and that delivers, obviously, very clearly, long-term certainty over its future use and unlocking the four core land use precincts. Given the strategic optionality created by the approval, the board has appointed Barrenjoey to lead a comprehensive review of capital and funding options to maximize shareholder value, and we look forward to updating the market as that process progresses.
Finally, slide 30 brings together why we believe Coast represents a compelling investment case. First, earnings are compounding.
Theme parks and attractions EBITDA, excluding specific items, reached $18.8 million, marking our fourth consecutive year of positive earnings and continued improvement year after year. Second, the business funded itself in FY26.
Operating cash flow more than doubled to $19.7 million, fully covering our capital expenditure and a residual $3.7 million of share buybacks. We finished the year with $35 million in cash and a fully undrawn $20 million facility.
Third, we are filling existing capacity, not building it. Dreamworld accommodated 2.4 million visits in FY16, compared to 2 million visits this year.
Yet FY26 revenue already exceeds those FY16 levels. This means additional visitation can flow through a relatively fixed cost base and support ongoing operating leverage.
Fourth, significant underpenetrated markets remain, and I feel exceptionally confident about this opportunity. Our recent growth has been driven primarily by the local market, while non-local and international visitation remains below FY16 levels.
Gold Coast international visitation is still very low, as we've talked about, providing a meaningful opportunity in terms of upside value. In my view, our product is as compelling as it's ever been, and this sets up a realistic opportunity to recapture these markets.
Fifth, finally achieving our planning approval unlocks the value of our landholding. Across the entire site, the Gateway precinct permits uses including hotels, short-stay accommodation, and entertainment, while the Town Centre precinct allows for a multitude of uses, ultimately providing optionality for the future.
Finally, as we've talked about a lot, our pro forma net asset value, as illustrated earlier in the presentation, is at $1.08 per share, well above our reported net assets of 58 cents per share. Dreamworld's fair value of $295.9 million is significantly above its book value.
SkyPoint, fair value at $51.7 million, again materially exceeds book value. We have another $50 million of deferred tax assets that are not yet recognized in our balance sheet.
The message we want to leave with you today is that momentum is strong, the foundations are stronger, and we believe there is much more to come. Yes, economic headwinds and uncertainty remains.
However, as I say regularly, these are episodic in nature; they're not endemic to this category. In fact, we're already seeing a structural shift towards experiences over material things.
I use this example regularly, but if you think back to the GFC, when everyone got their stimulus checks, everyone went out and bought plasma TVs. Today, if you give someone a check, they're far more likely to book a holiday or an experience.
A business like ours doesn't need to work out what the world could look like in the future to benefit from any shifts. Whatever shape the future of work takes, people with more time and money on their hands tend to spend more of it on experiences like ours, and we're already starting to see that play out.
That concludes the main part of our presentation, and so we'll now open the lines up for questions.
Operator
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press *1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.
If you wish to cancel your request, please press *2. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question.
The first question today comes from Nick McGarrigle with Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Nick McGarrigle
Hi, team. Can you talk through pricing strategies?
Obviously, you've partly diluted the revenue per attendance, but it's driven some really strong attendance. Can you talk about how you think about pricing on a go-forward basis and if you feel like you found the right balance?
Greg Yong
Good morning, Nick. Look, we're happy with where it is today.
Obviously, we've put a lot of capital into this business, and we see tremendous opportunity to take price over time. Our view, though, very strongly, is that we've got to have the right strategy for the right time, and we're in a very difficult consumer environment at the minute.
I can tell you, and I say this regularly to the market, we think we've got it right. When we think about single-day and multi-day propositions, I think that our product is as good, if not better, than our competitor in that regard.
On an annual pass basis, it's a different product, and so we think about that very seriously as to how we think about pricing and promotions in that regard. You got to remember in this business, volume is key, and so we're a largely fixed-cost business.
The cost of bringing extra guests to the park really is negligible, but it's really disproportionate in terms of the EBITDA that it brings on for every additional guest, and you can see that clearly in our in-park revenue performance. Our view is it's largely where we would like it to be.
Over time, we expect, and as I mentioned earlier, methodical increases over the period. We think the hotel, in and of itself, if it goes ahead, could be a really significant unlock in that regard, but we see per caps increasing over time regardless of that.
Again, we're absolutely cognizant of it. We take the time, I think, to try to illustrate some of the other drivers around the reporting of that number.
We've talked a lot about the mathematical dilution, the numerator/denominator issue that comes with that. Again, overall, we feel good about what we're doing there.
We're always looking for ways to improve it, and again, I can tell you that it's a conversation we have 5 times a week, every single morning, in our sales calls, and it's absolutely top of mind. Jose, did you want to add anything to that?
José de Sacadura
I think you've covered that pretty well. Obviously, we've mentioned increased marketing and promotional activity in the year, and that's really just a function of the current environment that we're in.
We don't see that as being a permanent sort of feature, and when we undertake promotions and stuff, they're always very sort of carefully considered, and as you can see in the year, the drop in per cap has been more than outweighed by the increase in volumes, and so ultimately, that strategy has been accretive to revenue. We've grown revenue.
As Greg said, I think that's been the right strategy for us right now, but the plan over the long term is always to grow yield.
Greg Yong
Maybe,
Nick McGarrigle
yeah, that certainly seems to be working well, because your annual pass deferred revenue balances obviously will be one of the better indicators in terms of the way the year could look as opposed to the July result in itself.
Greg Yong
Yeah. Look, the other thing I just want to add to that, too, is that there's a couple of things that we've talked about over the last few years.
This opportunity with international is significant, right? We are miles behind as a destination.
This is not a Dreamworld issue; this is a destination issue. As that international comes on, we feel really good about it.
Now, I've said to you before, and I've been misquoted on this by others, but I've always said in the past, international attendance has been largely dilutive to per caps. They come in for less time, and so they get offered a cheaper ticket, a lot of competition, etc.
What we're seeing at the moment, though, is a real change in terms of international, how it comes into the destination, into our business. We're seeing a lot more free and independent travelers as opposed to groups.
We feel a bit more excited about international coming on at higher yields than what we used to see back in those days. Now that could change.
I don't think all of the increases that we'll need to get to to get back to those halcyon days will come from FIT, but it's a significant shift. If you think about the Chinese guests, for example, they are much more tech-savvy than what they were back in FY16, as we all are.
The argument that you need to come on a tour is largely moot at this time. We feel good about what that looks like.
Again, I just want to reinforce the point that I'm absolutely excited about, and I know some of our team are listening to this, and they're sick of me saying it, but we feel so good about the opportunities that still are out there. What I want to make absolutely clear to the market is that when I look at where we are today, we are not sitting here going, "Gee, what else can we do to grow ticket sales?"
We are not looking at that and saying nowhere left to get it from. In fact, we feel really good about it, because we look at penetration back in FY16 and we still have huge opportunity.
Now you could say, "Well, what are you doing about it?" We're doing all sorts of things to get there.
You could say, "Well, hey, why haven't we got it yet?" I think we're growing the business carefully and considerably.
We've done a really good job in the local market, now a reasonable job in those interstate markets. There are some macro factors in some of those interstate markets.
Victoria, for example, is a challenge, any retailer you talk to will say the same thing. What we are absolutely clear on is that they did come to Dreamworld back in those days.
We don't think there's any material shift in terms of how they feel about travel and coming to the Gold Coast, and we feel really strongly that our business is as compelling as ever, maybe even more compelling, probably more compelling. We feel really, really confident that we can recapture and pick up that penetration in a meaningful way.
When that comes, that's not going to be annual passes, and so the recognition will come straight away, and that'll certainly be reflected in the numbers. Again, I always stress the point, we don't run this business for the accountants.
We run this business to make the most money we can in a very safe way, and so in our minds, if we sell an annual pass and that's the best thing we can sell, well, let's sell it, and we're not worried about the revenue recognition and trying to think around all of that. We want to do the best thing we can for the medium term of the business.
If that's an annual pass, great. What we do see is as we do more in New South Wales and Victoria, that'll come on in a different way, and it'll be more than likely recognized in that year.
Nick McGarrigle
Thanks. Then maybe just as a second question on the property side, I think Jose made some comments around what goes into the $296 [million?]
. I think you've obviously got a major rides and attractions book value written down at $67 [million?]
. In the $296 [million?]
, have you taken more of what you believe is a market value for the rides, and then is that also embedded into the $296 [million?] ?
José de Sacadura
Yeah. The $296 [million?]
includes all the land, buildings, rides, attractions, everything sort of on the land that we use to operate the business. It doesn't include working capital, though, obviously, the cash balance that we have is outside of that.
It includes all of that. Most of the uplift on book value, I think, really comes from the land, for the most part.
The valuation uplift resulting from that approval, I've called out the $52 million and the $38.5 million. That's close to $90 million of that increment over book value is coming from the land and the broader uses and the optionality that that approval has brought.
Nick McGarrigle
Cool. Then I'm not sure if you can provide a comment on, I think the valuation is obviously gross of any civil or preparatory works that are required to unlock some of that higher and better use, like you've called out the car park.
Just to have a rough sense of what that would be in terms of potentially a netting factor?
José de Sacadura
No, not at this stage. I did say in my prepared remarks that the quantum of those costs and also responsibility of those costs is really yet to be determined.
We're working through that at the moment, and it really depends on what we do with the land and who we might do it with as to what those costs might be and who bears those costs. At this stage, I can't really provide a definitive answer on that.
Nick McGarrigle
No worries. Maybe maybe you can't say or maybe it's changed, but I think in the development application there was an approximate estimation on the cumulative CapEx to proceed with all of the proposed, end buildings.
Can you give us a can you give us an update on or reiterate what that number was in terms of what the future funding requirement to proceed to actually develop the the property, if that was disclosed in the DA?
José de Sacadura
Look, I can't get into the specifics of the valuers' assumptions, really. Yeah.
Nick McGarrigle
No, in terms of I think there was a comment around a quote, unquote, this might have been the press, but a $200 million hotel, but the cumulative CapEx required to actually put into the site to get the buildings to an end state?
José de Sacadura
We haven't made any decisions in terms of what we're doing with the land just yet, and until we have a clearer view and until Barrenjoey finishes their work, it's not totally clear as to what the total cost will be,
Nick McGarrigle
and
José de Sacadura
the funding and capital requirements for that.
Nick McGarrigle
Okay. All right.
Thanks for taking those questions.
Operator
The next question comes from Allan Franklin with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Allan Franklin
Thank you. Morning, Gary, Greg, Jose.
Thank you for your time. Wouldn't mind just delving into the gross margin quickly, please.
We do have 3 or 4 years' worth of history now, and it looks like 85% is a pretty steady platform to work from, despite the opening of more food and bev. Just interested in understanding if that 85 is a nice base to use moving forward, and just how that dining pass might actually work its way through, assuming you're only charging $89 and an average person's coming through 3 or 4 times, does that play around with margins at all?
Greg Yong
Maybe I'll have a first go at that and then hand over to Jose a little as well. Look, 85% gross margins is kind of in our view the base.
We still see opportunity to grow it. Again, as we bring on more visitation, and we've I think clearly articulated today that we see opportunities still to grow over 2 million people, very clearly.
Every time we bring on that additional attendance, we're seeing growth in terms of operating leverage, and so that doesn't change in our minds. You're right, the annual dining pass has some different accounting treatments that go with that.
Jose will talk about that in a second, but we've kind of already covered that off in the presentation, but we'll just reclarify all of that. Our view is very clearly that that just brings on incremental spending.
To your point, we have a very clear view as to the underlying economics of that program. We've not gone into that blind.
We've spent a lot of time working with other people in the market that have had really successful incarnations of that. They continue to work with us and advise us on that program, and we feel very very excited about what that can do for us, despite the accounting treatment being unique and different, obviously seeing over the period of time.
I can't give you a projection as to what the margin could get to and what it looks like. We've obviously had that conversation in the past, and our view has been, look, it's a different cost base to what it was back in FY16 for the reasons we've outlined earlier.
We don't see margins capping out. We see certainly more opportunity to continue to grow them over time through a number of different initiatives.
Mix of pass is one. Certainly as we continue to improve and enhance our F&B offer and our retail offer, same thing.
Largely, we also see opportunities to continue to grow the revenue and try to hold our cost base as well, and that's something that we're constantly focused on and trying to do. Jose, did you want to talk just briefly about the dining pass treatment?
José de Sacadura
Yeah. The revenue on the passes, as Greg mentioned earlier in the presentation, is recognized very similarly to the annual pass for entry.
It's because we provide food over a 12-month period, we're required to spread that revenue evenly over the 12-month period. However, the cost side is more lumpy as and when guests come to the park and redeem for a meal, then the COGS for that meal will be recognized at each redemption point.
There is a bit of a mismatch. Obviously, over the entire 12-month period, it all washes out, but sometimes there can be a bit of lumpiness in terms of 1/12 of the revenue in the first month, but maybe they've come twice and the COGS is a bit higher.
Overall, when we look at the economics, and without getting into precise sort of numbers here, the number of redemptions at which we sort of break even, if you like, or continue to make a profit, is well in excess, that's more than double of what the number of visits that we'd typically see from an annual passholder. Based on our modeling, it is certainly expected to be very additive to that gross margin line.
Greg Yong
What you'll see early on, Allan, just to be clear on that, too, is that will look poorer than what it's going to end up like. If you can imagine, the first time you buy your season dining pass, you're pretty keen to use it, and you'll probably buy it the day that you're in the park or the day that you're coming or the day before, and so you're keen, interested, and you get out here and you use it.
Over time, and again, we've looked at this at other organizations historically, we've seen that doesn't sustain, and we want people to come and visit the park more often. We actually think of this much more around lifetime value, and the more times we can get you to come, the more value you ascribe to that pass, and the more likely you are, in our view, the more propensity you have to renew with us.
It is a bit difficult early on because you get 1/4 of the revenue today, but you get early COGS. Nothing in our modeling versus what we're seeing is concerning at all.
In fact, we're seeing everything we anticipated that we would see.
Allan Franklin
Follow on. Then you obviously feel confident on sort of volumes.
Just maybe talk to park capacity and guest experience, just given you've now pushed past 2 million, and similar sort of question with Lost Mine Mayhem. Why another family ride as opposed to thrill or otherwise?
Obviously, updated mechanics, it does seem like you can obviously push through a lot more individuals.
Greg Yong
Look, as we constantly have capacity in our minds. We've had that on our minds 5 years ago as we started embarking on this capital investment program.
When rational minds might have thought otherwise, but we really did try to be very thoughtful about that, and as we've brought new attractions on, we could have saved a touch of capital on doing something like the Dreamworld Flyer, for example. We could have got a smaller version of that and had less capacity and saved a few hundred grand on that capital cost.
Our view was very much that we are shooting here for a future that has us back to historical attendance, and I think we can do better than that, to be frank. We've always thought about that in that regard, and everything that we've put on over the last few years has had an eye towards making sure that one element of that decision-making, and we have a number of different facets to those decisions: lifetime cost of ownership; obviously, safety is the first thing we look at; will it sell tickets; etc.
Capacity is right up there for us because these parks are usually cyclical, and so when people are here, it's not good having the busiest days in the parks and having the worst experience. Again, we had the busiest day in the history of the park back in January, and we also saw a really strong NPS and a really great guest experience that day.
We feel really good about what we're doing in that regard. In terms of thrill versus family, look, this one was unique in that we have a standing attraction there, and we did a lot of work to see, well, what could we do with this, and it was a very popular ride previously.
What could we do with this to put in a world-class attraction really efficiently? I think that the CapEx that we're looking to deploy to this, and we've called that out as not more than $20 million, we think we'd probably do somewhat better than $20 million.
There's no way that we would get anything like what we're going to have at the end of this for anything like that CapEx spend. Part of it was opportunistic.
We had that opportunity to kind of do something there which we think will be meaningful. There's a bit of us that also wants to round out the Rivertown experience.
Rivertown has been a huge hit for the business, and we felt that the Motocoaster property there, it just didn't really fit, and this really does help clean that section up as well. We've made no bones about the fact that we really see ourselves as a family business, and so the product that we put in is generally going to move in that direction.
We're constantly scanning the market, constantly looking at what we've got on offer and looking at what's next. As we've talked about, the lead times for new attractions are 3, 4, 5 years away, and so we're talking about today what that could look like in a period of time, and I can assure you that a thrill attraction is certainly on the list of things that we're considering and contemplating, but we're just not there yet.
We never say no to thinking about that. We're always looking at all different types of attractions, but we certainly have a strong bias towards family because we think that's just I think really clear in terms of what we're trying to shoot for in terms of the markets that we're after.
I certainly wouldn't say that we're never ever going to build another thrill ride again.
Allan Franklin
Helpful. Thanks.
Operator
Our final question comes from Tony Mitchell with Shaw and Partners. Please go ahead.
Tony Mitchell
Congratulations. My question is can you give us some sort of time period where Barrenjoey will be finished with their review, and clearly then, you're going to work out what you're going to do with the extra land, and obviously, buyback, capital return, all those sort of things come into play?
Thank you.
Greg Yong
Thanks, Tony, and good morning. Look, we obviously had started the engagement with Barrenjoey or started having conversations with them, as soon as the land approval was finalized, and slightly before, obviously, as you can imagine.
We've given them a very clear brief as to the sort of things that were on our mind, and so we certainly have a view as to what the highest and best uses could be for these different parcels of land, let alone the broader capital allocation opportunity that comes here, given the cash balance, and given obviously the opportunities that have come from recently very strong performance. Our view is Barrenjoey need to take the time to do that work properly.
These are far too significant decisions to be made in a hurry. At the same time, our view is if we are going to do some of these things, there are some opportunistic reasons to do that prior to the Olympic Games.
We're in this difficult conundrum of we want it all right away and all at once, but we also want to be calm and methodical about doing it properly. My view would be over the next quarter or so, we'll have a strong view as to what that looks like.
I can't give you a guarantee, unfortunately, Tony, because again, it's a significant enough opportunity that we want to get it absolutely right. We're not looking for this to go on for too long.
I would anticipate that internally we'd have a view in the next quarter or so, but again, I really don't want to give any guidance as to how that looks. I know I've rambled on a bit here, but I wanted to make really clear to you that we're in a hurry to get moving on it, absolutely, but we want to make sure we do it in a considered way.
Tony Mitchell
Can I ask you just assuming you do decide to build a hotel and do short-term accommodation, is that why you've got a $20 million debt facility? If you decided to do that, either with a joint venture or yourself, would that potentially lead to a capital raising?
Greg Yong
Look, we don't want to rule anything in or out, Tony. I think we have a view around capital raisings, and that's that we don't particularly think that they're a good idea given that the price at the moment.
It's absolutely clear that the price is very undervalued, and that's why we're all here. I wouldn't rule it out, but it's not top of our minds looking at a capital raise.
Look, the reason for the facility is probably a little bit more historical in nature. We took the decision a year and a bit ago to do another buyback.
We've now bought 20% of the stock back. To be frank with you, we were duly concerned about the environment that we're in, and so we wanted to make sure that we had some headroom before we committed to that buyback.
The facility was really about having some headroom in case trading conditions didn't go as we thought they would, and so that's the real reason for it. It's not really for any other reason than that.
We do think having the facility there gives us some optionality, but yeah, that's our view and a high level around how we're thinking about capital allocation.
Tony Mitchell
Are you going to continue the buyback, or are you not going to do that?
Greg Yong
We're not sure yet at the moment, Tony. What we do say consistently is capital management is always on our minds, but this is the prime reason why we've got Barrenjoey involved.
We have strong views, we want them tested by people that are doing this on the regular. We've put to them a number of different propositions, and that includes all of those things that you would anticipate.
I can't say, "Yes, we're going to go ahead with it," but it's certainly on the table as part of their work that they're considering. Really, they're here to look at capital allocation broadly, as we've outlined, it's about for us looking at the best outcome for our holders.
We've got some perspectives, we want them tested, and everything's on the table. I think I can make it pretty clear to you that we have a view around equity raises, which is, I think based on the price at the time, but we certainly shouldn't rule anything in or out.
I think hopefully it helps you just to understand how we feel about it.
Tony Mitchell
Would one option be just to sell the land outright?
Greg Yong
Yes, and that would be one of many options. Again, the fundamental reason that Barrenjoey is involved is to look at the best outcome for all of the different optionality that we have.
That may be the case, could be. We've said very clearly that there's elements of the land and elements of this program that we don't believe are in our core competency, and you won't hear from us saying to you that we're out there looking to do a residential development on our own.
Could we partner with someone and do a JV? Potentially.
It may make sense for us not to do that and look at other alternatives. That's why we've got Barrenjoey helping us with this work.
We've got some views and perspectives, we want to stay in our wheelhouse and do the things that we're good at, but we want to make sure again that we don't leave any stone unturned, and this is a significant piece of work, as you can imagine, because these are decisions that go right to the core of creating value in the organization.
Tony Mitchell
Just the other one, just if you decided to move the car park, that would be substantial expenditure, wouldn't it?
Greg Yong
Look, I think building anything in Queensland is substantial these days, and so it's appropriate for us to disclose to you that that is clearly one of the options. Our view is very clearly that we're going to do the thing that makes the most sense again for our holders, and so it's fair and reasonable that we've got optionality over the car park, but our view is, yeah, we're looking at construction costs.
I think if anyone's had exposure to those over the last few years, it's us. We've managed to deliver a significant program of capital works in a very difficult environment, and we've delivered all of those works on time and on budget.
I'm not about to say, though, that in the lead-up to the Olympic Games that's not going to get more difficult, and so to that end, we've got a strong bias to being very efficient and risk-adverse in terms of how we think about construction projects, and so whatever we might choose to do with the car park is going to be with that front of mind.
Tony Mitchell
Okay. Just to summarize here, you've got a share price of 54 and an NAV of 1.08, and if you add on the car park stuff, that's another 10 cents, it's about $1.18.
How is that substantial discount going to be reduced?
Gary Weiss
I think, Tony, in the first place, you're double counting. The net asset value that we've disclosed includes the car park, okay?
Tony Mitchell
Okay. We'll put it this way, the share price is half of the NAV.
The question is how do you narrow that substantial discount?
Gary Weiss
The good news is that the value's there, Tony. The challenge for us is to address the disparity between the market value and the intrinsic value.
That's going to be achieved by continued good performance and hopefully out of sensible review of capital allocation outcomes following the completion of the Barrenjoey review.
Tony Mitchell
Right. Okay.
All right. Thank you for that.
That's a good rundown.
Operator
This now concludes the Coast Entertainment Holdings results presentation. Thank you for your participation.
You may now disconnect.
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