Village Roadshow shares dropped more than 14 per cent after the beleaguered theme park operator warned that already weak visitor numbers had been further hit by Tropical Cyclone Debbie.
Visitor numbers were already lower at Village Roadshow's Gold Coast parks following last year's fatal accident at rival Ardent Leisure's Dreamworld, and the company on Monday said they were down 9.4 per cent for the nine months to March 31.
Village Roadshow said membership renewals had also declined, and that its Wet'n'Wild park outside Sydney was expected to perform even less well in the second half than during its first half in which it lost $1.9 million before tax.
The company now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from its theme park division of between $55 million and $65 million, down from $88 million in 2015/16.
"VRL firmly believes that the theme parks division will return to normal levels over time following key marketing campaigns and the introduction of new attractions," Village Roadshow said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
Village Roadshow has also had problems at its film distribution unit, announcing in February that the unit's first-half EBITDA had fallen 27 per cent following the underperformance of independently acquired titles Deepwater Horizon and Red Dog: True Blue.
Shares in the company, which in February said it may have to sell assets to cut debt, fell as much as 14.5 per cent before finishing 26 cents lower, or 6.48 per cent, at $3.75.
