Hi everyone,
Some of you might not be aware but today Nick Varney presented the 2018 preliminary results for the financial year, with a fair portion dedicated to Alton Towers Resort and the wider Merlin estate.
A summary of the 1 hour long presentation follows, which is entirely objective and factual:
- Net Promoter Scores are up. Merlin operates its parks at a 'world class' level due to their KPI results and Nick claims it is 'virtually impossible to increase the NPS above 57% (which it currently is). For context, last year was Merlin's best ever year for KPIs. See Figure 1.
- The company were "launching a new ride" at Heide Park called Colossos. Nick makes reference to the investors viewing the presentation by saying "This image might be familiar to those of you who have seen our Wicker Man product. At Merlin we never let a good idea go un-copied if we can help it."
- Merlin welcomed a record number of visitors to their attractions in 2018 (67M). Resort Theme Parks, in particular Alton Towers Resort, had an outstanding year, "Helped by the installation of the Wicker Man attraction and a strong Halloween product."
- The future of this business is all about IPs. Nick claims Merlin are the best in the world at pulling off Intellectual Property location based entertainments. See Figure 2.
- Resort Theme Park's allocated capital expenditure is to reduce even further in order to fund Midway roll out and future LEGOLAND Parks. See Figure 3.
- Merlin create the best themed accommodation in the world, unrivalled by any other amusement or park operator. They plan to continue this drive to turn their parks into resort destinations because it is the "ultimate win-win, as people who stay at the attractions provide better KPI scores."
- Oh, and they are no longer counting pop badge as assets on their balance sheet to aid with the preparation of their financial statements for the Midway Division. See Figure 4. Yes - I am not joking.
My concluding remarks:
It is astonishing that Merlin have achieved their "best ever" KPI scores given they were publicly outed by the Financial Press for their poor TripAdvisor results a couple of months ago. Additionally, to believe that the Guest Satisfaction has increased seems unreasonable due to the decrease in overall quality of their attractions. Merlin seem adamant to continue packing their parks with as many rooms as possible irrespective of consumer demand. It was interesting to note that the Stargazing Pods were completely omitted from the presentation. Finally, it was bizarre to see Nick bill the Colossus reopening as a new attraction.
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
Figure 3:
Figure 4:
Is that bottom one a real picture?
