Merlin 2013 Results

[IanB]

There was a web caste at 9.30am GMT which will be online later. More information can be viewed here: http://www.merlinentertainments.biz/results-and-presentations

Stock price has dropped following the announcement, but the FTSE is also down.

Edit: 2014 Plans at Thorpe include Shark Hotel

Ian

 

[Jonathan]

I'd be intrigued to see the visitor figures for each attraction (mainly the theme parks) rather than lumping them all together. I'm surprised to see that in the 2014 MAP sale, the numbers of passes sold were up by about 55% in comparison to the 2013 sale - helped no doubt by the addition of the Privilege Pack for Premium passes - and also possibly because of the VIP one, which has gained considerable interest, according to the presentation.

Regarding the Legoland Hotel in California, it's giving figures of 99% occupancy rates for peak season. That's impressive, and is basically on a par with EP's occupancy level! Also, another 50k visits which can be attributed to the hotel is impressive, but again, I'd like to see the overall visitor figures for the park to compare them.

I don't recall hearing anything about Merlin acquiring Turkuazoo in Istanbul, but with the relaunch next year, this could be an interesting development for an interesting city. It's not a place I would've thought Merlin would want to invest in, but I'm looking forward to seeing what's going to happen here.

 

[Scott]

Thorpe's hotel is getting properly realised then?

Anyone remember these plans:

 

[djtruefitt]

Well i'm not great at reading these financial reports, but it seems they made a profit and everything was up compared to 2012.

Also they intend to open a lot more midway attractions around the world, more LegoLand theme parks and expand the resort offering and hotels at their themeparks.

I can see why they want more midway attractions, it says on average a midway will only cost £5-8 million! And they plan to build more together to save costs on staffing, rent and marketing.