Hong Kong Disneyland profits up 36pc despite slowdown in visitor growth
Resort reported a HK$336 million profit for the last financial year thanks to a rise of per capita guest spending
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort reported a record HK$336 million net profit for the last financial year on Monday, up 36 per cent year-on-year, despite a significant slowdown in visitor growth.
But the theme park did not say when it could share financial returns with the government, which owns 52 per cent of the park, even though this was its third consecutive year of robust profit growth.
The theme park's revenue rose 12 per cent between October 2013 and September last year, to a record HK$5.4 billion. Per capita guest spending rose by 11 per cent, thanks to product sales associated with the ultra-popular Frozen animated film.
But the attendance increased just 1 per cent, a departure from the double-digit growth in each of the previous four years.
The park's managing director Andrew Kam Min-ho insisted the results were still very encouraging, however he said there was no timetable as to when the park would start paying dividends to the government. He said the profits would instead be re-invested into new projects.
The park saw a total of 7.5 million visitors last financial year, a rise of only 100,000. The number of mainland Chinese visitors grew by 4 per cent, while those from Southeast Asian countries increased by 2 per cent.
Kam said the opening of the new Mystic Point attraction in 2013 had boosted the park attendance, providing a higher base for comparison to the last financial year.
The occupancy rate of the park's two hotels also dropped one percentage point from a year ago, to 93 per cent. Kam said renovation work had temporarily reduced room supply. A third hotel is scheduled to open in two years to provide 750 additional rooms.
When asked about the progress of the resort's second phase of development, which Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced in his policy address last month, Kam said it had yet to enter into any "key stages" with the government.
Kam expressed confidence that the opening of another Disney park in Shanghai at the end of the year would not affect business in Hong Kong.
Professor Zhou Yinggang, the director of Chinese University's Centre for Hospitality and Real Estate Research, agreed that reinvestment might be a smarter move than paying a dividend. "The profit a few years later may be even better," he said.
