Dreamworld blow: Ardent CEO quits after five months
The board of troubled theme park operator Ardent Leisure Group, the parent company of Dreamworld, was thrown into further turmoil yesterday with the shock resignation of new chief executive Simon Kelly.
Kelly, a former Nine Entertainment finance chief who took the helm of Ardent five months ago, said yesterday he had no immediate plans for the future following his sudden resignation.
“It’s a very sensitive time but it’s not appropriate for me to make any statements. I don’t have any plans for the future,” he said.
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Senior sources say Mr Kelly had signed up to a different Ardent board, different company culture and different operating style than when he agreed to take the top job six months ago.
Kelly’s resignation prompted a near 3% slide in Ardent shares and comes as the entertainment group says it is trading broadly in line with earnings expectations for the year but that trading at its Dreamworld theme park remains challenged.
Kelly took on the CEO role on June 9, replacing former magazine editor Deborah Thomas, who left after a two-year stint marred by the deaths of four people at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast last year. Thomas left the company with a $731,000 payout.
Ardent Leisure CEO Simon Kelly has resigned after just five months in the job.
The Dreamworld tragedy also affected the Gold Coast tourism industry, including its hotels.
Dreamworld hosted 1.66 million theme park visitors last financial year, significantly down on the 2.4 million who attended the park in 2015-16.
Kelly says he is pleased to have made “real progress on our strategic and operational priorities”. “I remain very positive about the potential of the group’s businesses,” he says.
Corporate doctor Gary Weiss is now chairman of the Ardent board – the third chairman in a year – after mounting an aggressive campaign to join the board
Yesterday, Dr Weiss said the board was disappointed with Kelly’s resignation and would search for a replacement chief executive immediately. Sources say Dr Weiss is a hands-on chairman while Kelly wanted to be an independent chief executive making his own decisions.
At a corporate level, good progress has been made in driving the cost base down, the full impact of which will flow through in the next financial year
In the interim, the group’s chief financial officer, Geoff Richardson, will assume the role, while non-executive director Brad Richmond, who joined the board alongside Dr Weiss, will take responsibility for overseeing the Main Event business until the previously announced search for a US-based CEO is completed.
Last month Dr Weiss told The Australian that his chief focus was to improve the underlying performance of each of Ardent’s business units.
“That is the chief focus and that is where our minds are applied,” he says.
In a trading update, the company says that depreciation charges for fiscal 2018 are expected to be about $10 million higher than the previous corresponding period, reflecting new Main Event, Kingpin and Playtime centre openings.
Dreamworld trading remains challenged, the company says, with the business trading above break-even ahead of the peak trading season over the summer.
The bowling and entertainment business, meanwhile, has seen earnings rise 20% on the previous corresponding period.
“At a corporate level, good progress has been made in driving the cost base down, the full impact of which will flow through in the next financial year,” Ardent says.
Additional reporting: Samantha Woodhill, Glenda Korporaal
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
