Wonderla, one of India’s top amusement park operators, reported that it had managed to recover about 77% of its revenue during the fourth and final quarter of FY21 that ended in March.
The company, which operates water parks and amusement parks in South Indian states such as Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana, was able to maintain pricing, given that the number of footfalls, at 3.11 lakh, was also around 77% of what it was in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
Overall occupancy was at 28% during the final three months of the financial year, compared to 33% during the corresponding period in the previous year.
There had been concerns of a prolonged impact on amusement parks due to the fear of COVID-19 among the public. However, the company’s performance in the fourth quarter should assuage some of those investor concerns.
Wonderla, which shut its parks in March last year, had started reopening some of them in November, and managed to complete the process in January with the opening of the Hyderabad park on Jan 9.
Interestingly, the company’s performance for the quarter was despite heavily restricted timing for its services.
In January, for example, parks were functional only for four days a week — from Thursday to Sunday — and in February, from Wednesday to Sunday. They were able to function on all the days of week only in March.
Managing Director Arun K Chittilappilly said the company is focused on reassuring patrons of the safety of the parks.
“All Wonderla Parks have received the COV-Safe certification by Bureau Veritas India and become the first amusement park in India to be awarded for the same. We wanted to reassure our visitors of safety and hygiene followed at the theme park and this certification is a step ahead in that direction. We look forward to offering the public an opportunity to unwind and relax at Wonderla soon,” he said.
Despite the pick-up in business towards the year-end, nearly eight months of lock-down wreaked havoc on Wonderla’s finances for the year.
Despite the recovering 77% of its fourth quarter revenue to post a top line of Rs 34.8 cr, the company reported a net loss of Rs 4.9 cr.
For the full year, the company made a net loss of Rs 49.9 cr, which is higher than the full-year revenue of Rs 44.71 cr. In fact, for the full year, revenue was down by a whopping 84% from Rs 283 cr.