Wonderla scales record high; Imagicaaworld at 52-wk peak, up 44% in 3 days

The companies said business continues to show an excellent rebound after two years of adverse Covid-19 impact and an overall improvement in the health of operations

Shares of recreational service companies like Imagicaaworld Entertainment and Wonderla Holidays were in demand on Monday as they rallied up to 11 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade amid heavy volumes and expectations of strong earnings.

Imagicaaworld, which operates Imagicaa – theme park, water park, snow park and a family hotel Novotel Imagicaa Khopoli, hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 54.90 on zooming 11 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade. The trading volumes on the counter more-than-doubled with a combined 10.9 million shares having changed hands on the NSE and BSE, till 11:29 am.

In the past three days, the stock has zoomed 44 per cent after the company announced the launch of its Waterpark, Aquamagicaa, in the city of Surat, Gujarat.

Aquamagicaa - Surat is open to guests from March 1, 2023. The park is spread over 4 acres of land in the heart of the Surat city and includes 16 water based rides/ attractions imported from international manufacturers. The company said it intends to extend the high quality service experience that has been enjoyed by more than 11 million guests in the flagship project at Khopoli.

Meanwhile, in the October-December (Q3FY23) quarter, the company reported its best-ever Q3 quarterly earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortization (EBITDA) of Rs 32.4 crore against Rs 10.2 crore in Q3FY20 on strong business performance and prudent cost control measures. EBITDA margin improved by a massive 2,460 bps to 43.2 per cent over Q3FY20.

The company first time reported positive profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 7.05 crore in Q3FY23. Total revenue grew 37 per cent to Rs 75.1 crore against Rs 54.9 crore in Q3FY20.

It said the business continues to show an excellent rebound after two years of adverse Covid-19 impact as well as overall improvement in the health of operations.

Meanwhile, shares of Wonderla Holidays hit a new high of Rs 464.35 on rising 3 per cent on the BSE. In the past one week, the stock of the country's largest amusement park chain has rallied 13 per cent as compared to 1.8 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

In Q3FY23, the company had reported a strong 85 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in its profit after tax to Rs 38.90 crore given a healthy operational performance.

Wonderla Holidays reported double digit revenue growth across units, driven by robust footfall numbers. In Q3FY23, footfalls for the quarter were 0.92 million as against 0.72 million during Q3FY20.

Revenue from operations increased 71 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 134 per cent YoY to Rs 113.2 crore. The EBITDA came at Rs 56.45 crore, up 190 per cent QoQ and 295 per cent YoY, with EBITDA margin of 33.07 per cent (up 2,045 bps QoQ, and 2,035 bps on a yearly basis).

The management said the significant boost in the number of visitors was due to the increase in domestic tourism, walk-in customers, and the revival of student excursion trips.

“We are happy with the overall business performance during the quarter and growth is expected to continue in the coming quarters. The construction of our new park in Bhubaneswar, Odisha has begun and we aim to open it by 2025,” the management said.