2017 HKDL financial results

[Asa]

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/2133962/hong-kong-disneyland-falls-further-red-losses-double-2017-hit

Hong Kong Disneyland falls further into red as losses double in 2017 to hit HK$345 million. Executive vice-president and managing director Samuel Lau said park expansion, asset depreciation and higher operating costs ate into Disneyland’s balance sheet for the year ending September 30. Revenues jumped 8 per cent to HK$5.1 billion, largely powered by a 3 per cent increase in visitor numbers to 6.2 million.

[Asa]

Apparently a big part of the loss was due to depreciation of assets which is not actually payable to anybody, unlike taxes (pay to govt) or interests (pay to banks). So HKDL actually did not do so bad. Also the expected opening of the Zhuhai-Macau-HK mega bridge plus high speed rail should bring in more visitors from the mainland this year.

Another potential revenue growth could be concerts. May Day, the hugely popular Taiwanese band, are set to host their concerts in the car park of the resort this May. That could drive more traffic into the park and hotels. This is a potential game changer.

[mclubber]

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/e...ouble-2017-hit

Hong Kong Disneyland falls further into red as losses double in 2017 to hit HK$345 million. Executive vice-president and managing director Samuel Lau said park expansion, asset depreciation and higher operating costs ate into Disneyland’s balance sheet for the year ending September 30. Revenues jumped 8 per cent to HK$5.1 billion, largely powered by a 3 per cent increase in visitor numbers to 6.2 million.

The HK govt has a surplus of 160 billion hkd due to land sales for this year. The HK Govt alone could clear HK Disney debt easily if it wanted to. I suspect its Disney and HKGovt playing hard ball.

[Asa]

The HK govt has a surplus of 160 billion hkd due to land sales for this year. The HK Govt alone could clear HK Disney debt easily if it wanted to. I suspect its Disney and HKGovt playing hard ball.

There is absolutely no chance LegCo will allow HK govt to inject any more funds into HKDL.

WDC has the money to resolve the problem, too. Why should HK govt pay? HK govt surplus should be spent on improving healthcare and other welfare of the HK citizens, not HKDL. Even for a fan like me I am totally against another round of fund injection.

[mclubber]

Too bad neither sides are willing to give up shares and put it in the HSI in order the public to invest HK Disney. This way there will be a new infusion of cash into the park. The other way is to bring in a private investor/partner.

[Asa]

Too bad neither sides are willing to give up shares and put it in the HSI in order the public to invest HK Disney. This way there will be a new infusion of cash into the park. The other way is to bring in a private investor/partner.

I think they will save this move for the finance of the building of the second gate. The priority is to make the first park and actually the resort overall a great success. Once that is achieved then it should not be too difficult to raise funds in the HSI for the building of the second gate.

[hakjie11]

People keep talking about the impressive attendance of Shanghai.
But they keep forgetting the price of entrance is only a part of its revenue, the other major part is the add-on sales per visitor.
This is where HK or other Disney parks are still miles ahead of Shanghai. From other reviews, the average visitor to Shanghai is not really willing to spend on food or merchandises.
A high attendance will look very good on paper, but it will most likely scare away the real spenders looking for a relaxing and quality Disney experience.
Although HKDL has only been growing modestly with more loss than profit, the Disney experience is spot on.

As for the 2nd gate, Mr B recently posted this :

https://www.facebook.com/mrbpage/photos/a.336445306504065.1073741847.201140140034583/966829750132281/?type=3&theater

With so much time in favor of Disney, it made me wonder whether a 2nd gate would even be announced in the coming 10 years (not including time to build it).

[Asa]

https://www.hk01.com/%E6%B8%AF%E8%81%9E/161513/%E8%BF%AA%E5%A3%AB%E5%B0%BC%E6%9C%AA%E8%B3%BC%E4%BA%8C%E6%9C%9F%E5%9C%9F%E5%9C%B0-%E6%88%96%E5%86%8D%E4%B8%9F%E7%A9%BA12%E5%B9%B4-%E8%A1%8C%E6%94%BF%E7%B8%BD%E8%A3%81-%E5%8F%AF%E4%BD%9C%E5%85%B6%E4%BB%96%E7%9F%AD%E6%9C%9F%E7%94%A8%E9%80%94

Actually Mr. B got his image from the above HK01 article. In it they discussed how to best use the second phase land in the short term. Samuel Lau, HKDL CEO, said the resort has no objection to any short term lease.

One of the main suggestion is to build an 18 hole golf course to replace Fanling Golf Course, which is under a lot of public pressure to be re-developed into a public/private housing estate.

I think building a sports or stadium style facility in the second phase land makes a lot of sense. They can then host sports or music events there. Like how they used to host baseball events. That will drive traffic to the resort and give plenty of business to the hotels. HK severely lacks performance venues and sports venues, it will be great help and the visitors can enjoy the event as well as the resort.

But I am totally against short term housing. First of all the transport costs are not cheap to Disney station (about HK$25 per trip from town, even from Tsing Yi it is like HK$8 or $9) so I cannot see why grass root level people will want to live there. There are no markets and no shops so the people who live there will find it very hard to get services or jobs. They will feel abandoned and will complain. It simply will not work.

[mclubber]

[QUOTE=Asa;n8549052]

I think building a sports or stadium style facility in the second phase land makes a lot of sense. They can then host sports or music events there. Like how they used to host baseball events. That will drive traffic to the resort and give plenty of business to the hotels. HK severely lacks performance venues and sports venues, it will be great help and the visitors can enjoy the event as well as the resort.
/QUOTE]

Whatever happend to the proposed stadium to be built at the old Kai Tak airport site? As for concert venues we got 3: Asiaworld, Hung Hom Colesium and The Convention Centre in wan chai.

[hakjie11]

A sports stadium sounds like the perfect fit but very unlikely to be considered, just like you said, AsiaWorld Expo is only like 15 minutes away by car and that venue is also used for some sports events, expo shows and concerts. A lot of investment for some overlapping functions just 15 minutes away.

How about a "world class" beach with a pier construction and enough parking space? ( Not talking about the 10 meter wide stroke of gravel which we are calling a beach in Hong Kong nowadays)
The imported fine sand would cost a fortune, but maintenance is cheap and everybody could use it. Tourist will also like it.
Move all the food trucks to it and everybody is happy. Even Disney could benefit fully from it with its hotels nearby.

Something like this :

[Asa]

I don't mean an indoor arena like AsiaWorldArena. I mean an outdoor venue where they can play baseball, cricket and outdoor concerts. The land should be used to target a niche market which is not being served else where in Hong Kong. There are a lot of sports that are played in the world where Hong Kong has no suitable venue for.

There are a lot of Indians, Pakistanis and Australian visitors to HK, a good cricket venue will attract them to HKDL. Also there are a lot of Japanese, Taiwanese and Americans and they will love to have a baseball venue. These are the potentially huge and niche markets that are not properly served out here.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/2018/01/29/disneys-300000-square-foot-bet-on-sports/#4a4071e9c9b7

The above article is about Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Here is a quote:"The revenue of the complex comes from event registration, gate sales, merchandise, food and beverage and event and facility sponsorship but that’s just the start. The facilities at the Wide World of Sports are all aimed at youth events and there is good reason for this. As the athletes are young they inevitably come with their family members who watch them. That brings business to Disney’s on-site hotels and its parks as the competitors and their families tend to visit them once the events are over. It has had a magic touch."

[Asa]

http://www.inparkmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2017-Theme-Museum-Index.pdf

I guess the 2017 Theme Park attendance index should go in here. HKDL with 6.2 million is 18th in the world and the second last among Disney parks. The last is Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris.

Shanghai Disneyland is already 8th in the world with 11 million. Even Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai has 9.8 million. Ocean Park Hong Kong has 5.8 million.

On one hand it is sad that HKDL is not getting the attendance it needs but on the other hand I don't want to see it invaded en masse by mainlanders. Hopefully HKDL management can find a right balance between the two.

[hakjie11]

http://www.inparkmagazine.com/wp-con...seum-Index.pdf

I guess the 2017 Theme Park attendance index should go in here. HKDL with 6.2 million is 18th in the world and the second last among Disney parks. The last is Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris.

Shanghai Disneyland is already 8th in the world with 11 million. Even Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai has 9.8 million. Ocean Park Hong Kong has 5.8 million.

On one hand it is sad that HKDL is not getting the attendance it needs but on the other hand I don't want to see it invaded en masse by mainlanders. Hopefully HKDL management can find a right balance between the two.

Thanks to the low attendance HKDL is getting a new castle, Frozen and the first Marvel area.
Maybe we will even get Indiana Jones, Pirates, Star Wars after a few more years in red.
We have one of the best Disney Parks in the world and nobody knows it yet...let's keep it a secret and enjoy a few more years before it leaks out and gets massively invaded.

Personally I will be disappointed if it was 18th in our city or 18th in China, but 18th in the WORLD is not bad at all I think. HKDL is competing with World's best of the best. The competition in this list really deserves its place, all big names with years of history (excl. Chimelong, still shocked to see such a superb achievement). But I am still really proud to see 2 HK parks within World's Top 20.

[ree523]

Thanks to the low attendance HKDL is getting a new castle, Frozen and the first Marvel area.
Maybe we will even get Indiana Jones, Pirates, Star Wars after a few more years in red.
We have one of the best Disney Parks in the world and nobody knows it yet...let's keep it a secret and enjoy a few more years before it leaks out and gets massively invaded.

As there are only two in Disney park (I mean a park with a Disney castle) one in Europe but 3 or maybe more coming in Asia, HKDL attendance rate is fair.
(I am always curious if the Universal Studio Singapore is making money or losing money.)

I think it is almost impossible to get anything new ride from the government funding unless the park finally turn profitable. And my prediction is that owning to the renovation and expansion works the attendence will be lower than normal.

[Asa]

I am pretty sure Universal Studios Singapore is losing money, but it is covered by the casino in Resort World Sentosa. You can see RWS has more or less stopped investing in its expansion after the last ride (puss'n boots) opened. They are only getting 4 million visitors a year and it has not seen much growth for a few years, so I cannot see it making money. This is a problem that not even Harry Potter's magic can solve.

[Asa]

I have just been to Universal Studios Singapore and it is not very well attended by the locals. A lot of the visitors were Indian and Filipino tourists.

There seems to be no plan for expansion or re-modelling. Genting Holdings, owner of Resort World Sentosa (thus USS), is busy getting the 20th Century Fox park at Genting Highlands together, which is way behind schedule. So I don't see them investing big money in USS right now.

USS is still operating well but it is stagnant. Alain Littaye said Disney is looking at Singapore, but I really cannot see Disney building a park there. The market is not there.

[hakjie11]

I have just been to Universal Studios Singapore and it is not very well attended by the locals. A lot of the visitors were Indian and Filipino tourists

The park besides 1 small coaster is exactly the same as a decade ago, I think locals have been on every ride a trillion times already and already gave up hope for a new attraction.