Dreamworld owner Ardent Leisure severs ties with CEO
Ardent Leisure has dramatically cut ties with its chief executive, former magazine editor Deborah Thomas, bringing her controversial stint heading the owner of the iconic Queensland theme park Dreamworld to an abrupt end.
The sudden departure concludes her reign of just over two years, which was marred by the tragic accident in which four visitors at Dreamworld were killed and a loss of investor faith in the company’s direction.
Ardent has dumped Ms Thomas’s proposed shift into a highly paid role as chief customer officer but granted her a lucrative consultancy agreement as it seeks to put the fallout from last year’s tragedy behind it.
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However, these agreements may act as a lightning rod for the growing dissent on the company’s register, with shareholders yesterday saying it needed to take a new direction and expressing doubts about the lack of relevant experience on the board.
Thomas will walk away with a termination benefit of $731,291 but will forfeit entitlements under Ardent’s deferred short-term incentive plan that do not vest by the start of July.
The controversial executive will keep the right to previously granted but unvested entitlements under the group’s long-term incentive plan. Ardent did not specify the value of the payout but it is subject to return and earnings targets.
In a move likely to draw the ire of shareholders who endured share price collapse after Thomas was appointed, and as the company stumbled in dealing with the Dreamworld accident, her consultancy deal will see her paid $3000 per day.
For this, Thomas will support incoming chief executive Simon Kelly in dealing with the pending coronial inquiry into last year’s accident.
“The board has determined this arrangement is appropriate based on external professional advice and market benchmarking,” Ardent says in a statement.
Former Ardent Leisure CEO Deborah Thomas.
The proceedings are yet to begin and the drawn-out nature of the Thomas deal may draw protests from dissident shareholders.
The listed Ariadne and a cohort of supporters have amassed a 9.86% stake in Ardent Leisure and have put forward Queensland property tycoon Kevin Seymour and corporate raider Gary Weiss as candidates to join and reform the board.
While the company has yet to grant them seats, and they are not commenting publicly, a behind-the-scenes move toward an extraordinary general meeting to oust the board is likely to gain momentum as uncertainty rises over the company’s leadership.
Severing ties with Ardent is the latest dramatic turnaround by Ms Thomas, who earlier this year insisted she was not going anywhere when she announced a half-year loss of almost $50 million in February.
In April, she appeared set to stay on in a senior operational role, overseeing Dreamworld, and Mr Kelly spruiked her abilities in an interview last month.
Ardent chairman George Venardos did not address these matters in a statement in which he expresses “sincere gratitude” for Thomas’s contribution as chief executive. “It is a testament to Deborah’s professionalism and character that she has agreed to remain part of the team and provide valuable support and continuity to Ardent and the various official bodies preparing for the coronial inquiry into the Dreamworld tragedy,” he says.
Although the company did not make clear why she would now suddenly exit, it has been wracked by high-level disputes since it appointed the former editor of the Australian Women’s Weekly to replace well-regarded chief executive Greg Shaw in early 2015.
The move drove the share price down as much as 28% in the following days and her exit could set off a renewed flurry by investors as the new chief executive has said all options, including selling Dreamworld, are on the table.
Ardent yesterday revealed the performance of its most famous property is still lagging.
Visitor numbers and revenue at its theme parks picked up last month but both measures were still down by more than a third on the same time last year. The company expects its theme parks to lose between $2 million and $4 million this year. Morningstar analyst Brian Han says the potential for improvement at Ardent’s Main Event business in the US is another “key factor” behind Ariadne’s agitation for change.
Han says there is also potential “value liberation” from Ardent’s excess land next to Dreamworld and hinted that this may be driving the interest of the raiders on Ardent’s register.
“This is an opportunity that has not escaped Ariadne’s attention, and one that Ardent has belatedly recognised with the current review of its 2015 master plan for the Dreamworld precinct,” he says.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
