The chief executive of Dreamworld's operator Ardent Leisure has warned the company's revenues will take a "significant" hit after this week's fatal accident at the Gold Coast theme park, and asked for patience while authorities investigate.
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In an address at Ardent's annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday, Deborah Thomas expressed "deepest and most heartfelt condolences" on behalf of the company to the families and friends of the four people who died on the Thunder River Rapids ride.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with them, particularly their children," she told shareholders. Her statement had been released to the stock exchange before the overcrowded meeting started.
"As the incident is the subject of a coronial investigation, there is very little I can say at the present time, except that we are fully co‐operating and working closely with authorities to establish exactly how this has happened.
"I understand the intense interest in this catastrophic event and appreciate there are many questions to be answered. But I ask for your patience as we work with those authorities to first establish the facts."
Ms Thomas, who took on the top job in March last year, said it was too early to say exactly how the deaths would impact the company's earnings. On the day of the accident, about 34 per cent of total revenue generated by the company's theme parks in 2015/16 had already been earned for the current financial year started in July 1, she said.
"However, revenue lost as a result of this tragic event will have a significant impact on EBITDA [operating earnings] for the remainder of the year, due to the high level of fixed costs required to operate the business."
"It is not possible for me to provide any further guidance at this time, however we will provide regular updates to the market," she said.
In his address, outgoing chairman Neil Balnaves said it was unfortunate the AGM could not be delayed in the wake of this week's tragedy - but it was "a statutory meeting, and in accordance with the constitution of the company we are required to convene the meeting as planned".
'We are all shattered'
Neither Ms Thomas or Mr Balnaves made any mention of whether executive remuneration or bonuses would be affected by the Dreamworld deaths.
The Australian Shareholders Association has flagged concerns about the $670,000 bonus Ms Thomas is set to receive and the board was expected to face tough questioning at this morning's meeting.
Taking questions from the media after the meeting, Ms Thomas said it was not the right time for the board to be discussing executive remuneration and bonuses.
"We are all shattered by this... I don't want to discuss transactions at this point," she said.
Mr Balnaves said he appreciated that the meeting did not "turn into an argument about cash".
"This is all about grief, it's all about dealing with something that's shattering to everybody," he said.
Confronted by a Channel 10 journalist, who said the Dorsett family, which lost Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi, was "furious" at suggestions Ardent had offered them support because they had received no direct contact from the company, Ms Thomas explained that Ardent "didn't call the Dorsett family directly because we didn't know how to contact them, so we have been to the police liaison officer."
"I am very happy to call [Mrs Dorsett] very soon after this meeting," she said. "Yesterday was all about trying to get hold of the family so we could offer assistance and we have it back from the police they have made contact with them and my understanding was that our people would be with them today."
Dreamworld will reopen on Friday to hold a memorial for the people who died on Tuesday: Luke Dorsett, 35, and Kate Goodchild, 32, Roozi Araghi, 38, and Sydney mother Cindy Low, 42.
The theme park operator issued a statement on Thursday reassuring the public that safety was its priority. "Prior to Tuesday, there has never been a death at the park due to a ride incident, despite Dreamworld hosting more than 30 million visitors since it opened in 1981," it said.
More to come