Alton Towers owner trading in line with expectations
Alton Towers owner Merlin Entertainments said it was trading in line with expectations during a seasonally quiet period of the year.
Merlin, which also owns Legoland and Madam Tussaud, said that trading had been in line with the guidelines set out in February.
The British-based firm has opened an additional 244 accommodation rooms, with 142 rooms at the Castle Hotel in the Legoland Billund resort and 102 'Stargazing Pods' at Alton Towers.
A further 128 rooms are set to open at the Magic Hotel in its Gardaland resort later this month.
It recently sold its Australian ski resorts, Hotham and Falls Creek, to Vail Resorts Inc for £95 million.
The company additionally opened seven new Midway attractions, with two new Peppa Pig World of Play sites in Dallas and Michigan as it claims to have "made good strategic progress".
Earlier this year Merlin reported pre-tax profits had risen by 4.9 per cent to £285 million for its last financial year.
For the 12 months to December 29 visitor numbers to all its attractions, including Madame Tussauds, were up 1.4 per cent to a record 67 million.
Revenue grew by 5.9 per cent to £1.68 billion for Merlin, which is Europe's leading and the world's second-largest visitor attraction operator.
Resort theme parks, including Alton Towers, saw revenue grow by 9.1 per cent driven by successful product investment, favourable weather and another strong Halloween period.
The year also saw the launch of The Bear Grylls Adventure at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre site.
There was continued progress towards the construction of Legoland New York, which is targeted to open in 2020 and agreement was reached to open Legoland Korea by 2022.
Merlin will provide its interim financial results for 2019 on August 1 with a webinar scheduled for later this month for investors and analysts to discuss strategy.
