Great. Thank you. Welcome, everyone, and thanks to those of you who turned up in real life today, which is great. It's really nice to actually be able to do this in person today and bring people back together. With me, I have Gregory Dean, Director of Finance, David Stone, Company Secretary, Norman Arundel, who runs our hotels division, Matthew Duff, who runs commercial and CineStar, and Luke Mackey, who runs our cinema division. If you wanna fire some questions, we've got some good people in the room today to also support in answering the questions. Look, we're really pleased with the full-year result, which represented a significant improvement on the prior year, despite the first half materially greater lockdowns and restrictions in Australia and New Zealand and of course, the cessation of JobKeeper, which ended in June 2021.
The transformation strategies and actions we've undertaken in the past few years ensures we're agile and able to respond to the challenges, and we've seen evidence of our new business models delivering improvements when we've experienced periods of revenue recovery. In the second half, group revenue was materially stronger than the first half and second half prior year, and only AUD 115 million down on the pre-COVID level. Revenue recovery flowed through to EBITDA with a turnaround from AUD 27.2 million prior year to AUD 138.3 million this year. Excluding the German government's Bridging Assistance programs, which principally related to losses incurred in the prior full year as a result of the government-mandated lockdowns and restrictions, EBITDA was AUD 75.3 million, up AUD 48.1 million.
We're really pleased that we exceeded our goal of divesting AUD 250 million of non-core property assets, achieving AUD 200 million in gross proceeds to 30 June. Then obviously in July, we divested the North Sydney property, which brought it to AUD 275 million, exceeding most recent valuations by 28%. The combination of our new business models, improved trading and strategic divestments reduced net debt down to AUD 210.4 million, below pre-COVID levels and significantly below net debt of AUD 355.5 million at 30 June 2021. Note that that does not include the majority of the proceeds from the North Sydney asset sale. The strength of the group's balance sheet will enable us to invest in opportunities as they arise.
You know, we really take confidence from the second half trading period that as soon as we can get back to normal or some form of normal market, then our businesses rebound quickly. However, look, we're confident in our ability to respond, but we're not yet operating in a normal or pre-COVID environment. We're still in a period where COVID-19 and influenza is placing pressures on recovery with staffing levels, et cetera. Like other industries, we're facing inflationary pressures. However, we're implementing strategies to mitigate those as they arise to the best of our ability. Energy costs, specifically in Germany, will be a watching brief for the year, and governments are still maintaining a cautionary position when it comes to COVID.
I mean, as an example, the New Zealand borders only opened without a COVID test on entry at the end of July, and they're still in the orange traffic light system. We're not operating in a fully normal environment yet. This, and the need for airlines to return to the pre-COVID operating models, may delay the recovery of the international market until 2023, 2024. This year, subject to market conditions, we expect to be on a pathway to revenue recovery to the FY19 pre-COVID level. I am incredibly proud to thank our team today for resilience, agility, commitment, innovation, absolute dedication to turn up every day to make sure we were better than the day prior and to get us through the most challenging period globally for our industries and for our company.
There's no doubt we're a new company with a stronger platform for growth. Turning now to the full-year overview. Group revenue was AUD 953.8 million, up 46% on prior year. Excluding the benefit of the German Bridging Assistance program, full-year revenue was AUD 890.8 million, up 36.4%. The second half revenue result demonstrated the strength of demand for all of our operating divisions. The turnaround was largely driven by the entertainment group benefiting from customers returning to cinemas as soon as blockbusters were released. Top Gun: Maverick and Spider-Man: No Way Home are now two of the top five highest grossing titles in Australia, and we achieved record growth across our key metrics. A strong second half recovery for our hotels group, with record growth in average room rate and steady growth in occupancy.
We saw strong recovery in the leisure segment, and corporate segments began to return, but international crew and wholesale group business are lagging in the pace of recovery. A strong summer result for Thredbo, with normalized EBITDA up 6% on the previous second half record set in the prior year, and the new business model is working extremely well. We wanna offer a premium experience, and we're getting the results. The increase in unallocated corporate costs on the prior year relates to insurance premiums and the end of JobKeeper in Australia. Underlying unallocated costs were down 3.7% on the pre-COVID period. Normalized EBITDA was up AUD 111.1 million on the prior year to AUD 138.3 million.
Excluding the German government's bridging aid programs, which principally, as I said, related to losses incurred in the prior full year, EBITDA was up AUD 48.1 million to AUD 75.3 million. Turning to the property and development division. We've got a strong property portfolio, which based on the most recent valuations, is valued at around AUD 2 billion after the sale of the divestment properties. As mentioned, we've exceeded the divestment goal of AUD 250 million. We're also pleased within that process to have retained management agreements for the North Sydney Hotel, which is now trading as the Miller Hotel and operates under the Independent Collection, and Rydges Bankstown, which we also retained under a hotel management agreement.
We have a few other properties which have been identified as non-core assets, and over time, we'll seek to divest these when the market conditions are right and we can achieve a good outcome. As part of our strategic goal to maximize our assets, we continue to make great progress on our major property developments. We expect the first of our major property developments to be 525 George Street in Sydney, which currently forms part of the Event Cinemas George Street location. This is a mixed-use development, and we launched the stage 2 DA in May. We've appointed a sales agent for the residential apartments process to help planning that process, and we've commenced the detailed interior design work now in progress. We expect the stage 2 DA to take between 8-12 months for approval.
Following which, there would be a marketing process for the sale of the apartments if the market conditions are right. Subject to the successful residential sales or presales of those apartments, construction is expected to commence in late FY 2024, early FY 2025. We also submitted a stage 1 DA for the commercial office tower component of the 458-472 George Street property, directly above where we're sitting now. We expect this to take up to 12 months for approval. Following which, is a design competition, and that's required before submitting the stage 2 DA. The intention remains to introduce a JV partner into the commercial office component at the right time. We have a targeted capital plan to upgrade key assets.
In terms of hotels, the QT Gold Coast refurbishment is well underway and will be completed later this year. Like our approach to all upgrades, we're looking for ways to generate revenue from underutilized spaces. This is what we mean by maximizing assets. As an example at QT Gold Coast is the conversion of what was a vacant rooftop area. We've created a new cabin-style concept that will be branded as qtQT, connected by a rooftop garden to a new indoor and outdoor conference area. Rydges Melbourne was closed in January for an upgrade that will truly transform this hotel into a Rydges flagship brand standard. The upgrade includes the expansion of our conference area by over 1,000 square meters, and this includes, again, the conversion of a vacant area into an indoor-outdoor event space overlooking the theater district. Completion is expected in the first half of 2023.
Rydges Queenstown and QT Canberra are the next priority hotels for upgrade works, and we've commenced planning on those projects in FY 2023. We're also opening our new flagship Jucy Snooze property in Auckland later this year. We plan to rebrand this group alongside that launch. We are confident that this will set a new global standard for budget travel, budget accommodation. The pod designs, and there's 190 pods, offer privacy, connectivity, and will exceed the research needs of the segment. There are also 70 ensuite rooms and 37 double rooms designed to attract the new age traveler. In relation to cinema upgrades, we also completed the premiumization of Shellharbour Cinema in June, and we've commenced two of our top five cinema locations, Chermside and Innaloo.
Once again, the upgrades are focused on premiumization as part of our Cinema of the Future strategy, and the upgrades will be completed later this year. In New Zealand, the Queensgate site will reopen this year after closing in 2016, following the Kaikoura earthquake. We're working on premiumization concepts at a number of other locations this year, including Marion, which in Adelaide, Burwood and Campbelltown in Sydney and Robina on the Gold Coast. In relation to Thredbo developments, major upgrades to the snow-making system, including the installation of 10 new snowmaking guns on Friday Flat, was completed in time for the 2022 winter season. Out of our property development strategy, we also unlocked value from underutilized bed rights at Thredbo, realizing AUD 7 million in the year. There are further initiatives and progress to further unlock underutilized bed rights over the coming years.
Construction of a further three new beginner mountain biking trails in the cruiser area has commenced and will be completed for summer. This will truly position Thredbo as the beginner to advanced playground for mountain biking in Australia. Looking further ahead, the proposed Alpine Coaster installation is expected to add a further year-round attraction to the resort. I've tried it. It's gonna be a heck of a lot of fun. It's scheduled subject to the required approvals to be completed for the 2024 winter season. We've also started preparation work for the replacement of the two-seater Snowgums Chairlift, to replace it with a six-seater chairlift, well, I should say, with completion for the 2025 winter season. Now turning to the hotels division.
Certainly a year of two halves, as Norm calls it, and it truly was a year of two halves, like across all of our businesses. With the second half strong recovery after we saw the ease of those restrictions. Overall hotels and resorts revenue was AUD 217.7 million, an increase of 7.4% on the prior year, and underlying revenue was up 16.4% once you adjust for the government subsidies that were in the prior year, and not repeated this year. When restrictions eased and the second half revenue rebounded, second half revenue was AUD 137.3 million, up 74.3% on the first half.
Due to the lockdowns in the first half, full year occupancy in the owned hotels was down 5 percentage points to 46.7%. However, in the second half, we saw occupancy rebound to over 60%. The average room rate of AUD 202, which was 9.2% above the second half of FY 2019 or our pre-COVID comparison, and a record for the group. The fourth quarter demonstrated good signs of recovery, with average rate representing growth on the same quarter of FY 2019 of 23.3% and margin approaching FY 2019 levels. At a brand level, Rydges, QT and Atura continue to attract a greater than fair market share, which is one of our key business goals, and we were pleased that we maintained our guest sentiment through this period.
Our new operating models are helping us to mitigate the impact of cost inflation to date, and an increased focus on things like menu re-engineering, and I'm talking day-to-day and procurement, are a focus that we have to navigate the months ahead. We continue to grow our network of hotels in the year. 5 new hotels were added with Rydges Latimer Christchurch, QT Newcastle, and three hotels under the Independent Collection. All brands have recovered well in the second half of the year, with record average room rates exceeding the pre-COVID FY 2019 year. Performance across the portfolio is underpinned by continued steady growth from the domestic leisure segment and good signs of recovery in corporate. Rydges is recovering well with strong growth in occupancy and room rates in the second half, particularly given Rydges Melbourne, which is a key driver of earnings in pre-COVID times, is not included.
I think in February we indicated that Rydges Melbourne contributed around 15% of the group's owned hotel earnings and this closure will impact the result for FY 2023. The fourth quarter delivered some particularly strong results with QT, with occupancy of 81.9% and average room rate of AUD 250 and RevPAR of AUD 205. Our investment in QT from strengthening the brand, enhancing our F&B portfolio, investing in continually upgrading that experience and expansion via management agreements has resulted in really pleasing growth. The Atura result was also good and this was driven by a strong performance out of Atura Adelaide Airport. In fact, for QT and Atura, Q4 EBITDA exceeded pre-COVID FY 2019. The next couple of charts, we had them in the half year presentation.
We're really just trying to show you the impact on occupancy and rate as lockdowns occur and then restrictions ease and we start to see some periods of recovery. The yellow line represents pre-COVID FY 19 occupancy. The blue and purple bars highlight the most restricted trading periods. In summary, you can see as soon as the New South Wales and Victoria borders opened in early November, demand was tracking ahead of prior year, December and January. We get the red dotted area, and that was the impact of the Omicron virus as it took effect. The second half has obviously seen a relaxation of restrictions and return of occupancy to the low to mid-seventies and approaching pre-COVID occupancy.
As we said, corporate travel in Q4 began to show signs of normalizing, and our forward C&E inquiry has matched pre-COVID FY 2019 levels in Q4, which is a great sign. Domestic leisure continues as the strongest contributing segment across our hotels. In Q4, like for like hotels, revenue was up 11% on Q4 pre-COVID. Encouragingly, the growth is driven by increases in average room rates, with occupancy rates, as you can see, still a little bit below pre-COVID. Other segments still lagging in recovery include group wholesale business, air crew, and the international leisure market. This is due to no overseas market having yet returned to pre-COVID levels, with China the most notable example. We've highlighted also New Zealand's
The New Zealand market still lagging a little bit, the Australian market, but while the numbers are still low, we expect it to gather pace in line with inbound arrivals. Pleasingly, it was very pleasing for us, direct bookings continue to exceed all other channels, including OTAs. As discussed, rate growth is really pleasing. This chart demonstrates the combination of a different market mix and smarter pricing strategies to deliver a record rate growth. In Q4, average room rate was comfortably above pre-COVID comparable months, and July has maintained that record. We're also pleased, as I said, that all brands continued to outperform competitors. Our hotel expansion strategy has evolved over the past few years to provide more opportunities for growth. We now have a hotel solution that meets the entire needs of the market, from luxury through to budget.
Leveraging one of our own brands or an owner maintaining an independent brand and leveraging our capabilities. QT Hotels, in terms of our own brands, has been consistently recognized as a leader in premium boutique experiences. We're excited to be expanding to 10 hotels. The opening of QT Newcastle has been really good. It's a great hotel if you're in Newcastle. There's only one hotel to stay at. It's QT, a managed hotel and in May, and then QT Parramatta will open in the next few years. Rydges, our flagship brand, has grown to 45 hotels across Australia and New Zealand, and we've already secured for financial year 2023, Rydges King Square Perth and Rydges Darling Square. Atura, our affordable design-led brand. We're pleased that we have Oran Park.
We spent a lot of time really refining and redesigning the Atura product, and you'll see that unfolded when Oran Park opens in 2023. As mentioned, we recognize the gap in the budget market for our owned portfolio, and that's why we acquired Jucy Snooze. Currently has locations in Christchurch and Queenstown, and as we said, we're opening a flagship location in Auckland later this year. We've got a really strong collection of owned brands. In 2021, we launched the Independent Collection by EVENT. We recognize that owners are looking for more flexibility in brand and management type agreements, and we match that with our ambition to grow and better leverage our capabilities. We now have. We're able to take on any hotel that fits a luxury to budget brand fit.
This group's grown to 12 hotels to the 13th of June with the addition of HotelMOTEL Adelaide, The Terrace Adelaide, and the Kennigo Hotel Brisbane. The Independent Collection continues to grow. Post-year end, we have the Miller Hotel, which was formerly the Rydges North Sydney, Arawa Park Hotel, which was formerly Rydges Rotorua, and we've secured the Holiday Inn in Rotorua, which is now Rydges Rotorua. That's formed part of the Independent Collection, Hotel TOTTO W ollongong, and The Alba A delaide. We're really pleased with how the strategy is progressing and how the market's receiving it. Now, turning to Thredbo. As you all know, winter revenue was materially impacted with the 5-week lockdown bang smack in our peak operating period.
It was the first time in Thredbo's history that we've actually been asked to close for that amount of time. As a result, skier days were down 55.7% on the prior year. However, the continued expansion of mountain biking resulted in a strong summer revenue result with 25% growth in mountain biking revenue. Reported EBITDA for summer of AUD 7.4 million included AUD 7 million from property sales. On an adjusted basis, this was only the second time, last year was the first time, in Thredbo's history that the summer months have been profitable. EBITDA for the year was AUD 16.3 million, 45% below the prior comparable full year. Look, COVID-19 and influenza have continued to challenge staffing levels, particularly in the F&B area, and we've had strategies to help mitigate the impact of that.
Customer feedback is telling us we're doing a pretty good job of that. We're now seeing the benefits of our new business model with June revenue and EBITDA margin growth on the June winter in 2019. Our strategy is to optimize the premium experience by offering new products that attract a higher-yielding customer. We want to ensure that customers can maximize their day on mountain with minimal queuing time, and they are, with customers now averaging an additional two runs per day. We've changed our season pass to target and appeal to truly frequent customers, and our day pass price is still more competitive than our nearest competition. Customer sentiment remains high, and we're achieving results. We've improved our snowmaking capabilities, as I mentioned, which should allow for better conditions later in the season in the Friday Flat area. However, we are still subject to weather conditions.
After a strong opening weekend of natural snowfall, snowmaking conditions have been pretty variable for the remainder of the season. We've previously made a commitment to ensure Thredbo uses 100% renewable energy, which is being supported by a new contract with Red Energy and Snowy Hydro, which took effect from the first of July and now covers all of our electricity requirements for the resort. Now turning to entertainment. I feel like a bit of a broken record, but the first half was disrupted by state government mandate closures, really with the majority of these in New South Wales and Victoria, which is where the majority of our entertainment earnings or cinema earnings come from. Despite this, revenue was AUD 318.6 million, a 45.3% increase on the prior year.
Excluding JobKeeper, which only benefited the prior year, revenue increased 71.7%. The Australian box office increased 73.4% on the prior year, and our box office revenue increased 83.2% on the prior year. We saw a return to cinemas across all demographics. Eight titles were released that grossed over AUD 20 million, compared to only five in the prior year, and two of the top five highest grossing titles of all time in the Australian market, as mentioned. Other blockbusters included Doctor Strange, which actually delivered 82.4% more than the previous Doctor Strange title, and No Time to Die, which was in line with the previous James Bond, Spectre.
For the two key trading months of December and June, the group box office revenue was back in line with pre-COVID levels, and in June, the group's box office revenue exceeded June by 9.7%. It's clear to see, and it's obvious to see in the results that when blockbusters are released, customers want to see them on the big screen at the cinema. Premium concepts continued to grow in their appeal, increasing by 6.5 percentage points in terms of admission contribution from premium concepts. The premiumization strategy resulted in a record yield result with average ticket price increasing 17.7% over the pre-COVID year and a period of record merchandising spend per head up 48.9% on the pre-COVID level.
Our direct customer relationships remain really strong, with Cinebuzz representing 68% of all cinema visits and 84% of online transactions. We were pleased to see margin improvement in June 2022, with the cinema month-over-month cinema EBITDA margin for the owned and operated Event Cinemas up 3.8 percentage points on the pre-COVID June 2019. Excluding the benefit of JobKeeper in the prior year, EBITDA increased AUD 51.2 million, and we were really pleased that cinemas delivered such a good result given the challenging period it went through. Now looking at New Zealand.
New Zealand experienced significantly more COVID lockdowns and restrictions, but despite this, again, releasing the key blockbuster titles got people back out into cinemas. Revenue was NZD 58.2 million or NZD 39.6 million up on the prior year, and excluding the government wage subsidies, this increased by 35.9%. Nationwide box office increased 39.5% with 5 titles that achieved over NZD 4 million in box office. In the prior year, there was only one. Really was a year of more blockbusters being released. It's also worth noting that the top 4 films were sequel titles, all of which outperformed the prior film in their series. As in Australia, Cinema of the Future premiumization has resulted in customers spending more per visit. Operational model has reduced our cost to serve and customer sentiment is improving. The model is right.
We had another record period of merchandising spend per head, up 43.1% on the pre-COVID period. Cinebuzz, again, strong, 76% of all online transactions. We're pleased that the EBITDA result for the year was a profit of AUD 1.8 million, which was a turnaround from the loss of AUD 3.1 million in the prior year. Turning now to Germany. The cinemas reopened in Germany in July 2021, following an eight-month closure period, which is what a lot of the Bridging Assistance subsidy is related to. Initially, 3G rules were applied, which meant for a 3G customer to actually enter a cinema, they had to be vaccinated, have a recent negative COVID test or have recovered from COVID-19. That then changed to a 2G rule, which meant they needed to show evidence of a vaccination and a negative COVID test. These rules don't apply.
They all left the market at the end of April, but it was a pretty challenging year for operations in Germany. Given these restrictions, we were able to mitigate some of the financial impact in terms of active cost management strategies, the way we structured the business in Germany, and obviously pursuing the German government subsidy programs. Subsidy programs included a damage compensation program for the November-December 2020 lockdown period and Bridging Assistance programs for the periods from January 2021 to June this year. We also received support under the German Federal Cultural Foundation, which provides compensation in cases where there's a spike of coronavirus infections. You're not mandated to close, but you have restrictions. You may need to cancel sessions, postpone sessions or have restricted capacity restrictions.
Overall, entertainment Germany revenue was EUR 283.6 million, which was well up on the prior year, and excluding the Bridging Assistance program, revenue was EUR 220 million, again up on the prior year. Standout title in Germany was No Time to Die, which is the best performing title in Germany since Frozen in the pre-COVID period. Interesting to note that Top Gun was not in the top 50 films of all time in Germany. Whilst Top Gun has really fired around the world, there were some markets in European markets where it just didn't fire because they didn't relate to the first Top Gun. It really wasn't part of their culture and psyche at the time. In the pre-COVID years, German film content typically represents around 20% of the mix.
Looking ahead, we expect that to get back to those sorts of levels in the second half of the financial year. We achieved solid growth in ATP, up 5%, and that's without premium. Like Australia and New Zealand, we've seen the benefit of that, and we're now investing in premium seating for selected locations. We've actually got 7 locations and 12 screens in time for Christmas. We also delivered a record spend per head period through the German business as well, adopting similar strategies. Energy costs have increased materially in Germany, up nearly 43% on financial year 2019, and these are expected to continue to rise this year. EBITDA for the year was AUD 75.6 million, and excluding the German government Bridging Assistance programs, EBITDA was AUD 12.6 million.
In relation to Vue, we announced in May 2022 that we had filed a formal request for arbitration against Vue for failing to meet contractual obligations under the SPA. Last month, Vue filed documents with the UK court seeking approval for a scheme of arrangement to avoid insolvency and indicating they plan to undertake a financial restructuring later this year. We've obtained advice and we're actively pursuing our legal options, but there's not any more that I can say on that matter today. Premiumization, what does it mean, our Cinema of the Future strategy? Just to explain this further, we focused on three areas. Number one, every seat can be yielded. Every seat inside every single auditorium, we're looking at ways to grow the yield from that seat.
You may walk into a 12-plex and have a different experience behind every door and different ranges of seats within there. Secondly, it's data led, data optimization. We don't just design marketplaces that look good. There's a reason for everything to go there, because we know where people congregate, what they wanna buy, and how to best leverage that retail space. Thirdly, technology. Technology is really improving our cost to serve as well as our ability to sell with some proprietary technology we've developed in terms of F&B ordering within the Gold Class experience. In terms of premiumization, there's a range of experiences that we can adopt globally or that we had to. In terms of Gold Class, we've elevated with improved recliners, laser projection, and our new proprietary F&B ordering technology, which has seen a great lift in spend.
Boutique, something we've created, offers the latest in premium seat design in a really unique environment, and we're really happy with how this is going in terms of its appeal for the corporate market, which has been strong. V-Max, we've enhanced with three seating types, the day beds, recliners and fixed back seats. Event Junior, we've introduced, which appeals to young children and therefore parents, which means that parents wanna spend more time at cinemas with young children. IMAX and 4DX are just a couple of the global premium concepts that are performing well in key locations for us. We feel really confident in our Cinema of the Future strategy and our premiumization. We've got the experience right. It's now about focusing on the film lineup. As I said, we've had a really strong start to the year with blockbuster titles in May and June, continuing well into July.
August and September, they've got no blockbuster releases, so naturally, we expect that to be a quieter period. We're excited for the new DC title, Black Adam, in October, and Marvel's sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in November. Of course, the long-awaited return or the long-anticipated release, I should say, of Avatar: The Way of Water, which is really expected to underpin performance in December and January trading period, and the sneak footage we've seen is outstanding. Early 2022 also looks a little bit quiet, with Shazam in January and the Ant-Man movie in November, and as is often the case with the film lineup, the financial year is loaded with potential blockbusters in the May-June summer release period.
Look, it's still early in terms of the lineup, and movies will still move around, and some will appear, but that's the lens through the film lineup that we have as of today. As you've heard throughout today and through the last time that we met, we've done a lot of transforming for the better. We've invested in improving our consumer brands over the past few years, and now we wanna focus on better positioning our group to the market. We've been a bit of a best-kept secret. When we say we work for Event, people say, "Oh, Event Cinemas." But as we all know, what people don't understand is that Event stands for more than cinemas, and we've got a lot of the best brands, a lot of great brands, more brands that stand behind that. Our name was an obvious part of the problem.
It hasn't quite told our full story, like the strength of our property portfolio and development plans, Thredbo. The fact that we operate more than 150 restaurants and bars and have an extensive C&E network with over 1,500 indoor and outdoor venues. Greater recognition of our company brand is a really important part of attracting talent, especially in a highly competitive marketplace like we're facing today. We need to better sell what we do. We had to solve this and move forward in a way that amplified our inherent strengths and sets us up for the future. It turns out, as is often the case, the answer was right in front of us. Most people were calling us EVT simply because it was our domain name or our ASX code. We've embraced it, and we've amplified it. E is for entertainment.
We've got an extensive portfolio of experiences, and we are the number one place to meet colleagues, celebrate, chill out, connect, et cetera. In the eyes of our customers, this includes indoor and outdoor cinemas, restaurants and bars, spas, golf courses, any of our businesses seeking customer discretionary time and spend. V is for ventures, driven by a passion for new opportunities from hotel management to media partnerships to property. T is for travel. Better tell our story of the range of hotel experiences that we offer and, of course, Thredbo. E is for entertainment, V is for ventures, T is for travel. Makes sense, and it's pretty nice and simple, too. In launching EVT, we'll demonstrate what we do with more impact.
Our customers are in the center of everything we do, and our aim is to fulfill their needs by attracting the greatest share of their discretionary time and spend. We do this for our customers by continually enhancing our entertainment experiences, for our B2B customers by investing, partnering, managing their assets for growth, and by delivering exceptional travel experiences. An example of a change that's more customer-focused is the way that we're presenting our F&B experiences under entertainment. I mean, we've been positioning our hotel, our restaurants under hotels, and I don't know many people who are looking for a restaurant and go searching under hotels for somewhere to dine. Under entertainment, it's gonna be in the place where customers search for what we do, and that's what will be found on evt.com. Under ventures, you'll see our extensive property portfolio and developments like never before.
Under travel, you'll have more access to information around our luxury-to-budget accommodation offers. Entertainment, ventures, travel. It's in our name. It's what we do through the eyes of our customers. How we do it is what makes us unique. It starts with responding to what customers want, and our vision is to be leaders in creating experiences that escape the ordinary. This means changing the game, making an impact, being bold, and never cookie-cutter. We bring this to life through our three strategic goals, grow revenue above market, which we're demonstrating, maximizing our assets, which you're seeing us do, and business transformation to improve margins. It's what we're all about. Each of these three goals is only successful if customer satisfaction is growing at the same time.
That's why we've invested over the past four years in finding out what our customers think via our Net Promoter Score, our e-sentiment tracking, and aligning our strategies and capital investment into making sure that we're responding to those insights. However, our success is not measured on profit alone. At the same time, we're responsible for constantly improving our workplace and employee engagement, our give back to our communities where we operate, and taking on responsibility for creating a better tomorrow for the environment. All of these are just as important. This is what we define as our ELEVATE program, elevating our people, communities, and environment. Every pillar has a clear set of goals relevant across every part of our business. As an example, elevate our environment.
You know, sustainability has been a core part of what we've done for the past five years now, but what we're doing is providing clearer disclosure and a clearer framework on what we do. As an example, we're well progressed with a program of replacing older plants and equipment with new, more efficient models, and the variable operating model implemented during the pandemic has really helped us to manage costs and energy consumption. This year is the first time that we'll have three key pillars across every business. One, sustainable design. Two, sustainable practices and procurement. And three, transparency in reporting. Within these pillars, we're operating to seven goals across the group. It's also the very first time that every EVT leader in the business will have an environment performance goal tailored to their local business.
In our annual report, we've disclosed the results of our climate-related risks and opportunities assessment, the first step towards full alignment with the TCFD recommendations, and we expect to achieve full alignment with TCFD by no later than FY 2024. We're also developing a pathway to net zero and expect to announce a formal target next year once we've completed our assessment of our Scope 3 emissions. We're currently rolling out the EVT change internally 'cause gotta make sure our people know us better than anybody else, and plan to launch our new website, evt.com, publicly on September 27. I'll now play just a short sneak fly-through of what that website will look like. One of the key advantages of our groups is the perks we can offer, and really bringing that to the forefront has been quite important.
You'll be able to search our 150 restaurants and bars, make a booking, location, find the menu. Our ventures will, of course, outline our entire property portfolio and provide updates on our developments, as well as our hotel management capabilities. Of course, there are so many careers you can have at EVT, and we wanna make sure that everybody knows about them. Right. We're also planning on holding an investor day on Thursday, the third of November in Sydney to provide more insight into the EVT, and my team will be presenting on each of their strategies under the EVT. We hope to see you all there. In closing, I wanted to touch on the outlook for the year ahead. Look, July got off to a great start. Box office beating pre-COVID comparative July performance.
The recovery of hotels with occupancy in the mid-70s and record average room rates, and Thredbo delivered a strong result for July. Looking further ahead, the entertainment group's performance will be subject, as always, to the appeal of the overall film lineup, with limited blockbusters scheduled for August and September, and only partial visibility still on the second half of the year. We do know when blockbuster titles are released, we expect to benefit from our new operating model with improved results. Demand for the group's hotels is expected to continue. We see recovering corporate travel continuing, and that will assist in FY 2023. However, as I said, the international market factors, it's we don't see that fully recovering in this year. A solid winter 2022 result is expected for Thredbo, with the group's new business model delivering strong results.
Summer performance is expected to be relatively in line with FY 2022, subject to weather conditions, and the property segment result will continue to track below the prior year as a result of successful divestment of the non-core property assets. Like all businesses, we continue to face headwinds, including energy cost increases, particularly in Germany and the other inflationary cost pressures. We continue to work on ways to try and mitigate some of the impact. From a corporate perspective, the investment required in compliance and risk and management continues to grow, while we're also investing in our sustainability initiatives. Our Maximized Assets plan will see CapEx return to pre-COVID levels. While we hope that most government-mandated closures and restrictions are now in the past, we continue to be exposed to any of those changes. Boy, we've never been more ready to respond.
Subject to favorable trading conditions, the board desires to resume dividend payments later in the 2022 calendar year. The transformation across our group has been material. From new business models to greater adoption of customer and business technology, we are so much more agile than we were ever before, and we have a much stronger foundation for future growth. Overall, if market conditions improve, we see a pathway to getting back on track to reestablishing 2019 revenue levels. What we're all hoping for and looking forward to is a much less interrupted recovery year. I'll now take questions. I think maybe if you take questions in the room first, and then we go to the phones. Great. Sam, we'll just wait for the
All right. Thanks for the presentation, Jane. Can you talk to us about your outlook for cinema ticket prices and discounting in a weakening consumer backdrop and any consumer insights from recent New Zealand trading would be helpful, given they are ahead of us in the interest rate hiking cycle?
Mm-hmm.
A couple of listed retailers have called out some weakness over there.
Yeah. Look, we feel pretty confident in the position that we have in our recovery, because if you remember, when you're looking at cinema, you're comparing that to going out for dinner, you're comparing it to other often more expensive entertainment options. What we're seeing is actually, at this point, no impact on the cinema experience. What people are seeking from us is a better cinema experience, because that's where they're choosing to spend time. At this point in time, we feel confident in the strategy that we have, and we're not feeling any pressure in market to be discounting at this point in time, based on the immediate impacts.
Just from New Zealand?
I mean New Zealand as well.
Okay.
Yeah. We're watching that. I mean, it's a great question. We're watching both markets across all businesses really closely, but still at the same time, you know, if people wanna see Top Gun, they wanna see Top Gun. It, you know, when a blockbuster is out there, people are willing to pay the prices for the experience that we're offering.
Sure. Second question, of the cinema leases, what proportion are linked to CPI?
Majority are.
Finally, just on the topic of gift card breakage, there might be some changes to accounting standards happening at the moment. Can you just talk us through that and any impact to FY 2022 and 2023 that we should be aware of?
No. We made some substantial changes about, correct me if I'm wrong, team, about 2 years ago, 2 or 3 years ago, to reflect up and coming changes. I think we've taken most of the impact of that earlier on. We're not actually seeing any further changes at this point that we need to respond to. Again, that's a watching brief.
All right, cool. Sorry, I'll just sneak in one more on cinemas.
Sure.
What proportion of the cinema circuit is traditional auditoriums versus premium formats? How are you thinking that evolves over the next five years, and associated CapEx with that?
Yeah. That's a really big question, Sam, and that's why we're having our investor day. Basically, you know, our ambition is to make more money out of every single seat that we have. That will happen over a number of years. Where we're really focused at this point in time is on our top ten, you know, our top five, our top ten. 'Cause we've always had a, you know, well, the last five years, the strategy has been fewer better, which we've said a lot of. The top ten is where we are focused, and then we're looking at regional locations with other concepts. You'll be aware that in BCC Cinemas, we launched a version of a recline product at a different price point.
That's worked really well, and we go, "Okay, for that type of cinema, we will roll that out." Currently, we are less than 30% premium in Australia and less than 20%, actually less than 20% in New Zealand and very low in Germany. We see plenty more room for premiumization.
Thank you.
Mm.
Thank you. Just a question on inflation, just some trends that you're seeing in the back end of FY 2022 and so far in FY 2023, and you mentioned in your presentation some ways that you're mitigating against inflation. If you could touch on that.
Look, prices are changing every day, so it's not like a trigger at a point in time. Every single day, prices are moving, particularly in the food and beverage game. What we're doing is we call it menu re-engineering. What may take a tomato might take something else the next day. The teams are having to literally daily, weekly adjust menus, reprint menus to try and maintain a cost of goods related to what that experience is and a price we can charge the customer. You know, it's not over. Prices are continuing to move, and our model is, you know, if we can take it in price, great. If we can't, then we need to re-engineer what we're doing to try and offer a different range or different experience.
Great.
It's an intense focus at this point.
I can imagine.
Mm.
Two more questions from me, if that's all right.
Sure.
Second one is just on the German film slate in terms of domestic German films coming out. Do you know if there's much in the pipeline?
Yes.
Is that an important driver of the German segment?
Yes. It's about 20% of their box office is from local German film content. We've got a few between now and Christmas, but we really see second half of the year that they're starting to date again.
Great. Thank you. Last one, just any more subsidies to expect in FY 23 for across all of the segments?
Nothing of any material nature. That's the way we're looking at it.
Great.
I'll continue the Barrenjoey line of questioning.
Sure.
Apologies for that. You mentioned in the hotel segment that June hotel revenues were up 11% on the 2019 level. Can you give us a view on margin? 'Cause obviously there's been a big program around operating more efficiently. How does that look compared to that 11% revenue growth?
Look, I think we said that margins were recovering to the FY 19 level, so we're trying to hold margins.
Yeah. I think the comment was margins were approaching FY 19 levels for the quarter.
Yes.
Presumably building over that quarter.
Yes.
The other question that I had was around cinemas. I think you made a comment on July cinema being above 2019 levels.
Yes.
Is that at the revenue or earnings level? 'Cause I guess the content in July started strong on the weekends.
That was at admissions, revenue, and earnings level.
Right. Okay. I'll ask one more question. As the George Street DAs begin to get approved, how do we think about that impacting valuations of those properties?
Mm.
In the independent value?
That's a good question. We probably have another year's work to unlock more value out of 525, and probably another year's work to unlock more of that value out of 458.
Yeah. The value that we had at 31, 30 June last year.
Included.
Was adjusted for some of the DA approvals there anyway.
On 525?
Yeah, on 525. Yeah.
Just on the hotel room rates. They're now above 2019 across all your brands. How much further do you think they can go, and how much room do you have to reprice for inflation as that comes through as well?
That's a really good question. I ask that of Norm every day. That's our daily dialogue. Look, you can charge as much as you can deliver on experience. Yeah. We believe that there's probably a little bit more to go on our QT experience. As our Rydges properties get renovated, of course there's growth in that. We are actually seeing that, you know, where we're sitting right now feels like the right place to sit in the market. We're quite comfortable with where the occupancy sits and the rates we're sitting at, and we think that that's delivering good results at this point. I think that's it. Norm, did you want to comment any more on that? You're in the room.
No. The only thing I would add is that the conference market really hasn't kicked in yet.
Mm.
That's a pretty high yield market. That might give us another push as maybe some other segments might be impacted by consumer spending. Yeah, the conference market's still yet to come through.
Yeah.
You know, you've got that in there.
Yeah.
Okay. Just one more question. On the spend per head, it's obviously substantial.
Sorry. Yeah. I should just repeat that Norm just said that the conference market's still rebuilding, so there is likely to be some growth from that.
Just on the spend per head in cinemas, that's obviously substantially higher than pre-COVID. How much of that do you think is actually just a bubble post-lockdown, and how much of it is sustainable?
We break down every single cent of that growth in terms of exactly where it's coming from. From prices, from the technology we've implemented, from ranging, from everything else. Look, we feel like that there are a number of factors which delivered that increase. It's not just price increases. In fact, price increase is a small part of how we've achieved that growth. We're quite comfortable where we're sitting at this point in time.
Can you maybe speak to staffing challenges that you face, particularly in the hotels? Is that had any drag on, like, occupancy levels?
We're really proud to be one of the very few hotel chains that has not had to reduce its occupancy because we've not had staff to deliver the experience. Look, staffing's a challenge. It's a challenge out there for everybody. You know, we're working overtime. We've been really happy with launching EVT internally and making sure that we've got really good internal programs to keep staff engaged and with the group. It's a very big competitive advantage in this market when you can say you're part of EVT, and you can work in the E and you can get the T benefits, and you work in the T and you can get the E benefits. It's really unique, and it's been really powerful at this point in time. We've invested more. We've developed more training programs.
We've developed a lot around our values and reward and recognition programs over the past two years. We've actually completely transformed our people culture and how we look after our people to be in that position. Where we've really found it tougher to get staff has been at Thredbo in the food and beverage area. You know, I think if there was one area that the guys have done an incredible job mitigating that has been one area that has been tougher for us to resolve. We've done things like reduced menu options, looked at operating hours, et cetera. We've managed to get through, and we've managed to deliver a good experience, but that has been tougher. I think that's it. I think that's the key thing. We've worked so hard in the last...
This hasn't been a now thing. We've been seeing this coming for the last two years, and we have materially transformed the way that we look for people and the way we retain people.
I think, you finally indicated previously that Melbourne was around, I think it was 10% or 15% of owned hotel.
Yeah.
Fair to say that that's been the impact that's been borne in the second half of the FY 2022 result in terms of the drag on earnings from that being closed or the lack of earnings?
Oh, partially. That was more because it was in a COVID period as well.
Yeah.
for some of those months. It's more versus pre-COVID.
Nick, that 10%-15% would have been.
Pre-COVID.
on a sort of 2019 year.
Mm.
Like the other hotels benefited, but that one ultimately closed.
Correct.
Yeah.
Yeah, there is some lag, but it's not to the extent of 10%-15%.
It only shut on the tenth of January.
Yeah.
There's a couple of months in there.
Mm.
Do you want to ask the next question?
I think we're back to Sam, and then we're coming to you, Christian, online.
Last one while I pass the mic to Sam.
Okay.
You flagged dividends being paid this calendar year, but I didn't think there was the declaration period coming up. Can you give us a sense on what dividends being paid in 2022 means from here?
That means that we're looking at past trading. We've only had a couple of months. We've had some normalization. We're looking at immediate trading, and the board continues to assess it.
The outlook?
We continue to assess it.
I'll just jump in with two questions.
Can I just double check that you said corporate travel forward inquiries going into this quarter were in line with FY 2019?
Corporate, conference and event.
Conference and Events.
Yes.
Okay. Can you just touch on, I guess, where your corporate travel forward bookings as well as your international forward bookings are relative to FY 19?
International bookings are light. You just look at our inbound arrivals and airlines, and you'll see that there's no international market outside of the Indian market, which has actually really returned in any form in Australia and New Zealand. Corporate's rebuilding back to FY 19 levels. We can see a sign of light where corporate is returning.
Sure. Just the last one. With CapEx returning to pre-COVID levels, just looking back over FY 19 and some prior years, it sort of varies quite a bit. Can you give us any more color on where you're seeing that land for this year?
It's a tricky question. We know what we want to spend, but then it's accessing all of the materials and supply to make all of those projects happen when you do it. We say circa AUD 120-AUD 150.
Great.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thanks. How many more properties do you own that you consider non-core? Just any thoughts in terms of the current market conditions, whether they're still suitable to conduct further divestments?
Non-core. We did indicate Rydges Rotorua, I think. We have a couple of other smaller hotel properties, which are in non-key city locations, of course. Then we have the 4 properties in Germany. It's around about another AUD 100 million, that's there in bits and bobs. In terms of market, well, we'll see. We'll go to market. If it's not right, we won't sell it. We'll hold it. We'll go to market again. I think that's the key message. We're divesting them when we can get a good return. We're in no hurry to make that happen. We know they're not part of the group, and it's a group for us to consider doing that at the right time.
Sure. When it comes to Rydges, what are the key things you need to see or you want to change to ensure that the growth in Rydges is more consistent to your other major hotel brands?
Look, the only thing that's been holding Rydges back is upgrading our major properties. The brand's really strong. It has such strong domestic leisure market. You know, there is a segment of the corporate market that are really loyal to the Rydges brand. It's probably one of the best-known brands in Australia and New Zealand in terms of local market. We know that the market that it's after likes it. What we needed to do was upgrade Melbourne as a key priority. We've done quite a lot of mini upgrades throughout the process, like Geelong, et cetera. We've been tidying up the other properties. That really has been the key thing, just enhance Melbourne, and that's what we're doing.
Thank you. One last question from me. Just can you talk to the proportion of your hotel revenue that comes from either international or corporate? I know that's very specific.
No.
As in, like, what's the up-
Well, yeah.
What's the upside from here?
Yeah, look, no. I mean, I think we've indicated kind of around. I think we have given a number of times, haven't we? Yeah. I think we've said around 10%-15% has some form of wholesale international flavor to it. But gosh, by the time that comes back, we're kind of a different shape than, aren't we? With the types of hotels we have and what we've got on offer. Maybe we should go to the phone, just in case there's any questions.
Thank you. Your first question comes from John O'Shea with Ord Minnett. Please go ahead.
Oh, good afternoon, Jane. Can you hear me okay?
I can. Hello, John.
Hello. Obviously, there's a lot of questions been asked already, so most of mine have already been covered. I just wanted to perhaps ask a question with Norm in the room, perhaps regarding the hotel business. Would it be fair to say, obviously, given the way the travel recovery has unfolded, with leisure being a key pillar of that recovery, and that's obviously intersected with corporate being a very strong recovery across the calendar year, months of calendar year 2022. Where you've had a highly unusual scenario of demand, you know, running into each other at the same time. Which has delivered a very high average daily rate and below normal, below COVID, obviously, occupancy rates.
Do you think that is artificial in the sense that, you know, that's the way it's unfolded, so therefore, you know, that sort of number is not the way we should think about it moving forward? Obviously, the mix could change in terms of the RevPAR and the occupancy, or the average daily rate and occupancy. Secondly, the corporate market, while it remains strong now, do you have concerns, given the global backdrop, that that will come back, and in fact, that will have an adverse effect on the average daily rate and occupancy, for that matter?
Jane?
Fire away, Norm.
Okay. Hi, John. That's a very good question. I've got to say, it's interesting when you talk about the corporate market, because the corporate market, you know, is many different things. The corporate market, the SME market, is back at full force.
Mm.
We're very strong in the SME market. The thing we found about the SME market is they actually have no option but to travel.
We found that very, very clearly over the last three or four months. When you are able to travel, those people are out in force. The other part of the corporate market that hasn't even started a recovery yet is the very large corporations. That's still yet to come. Even if there is an offset in some leisure travel that starts going overseas or whatever, we're still yet to see the big corporates coming back. The other thing I'll just come back to earlier on, and which I guess is associated with the corporate travel market, is the C&E market, which is still, Jane mentioned that, our forward inquiries are well up. We actually haven't seen that. The inquiry's up, the business is yet to follow. I think what we're seeing is sustainable.
Mm-hmm.
Okay. Thank you. I think that was largely it for me, Jane. I guess the other question on the cinemas, of course, no one really knows, but does it strike you as unusual that obviously within the FY 2022 results, you've had two out of the top five films of all time. Obviously they've had a big impact on your numbers, particularly given the leverage in terms of margin you had with the cost outs you've done in the business. It would seem unusual to think in FY 2023 you're gonna have two again. Am I thinking about it the right way? Just law of averages and just the way these things tend to unfold with this business?
Yeah, I think.
Do you think you can still do a very good number with the cost outs you've done?
Oh, look, we think. I think you're thinking about it the wrong way. I think it's a creative business. Films, you know, connect with audiences when films connect. We're not looking ahead going, "Oh my gosh, we've just had two of the top five. There's no more getting into the top five." You know, we would definitely like to see Avatar up there. I think the whole world would like to see Avatar up there. You know, looking ahead, you know, we would expect there to be others to knock them off the shelf. I think that's just it. I just think it's the appeal of a particular film at that point in time. You can't be analytical over it. It really is about the film title and it relating to that audience.
Sure. Absolutely. I guess what I'm saying is two within the one financial year. That's all I'm saying. I mean, sure, absolutely.
Yeah.
There's gonna be blockbuster films and I guess what I'm saying is, if there isn't the blockbuster films necessarily, with the cost out you've done, can you still achieve very good earnings in the cinema business? That's what I'm saying. What does that earnings profile look like?
Oh, look, I'm not trying to be tricky here at all with you, John. It looks as good as how many films you have to release in a particular month, and what that film does. It's still variable. What we do back ourselves with is if we have a like for like film, we'll make more money out of it.
Yeah.
That's the.
Yep.
The goal for everyone in the entertainment division. We believe that the model we've put in place right now is sustainable. I guess that's the answer. We were delighted to have two of the top five in that period of time because it also helped the world to go, "People love cinema.
Yeah, no doubt. Thanks very much. That gives me clarity around those questions. Thanks a lot, and thank you all.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question on the phone, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Brian Han with Morningstar. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks, Jane. Just two questions from me. A couple more on hotels. Do you think it's possible for hotels to return to anywhere near pre-pandemic earnings without international recovery to normal?
I think there are some hotels in our group that could. It all depends on location and brand. I think there are some locations with our new rate strategy at a different occupancy level that could, but as a group, I think it would be tough. We'd like to. I think it's, you know, It's still a chunk of the market that's not there, driving pressure on, or driving demand.
Yep, fair enough. Secondly, what percentage of your hotel bookings is direct? And is there much of a difference in direct booking percentage between your different brands?
I don't think we've disclosed our direct versus other bookings. Obviously the majority do because it beats all other channels. Actually, we are seeing that it's actually more streamlined across the brands in terms of percentage of direct bookings that we are seeing coming in. We've really improved, I would say, our regional percentage versus our key city locations.
Right.
It's just a competitive set.
Lastly, Jane, on your name change and those changes to your business pillars, would you be changing your segmental disclosures in any way?
No. No, this is really about how we tell our story externally and how we bring to life the benefits of working for EVT internally.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Jane Hastings.
Great. Thank you all for your great questions, and it's really nice to see some of you in person today. Let's all look forward to hopefully another half of less interruptions. Thanks, everyone.