I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Jane Hastings, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Hi everyone, thanks for joining the call today. Before we get started, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land I'm speaking to you from this afternoon, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I'd like to pay my respects to elders past and present, and I'd like to acknowledge any and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people joining us today. We'll start by looking at group performance for FY25. Group normalised revenue for the year was $1.2 billion, up $15.6 million on prior year, driven by hotels and resorts, Entertainment Australia, Thredbo and property. Group normalised EBITDA was $160.8 million, up $9.5 million.
We're really pleased with the group result, particularly when considering the several key market challenges we had over the period, including cycling the Taylor Swift impact from the prior year, the closure of Rydges Queenstown as we future-proofed this prime hotel property and converted it into a lakefront QT experience, a winter season at Thredbo that was the worst in over 20 years, the continued disruption of film supply from the 2023 Hollywood strikes, and subdued economic conditions in most parts of New Zealand, excluding Queenstown. One that we had not expected was the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred in early March, where key parts of Queensland and New South Wales effectively shut down during an extended period, impacting our cinemas and QT Gold Coast performance. We estimate the EBITDA impact for the group was circa $3 million.
I know everyone is interested in our recent announcement relating to the hotel growth strategy, establishing our third-party hotel brand management platform, EVT Connect Hospitality, and seeding this with the acquisition of Pro-invest Hotels. This is another key step in unlocking future growth potential in the hotels division, and I'll touch on it more later in the presentation. We've made progress on our asset maximisation strategy after announcing in February the intention to divest the 525 George Street development site, subject to market conditions. Further to this, we've continued to review our owned property portfolio, and there will be additional properties in the future that we may choose to divest to recycle capital into hotel growth, and we are clear on locations we may consider acquiring hotels when the opportunity is right.
We were very pleased to see the momentum build, as expected, in our entertainment business in quarter four, with a greater supply of blockbuster movies, immediately growing admissions, and clearly demonstrating further evidence of the operating leverage we've created. We also made good progress with our fewer better cinema strategy. In terms of fewer, we exited five cinemas throughout the year. In terms of better, we completed several key premiumisation projects at key locations to increase our premium offering to now about 41% of our circuit. EVT net debt at June 30 of $311.9 million remains broadly in line with the net debt of the prior year of $304.1 million and below pre-COVID net debt levels. The group currently has available funds of around $300 million, represented by undrawn debt of $250 million and cash holdings of around $50 million.
Taking into account the Pro-invest Hotels acquisition, there remains significant capacity and debt headroom for the group to consider other opportunities should they arise. The main debt facility expires in May next year, and the group will commence the refinancing process with its existing banks over the next few months. At this stage, we believe that the current total debt facility of $650 million is sufficient for our needs. The balance sheet remains strong, and we're very well positioned for future growth. The continuing improvements in earnings profile and the outlook for the future have resulted in the board declaring a fully franked final dividend of $0.22 per share, which will be paid in September. I'll comment further on the outlook at the end of the presentation, but in summary, we expect FY26 to achieve EBITDA growth on prior year, subject to film performance, weather, and just general market conditions.
Turning now to the results overview. As mentioned, normalised EBITDA was $160.8 million, up 6.3%, driven by a record hotels division result of just over $106 million EBITDA. The property result includes a $3.5 million gain on sale of 418 Adelaide Street in Brisbane, which we sold in June. Group unallocated expenses were materially below prior year, despite continued market cost challenges, down $3.1 million to $19.5 million. Unallocated corporate costs remain below FY19 on an underlying basis. Reported net profit after tax was $33.4 million, up $28.6 million, noting that the prior year result included a non-cash tax charge in New Zealand in relation to the depreciation of buildings. We gathered positive momentum in the second half with entertainment Australia and New Zealand revenue up 4.7% and EBITDA up 12.7% on prior year.
Hotels EBITDA was relatively flat, down $0.5 million with the impacts of cyclone Alfred and closure of Rydges Queenstown, offset by underlying growth. Thredbo also had a strong Easter summer trading period and a better start to winter in June. Turning now to the entertainment division, as expected, the global cinema market experienced the impact of the 2023 Hollywood strikes with fewer blockbuster films released during the year, at times resulting in record low admissions in the months of September and March 2025. Therefore, overall admissions for the entertainment group were down 4.8% on prior year. Overall, whilst variable operating costs were very well controlled in periods of low admissions, given no blockbuster releases, our fixed cost base means that EBITDA was down 4.7%. We are confident with the benefits of our strategic initiatives resulting in material operating leverage.
As an example, in the second half with a small decline in admissions, we delivered a 39% improvement in EBITDA. It is important to note that our second half results were impacted by ex-tropical cyclone Alfred in March, with key parts of Queensland and New South Wales shut down during a period resulting in lost box office as audiences avoided the cinema. The resulting EBITDA loss from the cyclone disruption has been estimated at around $1.2 million. As we have consistently said, the entertainment business has not had a demand issue; it has been a supply issue. As expected, recovery in supply of appealing blockbuster films was evidenced in quarter four with the release of Minecraft, Mission Impossible, How to Train Your Dragon, and Lilo & Stitch.
This had an immediate positive impact with audiences returning to cinemas, spending more to drive record spend metrics, and there was strong evidence of the operating leverage we have created. This momentum continued into June, July with the release of Formula One: The Movie, which can be described as a great success for Apple, followed by Jurassic World and then Superman. The success of Formula One for Apple also arguably highlights the benefit of a theatrical release. The movie has now outgrossed all previous Apple-backed films at the global box office, and it currently ranks as the eighth highest grossing movie worldwide for movies released in 2025. Overall, the supply of blockbuster films is improving, customers are loving premium experiences, they're willing to spend more, and our operating models remain effective.
Looking by market, in Australia, whilst admissions decreased by 3.2%, revenue was up 1.8%, driven by growth in average effort price and spend per head, and EBITDA improved by 3.3%. In the second half, admissions grew by 0.8%, revenue was up 5%, and EBITDA improved by 14.7%. In quarter four, with even greater improved film supply, admissions grew 12.9%, and EBITDA was up 52.1%. This represents a 35% increase in EBITDA per admit. We also achieved the Australian result with four fewer locations. In New Zealand, the results were comparatively weaker than in Australia. Key titles like Deadpool and Wolverine received an R16 rating, significantly reducing their potential audience. As a result, admissions were down 3.5%, and the change in mix of films resulted in average admission price being marginally down, but still 41% higher than pre-COVID.
Revenue fell by $3.3 million, and whilst costs were very well controlled, EBITDA declined to a loss of $1.9 million. When the film supply normalizes, the New Zealand market will be profitable. In quarter four, as an example, New Zealand admissions saw a 20% increase on prior year, and EBITDA was $1.8 million. In Germany, and as mentioned at the meetings in February, one of the key Hollywood blockbusters of the first half was Wicked, and unfortunately, German audiences are not familiar with the stage show, and the film's release led to its underperformance compared to other global markets. The June month was also impacted by the European heatwave, resulting in the hottest June month on record for Western Europe, which was not conducive to cinema going in Germany. Overall, admissions for the second half were down 5%, but yield strategies increased revenue per admit by 6.6%.
In quarter four, admissions increased 10%, and with a 4% increase in revenue per admit, EBITDA was up $5.8 million. We made good progress on our fewer better strategy. In terms of our better strategy, better refers to retaining the strongest locations and ensuring we offer the best range of entry to premium experiences. We cater for all types of customers at each location, from a discounted seat to the best in owned premium experiences, such as Gold Class, V-Max, Boutique, EVT Recliners, EVT Daybeds, and our soon-to-launch Sofa Cinema. We also recently announced our plans to expand our offering of global premium formats, including IMAX, 4DX, and ScreenX, all of which are generating strong returns. In financial year 2025, on the Australian circuit, we opened an IMAX screen at Pacific Fair on the Gold Coast.
We also increased our coverage of 4DX screens with two additional screens at Castle Hill and Innaloo Perth. During the year, works were also undertaken at Castle Hill, Marion, and Burwood, where additional premium seating options were introduced. In Germany, we introduced the first V-Max screen at Bremen and Dortmund and two IMAX screens at Bremen and Frankfurt Metropolis. In terms of our fewer strategy, the group exited leases at Browns Plains in Brisbane in September and Beverly Hills in Sydney in January. The Lismore cinema was sold during the year, and the Village Jam Factory cinema, our joint venture cinema, closed in December 2024, pending redevelopment on that site. In New Zealand, we exited the Havelock North location, and in Germany, we exited one of our Frankfurt locations. Our yield strategies are working, and we continue to drive record results and spend metrics.
Even in a more challenging New Zealand economic environment, we continue to hold and marginally grow yield. This is despite our New Zealand circuit having fewer premium screens and contribution when compared to Australia. As an example, in Australia, even with a film slate that attracted more family admissions, the average admit price was a record result, up 5.1% over the prior period, and 10 of 12 months set a monthly record. Also, spend per head increased 8.2% over the prior year, and 8 out of the 12 months set a new spend per head record. In Germany, records for AAP and spend per head also continued to occur. AAP has increased around 20% since FY 2019, and spend is up around 50%. What is clear is that the significant yield growth we have achieved will deliver stronger results when we have a consistent lineup of blockbuster film releases.
Turning now to property and development. We have a strong property portfolio valued at around $2.3 billion. This reflects a 15% increase since 2020, despite the divestment of non-core properties that generated over $310 million in proceeds. It's also important to note that in our results, we've replaced more than $16.3 million in EBITDA from these divestments based on successful execution of the group strategy. The independent valuations of some key properties were updated at June 30, and the updated valuations were up overall by 4%. Our property strategy is clear. We want to own hotel properties in key city locations that will support the asset-like growth of our hotel portfolio. We continue to divest non-core properties to recycle capital into hotel growth initiatives.
418 Adelaide Street in Brisbane was settled for a sale price of $10.25 million, and Rydges Hobart, which we announced at the half-year result, was also sold. As our hotels' growth strategy evolves, we'll continue to review the merits of each hotel property we own. We're clear on brands and locations that may require acquisitions to drive asset-like growth also. We may also divest further properties that may no longer be strategically required. In relation to our sites at 525 George Street and 458-472 George Street, for 525, CBRE was appointed as a sales agent with a domestic and international phase one expression of interest campaign closing on July 25. A number of parties that CBRE consider have sufficient capability and warrant inclusion into phase two to develop their position and submit more detailed offers have been invited into phase two of the process.
Their bids are due later in September. We indicated this process would take around 12 months, and this is still the expected timeline, of course, subject to achieving the right outcome. We're also focused on reviewing strategic options for the George and Market Street precinct, including 458-472 George Street. We previously secured DA approval for the podium component of this development, which includes an extension of the QT Sydney Hotel. The property was purchased in 2017, and whilst we have added value through the planning approvals process, it is not currently making any significant contribution to the group's earnings. We recognize that the George and Market Street precinct is a highly valued prime Sydney CBD property holding. We expect to provide an update on our 458-472 George Street and the broader George and Market Street precinct later in this financial year.
In summary, our focus is on unlocking the value of these properties to drive enhanced returns from our hotels and portfolio overall. Turning now to Thredbo. Thredbo's revenue was up 1.5% despite the worst winter weather conditions for over 20 years. The winter months were below the prior year by $1.7 million, whereas the second half revenue was up 10.9% and EBITDA up 41% following a strong summer Easter trading period and good start to winter in June. We continue to see strong yield results with winter ticket yields around 10% up on prior year, and customer satisfaction levels are also very strong. The new Alpine Coaster, which opened in June, is driving increased visitation and delivering returns well above expectations. EBITDA was down $1.2 million with increased snow making and grooming costs given the weather conditions we were facing, impacting margin. We've had a good start to this season.
We continue to enhance the snow making systems and have recently installed an all-weather snow factory on Friday Flat, providing the ability to make snow at 20 degrees Celsius and provide more consistent snow conditions for longer winter periods. Subject to the performance of this snow factory, we would anticipate investing in further snow factories over the next three to four years. The intention is to focus on the Golden Triangle, which is deemed critical so that customers consider Thredbo as open and would provide a skiing and snowboarding product in even the most marginal of years. Planning is underway for the replacement of the two-seater Snow Gums chairlift with a new six-seater chairlift scheduled for completion by the 2027 winter season, subject to the necessary planning approvals.
As I mentioned in February, despite the challenges in 2024, Thredbo was recognized for the eighth year in a row as Australia's best ski resort, which is truly an incredible achievement for the Thredbo team. The hotels division has delivered a record result. Overall, for our owned hotels, occupancy was up two points to 78.7%, whilst holding average room rates at around $228 and driving a record RevPAR result up 2.9% to $179. Our brands are continuing to deliver more than their fair market share, and these results have been achieved despite some market challenges. The New Zealand market continues to underperform with the exception of Queenstown, which has been a standout. Several key issues in New Zealand include a lack of events to stimulate Auckland and restricted airline capacity.
Over the past 12 months, the only time the New Zealand market has increased was when there was a big event, for example, the Coldplay concert in November last year. However, there have been very few events to stimulate the New Zealand market, although looking ahead, that seems to be a government focus. The closure of Rydges Queenstown for renovations impacted the year by around $1 million EBITDA. Further to this, the impact of Cyclone Alfred in the second half caused damage to the hotel, including complete closure for one week, followed by restricted trading until the end of March, and the ongoing closure of Bazaar Restaurant impacting EBITDA by an estimated $2.1 million. Whilst each of the above is significant, pleasingly, the impacts were offset in the second half with growth across the portfolio.
In terms of our key hotel brands, we were able to hold rates at record levels, driving RevPAR growth. Each of our brands achieved record RevPAR results. Rydges RevPAR was up 3.8% on prior year, QT up 2.2% on prior year, and Atura up 1.3% on prior year, with all of our brands performing ahead of market. As you well know, our hotel strategy has evolved over the past few years to enable expansion. We now have three strategic pillars for hotels growth. The first pillar for growth is via our owned EVT brands. We'll grow owned brands by appealing to broader market segments with the expansion into targeted new markets, such as Southeast Asia with QT Singapore or the budget market with Lilo. We'll also grow by enhancing the asset value of our owned hotels and securing new owned brand asset-like management or license agreements.
The second pillar for growth is via our independent collection. This is where we can create an independent brand for an asset owner that seeks to retain ownership of brand IP and leverage our capabilities. We developed this concept a few years ago, and the group has grown to 20 properties. Now we've introduced our third growth pillar, EVT Connect Hospitality, which enables the management of a third-party brand when an asset owner chooses to franchise an existing brand and utilize EVT Group operating capabilities. Our announcement to launch EVT Connect Hospitality and, at the same time, accelerate the strategy with the acquisition of the Pro-invest business is an important component of our hotels' growth plan. The third-party hotel management model is very well established globally and represents a new pillar for asset-like hotel growth for EVT.
The Pro-invest Hotels acquisition includes 15 long-term hotel management agreements under franchise agreements with major global brands, adding around 3,200 rooms to our portfolio across Australia and New Zealand. The portfolio comprises 10 Holiday Inn Express Hotels, Sydney's Kimpton Hotel, two Hotel Indigo Hotels, Voco in Auckland, and the Sebel in Canberra. We expect the acquisition to deliver annual EBITDA of $8 to $9 million once it completes later this year or early 2025. We also expect to see value upside as we develop opportunities in this market segment. We've grown the EVT Hotels and Resorts network to 84 hotels with more in the pipeline.
Within owned brands, asset-light growth was achieved with the opening of QT Singapore in September 2024, the repositioning and relaunch of Rydges Australia Square in Sydney, which was formerly the Tank Stream Hotel in our independent collection, the owner investment and subsequent return of the Rydges brand to North Sydney, formerly also in the independent collection, and securing the Rydges Ringwood, formerly the Sebel Ringwood, in Melbourne's Eastern Corridor. We have a pipeline of new owned brand hotels joining the group in future years, including the Radisson Flagstaff in Melbourne, which, following a major refurbishment, will rebrand as Rydges Flagstaff Melbourne, Atura Orange Park in Southwest Sydney expected to open in financial year 2027, QT Parramatta expected to open in financial year 2027, Rydges Resort Wai Loa Lower Beach is at the planning stage, and Rydges Tauranga New Zealand expected to open in financial year 2027.
In terms of enhancing the asset value of our owned hotels, I mentioned earlier an upgrade of Rydges Queenstown and rebranding as QT, which is well underway. This is an incredible property and located in one of the strongest markets. We expect some really strong results out of this investment. We've also recently introduced a cozy room concept in currently underutilized conference space at Atura Adelaide Airport. This room innovation was drawn from our learnings at Lilo and has proven immediately successful at this property. We've also secured planning approvals for proposed new Lilos in Fremantle and on underutilized land at QT Gold Coast. I want to take a little time to recognize our hotels teams for being so well awarded for our hotels, experiences, and talent this year. Proudly, our hotels and resorts teams received over 50 industry awards over the course of the year.
A few to name include LyLo Auckland, recognized at the Global Youth Travel Awards as the best hostel, which is a credit to the strength of the brand at such an early stage. In June, the qtQT Cabins, our innovative accommodation concept at QT Gold Coast, were awarded the best superior accommodation in Queensland, and the cabins continue to leverage their unique position in a very competitive superior accommodation market. Rydges Melbourne has been recognized for the second year in a row as the best meeting and event space in Melbourne and a top 50 meeting hotel in Asia Pacific, taking out the top spot in Victoria. At the Hotel Management Industry Awards, QT achieved numerous accolades, including Brand of the Year, as well as specific awards for QT Sydney, QT Auckland, and QT Melbourne.
The awards reinforce our commitment to providing unparalleled experiences to our guests, and we're excited to continue to raise the bar in hospitality into the future. Within independent brands, asset-light growth was also achieved, securing the Sherwood Hotel in Queenstown and securing the Alex Hotel in Perth, securing the Ivory Lane Brisbane, which is formerly known as the Oakwood Brisbane. In summary, we are very pleased with the progress on our hotels' growth strategy. Many of you will be very familiar with our overarching strategy. Our three strategic goals that guide the group are to grow revenue above market, maximize our assets, and business transformation. You can see from the full year results that we have been able to grow revenue above market, deploying demand-driving strategies, innovative new product and services experiences, ensuring positive customer engagement underpinned by a highly engaged employee culture.
We continue to maximize our assets by growing the value of EVT Hotel property portfolio, developing and expanding asset-light hotel growth strategies, and divesting underperforming and non-core assets to recycle into growth projects. We are implementing business transformation initiatives to continually improve our operating models, investment in IT innovation to mitigate cost pressures, and maintain or improve margins. Our achievement of these goals is supported by the group's Elevate program. We want to elevate our customers, which includes continual enhancement to EVT customer listening programs to guide our investment decisions, elevating our people, which includes continual enhancement to recruitment, development, and retention of quality talent by creating a positive, empowered culture, and elevating our community, which includes encouraging daily evidence of our everyone belongs, diversity, and inclusion approach, and playing our part to support the communities we operate in.
Last month, we launched the first phase of the group's reconciliation action plan, and for those of you who'd like to review the RAP plan, it is now on our website. We continue to elevate our environment with our focus areas of sourcing responsibly, designing for the future, and playing our part in sharing the progress that we make along the way. We continue to work towards reducing carbon emissions by 50% for Scope 1 and Scope 2, and 25% for Scope 3 by 2030. Now, looking ahead into the next financial year, overall, we're feeling good about FY 2026. For entertainment, the FY 2026 year will see the release of several strong blockbuster titles. July started well, including Jurassic World Rebirth, Formula One, Superman, and How to Train Your Dragon.
In November and December 2025, the lineup looks promising with the release of Wicked for Good, Zootopia 2, and the next installment of the record-breaking Avatar series, Fire and Ash. We expect the first half to deliver growth on prior year. Whilst there's been a delay in the release of the next Avengers title, previously scheduled for May 2026, there are very promising titles set for release, including the sequel to 2023's Super Mario Bros. movie, which was the 12th highest grossing movie of all time for Australia. We've got Star Wars, Mandalorian, Toy Story 5, and Minions 3. For the German circuit, the much anticipated German title, Das Kanu des Manitu , released on the 14th of August, the film is currently expected to achieve around 4 million admits within the German market.
Similar to a normal year, this year's result will be heavily reliant upon the two critical periods of December, January, and June. Generally, with the impact of strikes on film production now over, the supply of quality blockbuster titles is increasing, and demand for good quality films is strong. Of course, it's all subject to film performance and date changes. The hotels division will be in line to achieve another record result. However, the result will be comparatively impacted by works at Rydges Queenstown, with rebranding to QT Queenstown, with an estimated EBITDA impact of $2.5 million in the financial year. When reopened as a QT, we expect this location to generate EBITDA in the range of $14 to $17 million per year.
Finally, the unplanned trading disruption and damage caused by Cyclone Alfred at the Gold Coast is expected to impact EBITDA over the six to nine months in the order of around $1 million. In addition, the New Zealand market, except for Queenstown, continues to be challenged, but we are seeing signs that more things are happening to stimulate that market. In Australia, weekday corporate travel remains strong, and there's positive demand from wholesale and group segments. The property result for financial year 2025 is expected to return to an EBITDA relatively consistent with the FY 2023 result of around $7 million per annum. Thredbo is enjoying the benefits of the new strategy, paying off with good winter conditions relative to prior year.
Applying those conditions until the close of the season, we're currently expecting a full year EBITDA result of between $25 to $30 million for Thredbo, and we'll update this further at the AGM. In summary, we are focused on growth. We hope we can now put the external hurdles that have challenged us in our rearview mirror. Our teams have done an incredible job driving solid growth strategies and continuing to transform the way we do business, and we're looking forward to the year ahead. Thanks for listening, and I'll now take questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speaker phone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from John O'Shea with Ord Minnett.
Afternoon, Jane. Can you hear me okay?
Yes, hi John.
Thanks very much for taking my call. A couple of questions from me. In terms of your strategy in relation to the hotels, I can see your approach there in terms of the acquisition of Pro-invest, etc. Can you perhaps give us some comments around how you expect that to fit in with your other assets and brands under management? Obviously, you've got your own hotels, and you've got the second leg of the strategy there with your independent hotels. Now you've got this third-party or white label management side. Do you see any conflicts there, or how are you assessing that in terms of the initial feedback from the hotels? I guess that's the first question.
Look, we're excited about it. We now really can walk into any pitch and have a solution, John, and I think that's the best way to think about it. The reason why we've acquired Pro-invest Hotels and why we are setting it up as a separate company is because it will be a separate arm of our hotels division for growth. We've had positive reaction, actually, from the hotels that we will be managing. If you think about it, that was the only remaining angle that we couldn't tackle, looking after an existing brand but leveraging our expertise. There's no doubt in the market that our head office is in Australia. We make all the decisions here. We can be agile, etc. The appeal of that in that market segment is quite high. We're feeling very positive about it. It will be a separate division.
We've announced that Mathew Duff will be leading that. We look forward to developing and growing the Pro-invest team that's there.
Just to sort of, in an adjunct to that question, do you use that, do you intend to use that as a platform to grow globally, Jane? Is that sort of within Asia, or is that part of your plans as well?
I think we've stated earlier that we believe that our brands could perform very well offshore. When you now look at the three ways we can grow, that creates opportunities for our brands to go offshore in an asset-light way. There'll be more on that in the future.
Sure. Thanks very much. I'll step back and let others have a turn at the questions, but thanks for answering them, Jane.
No problem.
Your next question comes from Edward Woodgate with Jarden.
Hi Tan, thanks for taking the question. Can you hear me okay?
Yes, I can. Hi.
Hi, just maybe initially, if you wouldn't mind me asking to set the scene a little bit, a very specific accounting question. The tax was, the implied tax rate was a bit higher than we were expecting. Could you talk through what drove that? Was there anything in relation to do with the German business underperforming?
I'm going to let Greg Dean answer that question for you.
Hi Ed. If you look at the effective tax rate, it is higher than we would normally see it at the 30% mark. That's just because, as I think, as you sort of referenced there, it's just the German tax losses. You can sort of see it in the tax note how we've got some unbooked German tax losses. Unfortunately, the German tax system, which is very complex, is not like Australia where you can share losses between companies or you have a consolidated tax group. In New Zealand, you can actually transfer losses between companies. Over in Germany, they're siloed in the company in which they've been incurred. We can't recognize some losses. If you have a look at the delta between the losses year on year, it's actually the cause of that increase in the effective tax rate. Yeah. Okay. Got it. That's helpful.
That would improve the result significantly if the German business come in normally. Just in relation to the cyclone impacts, there's a lot of numbers just discussed there. I just want to make sure we understand what they are and the overall impact. Also, in the annual report, there was a comment about $4.1 million revenue impact from the ongoing closure of the Bazaar Restaurant. Can you just call out what the group impact of the cyclones were? Does that include the Bazaar Restaurant impact? Then just quickly do the splits again just to make sure we got the right numbers.
Yeah, sure. Overall, about $3 million in this financial year, of which we're kind of like $2 million in hotels and $1 million in cinemas was the impact of EBITDA in this financial year. In the next financial year, we've indicated that there'll be a further $1 million impact in hotels, but there'll be no ongoing impact in cinemas.
Is the restaurant and Bazaar included in that $3 million?
The restaurant and bazaar is included in that $3 million, and it's also included in the $1 million going forward in the first half.
Got it. If we look at consensus based on what we have for Visible Alpha, it would seem that if you applied a normalised tax rate and also applied the $3 million impact there, you'd actually have a slight beat to consensus. It seems so maybe potentially the initial reaction today was a bit of an overreaction. I think it'd just be useful to understand the outlook because there are a few puts and takes there. The hotel business, you're talking to another record year, but there's also the acquisition of Pro-invest. You've also called out some impacts to that part of the business through QT being closed. Sorry, the Queenstown bridges also being closed. I just wanted to make sure what's included in that guidance, please.
Sure. Let me update, and then Greg, feel free to pipe in. Nothing from the Pro-invest acquisition has been included in our outlook statement.
Okay, that's helpful. The impact of Rydges Queenstown is included, is that right?
The impact of Rydges Queenstown we think will be $2.5 million.
Yeah, that's included in the guidance. That comes back online in 2027, will be entailing. Are there any other assets that you're expecting to have to refurb in FY2027 that might be a drag on earnings in that year? Is that too far out to be thinking about that yet?
Oh, look, we have projects, but we don't see any major refurbishment projects taking place in that year. We are currently going through the process of scheduling and looking at costs for development for the two Lilo projects, but they'll be phased out. We are really focused on Queenstown at this point.
Yeah, sure. In relation to IMAX, maybe I'll just ask one question on that and then jump back in the queue. Is there, that sounds like a good opportunity. Can you talk through just some of the economics of that arrangement? Anything in relation to potentially the CapEx involved or the unit economics, upside, or the revenue share or licensing agreements that you have in place there, just so we understand how to potentially model the upside associated with that business.
Yeah, sure. I mean, I can say one thing. It delivers very strong returns for the amount of CapEx we need to put in. Matt, did you want to comment on that?
Yeah, hi Ed. The IMAX screens are conversions of existing screens and not like the Darling Harbour one. It's a lower CapEx model in that sense. It's clearly the fastest growing and becoming the most important PLF format in the world. Our early results from our conversions at Pacific Fair are very promising. We're looking forward to rolling those out.
Sorry, if I might just ask one more. The hotel revaluation came in broadly in line with the last valuation you've done. From what we understand, since interest rate cuts have happened in the market, there have been a lot of transactions that have occurred. The asking rates of sellers have gone up quite dramatically and the bid spreads are wide. Maybe bidders are bidding for more, but the transactions aren't necessarily there yet because of the gap between expectations. I'm just wondering whether that has impacted the ability of your valuers to revalue assets up. Also, can you just call out how many assets you sold in between the two valuations just so we can bridge what the actual uplift in the underlying portfolio was?
Yeah, sure. Now, Ed, I just want to make it clear it's not a revaluation, right? It's just separate disclosure on the independent valuations that we've got, right? That's just an accounting nuance there. It's not a revaluation as such. It doesn't actually hit our books, right? Look, and I think I've said this in the past, we can't pressure out the independent valuers to sort of give one value or another. I think I've always sort of said that I feel like they're slightly conservative when they come to our portfolio. Just to that point, like in Jane's references, the investment property, which we used to get revalued, or, and that was revalued, but independently valued every six months, the last value at December last year was $6.4 million, and we sold it for $10.25 million, right?
There's, that's, that, and we've seen that, as you sort of said, over the last couple of years, we've sold properties generally about 30% more than what the valuation indicates. This year we did get about 50% of the portfolio independently valued, and the overall value went up about $30 to $40 million on that portfolio. On a billion, I guess it's not a huge amount, but I was pretty happy with that. I still sort of refer to the past history and question whether it's conservative, but you know, that's up to the independent valuers, and they're independent for a reason. There's not really too much to call out there except that, you know, we did sell a number of properties over the course of the year, but they were smaller properties. That brought that value back.
When I look at the total amount, if I yell the numbers out, like at 30th of June last year, it was $2.29 billion. So we rounded up to $2.3 billion, and this year we're $2.3 billion. I'm pretty happy with where the portfolio is and those valuations that have occurred, even though I do think they're probably conservative.
Okay, there's been a slight uplift in value when you exclude the asset sales as well. That's a fair comment. Is that right?
Yeah.
Yeah, great. Thanks very much.
Your next question comes from Sam Teeger with Citi.
Hi Jane, that FY 2026 score looks pretty good. Maybe the first question, I appreciate the cyclone headwinds that's impacted you in recent clients, but when we think about growth going forward in cinemas, how do you think your growth will compare to the market? On one hand, you've got premiumization, which will help you, but on the other hand, you have that fewer better strategy, which may be a headwind.
Yeah, good question, Sam. We've closed around 13 locations in the past five years. If you were just taking the math of that, you would think our market share should have decreased by about 5%, and it hasn't. It's off 0.5%. You add back the cyclone Alfred, and it's all good. I think there's two things. We have fewer sites, but our yield strategies and deployment of premium are doing a really good job of offsetting the share declines. We all know this is a dangerous business just to measure share. We're about the profit rather than share. I think that we believe that actually we're holding share really well, considering how we've restructured that portfolio.
All right. In terms of the RevPAR outlook for this year, the special events pipeline does look pretty good. You just recently had the Lions Tour, GMO, Sydney Marathon now at international status, the Ashes later this year. What do you think for RevPAR growth over the next 12 months in Australia?
We're actually looking at occupancy growth as the driver over the next 12 months. I mean, we don't give outlook statements on RevPAR. I think there's plenty of external sources to provide that, and we take a look at that and form a view around that. Really, we see it coming in occupancy growth.
Got it. I guess with coming in occupancy growth, what does that mean for profitability trends of individual hotels?
We expect growth.
In margin, in profit margin?
Yes.
Okay. The last one, just on New Zealand, what do you think the bed packs are going to do to demand? It seems like that's been an event over there.
Sorry, Sam, we find it really hard to hear you. Can you just repeat that last question?
On New Zealand, just on the bed packs, what do you think that's going to do to demand?
Is anyone else picking the question up? Sorry, Sam, we're going to need you to repeat it one more time.
Just the bed packs in New Zealand, what do you think that's going to do to the business over there?
I think it's a really bad idea. In fact, today everyone can look at the Herald if they would like to. It seems like the government has said that they need to stimulate events in Auckland to drive recovery into that market. I think that the other measures which are being put in place are just, you know, they're not going to address what needs to happen in that market. It is all about events, feed Auckland, feed the country. We have an opinion on the bed packs, and we have an opinion on events, and we're being vocal in that market.
Got it. Thank you.
Your next question comes from Nick McGarrigle with Barenj oey.
Thanks. Lots of good questions so far. Maybe just building on the investment, the property portfolio, just comments on why the Sydney property, Sydney CBD, wasn't revalued. Just some context, I presume that the valuer is engaged by the bank for debt purposes, just in when it comes to kind of framing what the view is on valuations, because it didn't look obviously like they changed dramatically for the portion of the portfolio that was looked at in light of cap rates and earnings in those properties.
Yeah, sure, Nick. I think we've said in the past, and it's written in the annual report, that we do, we don't do all of them at once, right? We do them over a two to three-year cycle. The ones where I'm sitting here now, or more so the George Market Street ones, like QT Sydney, they'll be done next year. Their three-year cycle will be up. The ones we predominantly did this year, we did them because they're secured properties, and we do them every second year. We pay for that. The banks don't pay for that. Obviously, each valuation costs money. I'm not, you know, without sounding too tight about it, I don't want to waste money by doing them too often, right? Generally, I was happy with the ones that we've got done this year. When you look at the portfolio, it was quite a mixed portfolio.
For me, that was good that the whole portfolio went up, right? There were regional properties, there were New Zealand properties, there were Sydney properties, so Sydney metropolitan properties. I was generally happy where that landed. We've put the rates that were used, and you're right, they didn't change much. That's because, I guess, in the categories where they fall and where we disclose, there's quite a broad range there from previous valuations and this valuation, but they're all consistently within that sort of general range. The ones to call out, I guess, were there was a slight change in the German properties, the range there, but that was just, again, they're for regional locations. There is going to be some swing there from valuation to valuation.
I guess it was just interesting that the cap rates didn't change based on the disclosures in the notes to the property portfolio presentation. I think it's, and presumably a lot of the valuation uplift that you've done to get stages of DAs approved is more in the Sydney CBD area. It didn't look like the valuations for the Melbourne CBD properties changed much either, which I was, you know, just some, you've obviously given us a view that the valuer was fairly conservative in the way they undertake those, that's all.
That's a good opinion.
In terms of just the cinema business, if you kind of, given you've sold some assets, if you managed to produce box office in line with, I think, 2025, can you give us a sense on what the earnings profile would do? Like, were those cinemas, you know, barely profitable? What would that mean for operating leverage?
For which cinemas, Nick? Which cinemas, sorry, Nick?
Just for the ANZ or for Australia specifically, if your box office is flat year on year into 2026, what would the earnings profile do, given you've gotten rid of some of those cinemas?
If it's flat year on year, and depending on what CPI does over the course of next year, which impacts things like general purchases, but also rents, I'm sort of saying it's going to be pretty consistent. That's not what we've said in the outlook. I guess you should take the outlook rather than just theorizing what if it's flat.
I guess the operating leverage in the second half was probably not as pronounced as I thought. It's more just trying to unpick what the moving parts are.
Nick, I thought.
You've indicated it's the fixed overhead.
Yeah, I read your note on that, and maybe you can talk to me about it later on, but you know, the margins improved on half two compared to half two last year. I was actually, and when I look at the whole business and the margin half two on half two, it's actually a good result. I wasn't quite sure of necessarily your message that you'd put in your note, albeit a quick take note.
Just adding to that, in quarter four, EBITDA was up 52.1%. We would consider that very strong improvement unless your number was higher.
That might be the case, and I think consensus number might have been higher. We're obviously just feeling our way through without all the data, just because there are elements of the cost base that are probably at the fixed level, unhelpful when the box office is low month to month. It's hard to kind of get a gauge on that, but presumably a bit more admissions recovery, and we'll get back to a bit more of a steady state of profitability every month. Maybe just a question around the properties again back into the Sydney CBD. Does the valuation, the independent valuation, include a value for the air rights above the QT at the corner of Market and George Street? I think I'm right in understanding that the two development sites haven't been, they're sort of hyped and alternate use valuations still of $245 million combined.
That hasn't changed for a few years, but you've significantly progressed those two commercially.
That's correct. Yes to the second part, and no, the air rights are not included in the first part.
Thank you. In terms of the, you guided to the hotel segment, I appreciate the context that Pro-invest Hotels wasn't included in the outlook comment. You're expecting growth in earnings before the impact of QT and in Queenstown and the Gold Coast. We should think about a half year's worth of earnings from Pro-invest Hotels should that pass the review that you're waiting on, I think, for the [exposee].
Yes, that's right.
That's great, thanks.
Thank you.
Your next question comes from Edward Woodgate with Jarden.
Hi, thanks for taking a follow-up on a few questions already. Just quickly, maybe the technical ones on the debt finance, sorry, the debt facility refinancing. Do you think you can get better terms there, or is it just a matter of securing funding?
I think we've come a long way since we last refinanced almost three years ago. I think it'll be, on the market's better, I'm expecting better terms. I don't want to jinx myself with them. The banks are probably listening, but we're expecting better terms. We'll sort of see what the next six months, yeah, six months drag out for us.
Okay, that's fair enough. If you could talk to the performance of your portfolio by region in the cinema business, and maybe it's a different way of asking the question, like if you spit out the impact of the cyclone, would revenue have been in double digits revenue growth for the second half, or was it high single digits? How do we think about the revenue impact? You've done some EBITDA impact, but it'd just be helpful to understand what's happening to the top line.
I think, I mean, we said that, you know, EBITDA was impacted by about $1 million. You could add that back into the equation. You've got to remember that we are a dominant player in Queensland. We've got about 60% share of the Queensland market. Just to let you know, our nearest competitor is at about 9.5% share. The impact of a cyclone like that does have an impact on us. The way, I mean, clearly we're all very close to share, and we track that daily. When you adjust for that, and you adjust for the screens that were out for refurbishment, we were all good.
Okay. The overall health of the cinema industry in Australia probably is not being reflected in your numbers today, if that's, if you wouldn't mind me saying. In relation to the operational leverage, our numbers seem to indicate that you would have done 23% EBITDA growth in the second half if it wasn't for the impact of the cyclone. Just to follow on from the next question, that's great operational leverage, but does the closing of a few sites actually improve your ability to earn next year? Were some of them actually unprofitable, or do you lose a little bit of EBITDA?
We're closing sites that are marginal or loss making.
Net neutral to potentially positive impact on EBITDA to 26%. Yeah. Just quickly on the one-offs, there's quite a few there just to get our heads around. I don't know if there's any you want to call out in particular, but noticed there were some cost savings associated with the restructuring. I noticed there were some one-offs related to some restructuring costs, but can you talk to any cost savings that landed in this half, or is there anything we should think about into the cost base in the next half and which divisions these were in?
For in the individually significant items, Ed, was that the question?
Yeah, that one of the items is restructure redundancy in years and staff-related costs of $1.5 million one-off. What's the impact of the cost savings on this result? Should we annualize anything into the FY26?
I wouldn't annualize anything in relation to that $1.4 million in that individually significant item, no.
Yeah, that's just the redundancy, but there must have been an associated wage reduction.
I think I may ask this in a different way. What we have done this year is formed a trans-Tasman operating structure for the cinema business, which we've completed. That is also supporting the operating leverage that we're getting in the cinemas business.
Can you talk to the timing of when that happened?
This full year happened throughout the year.
Yeah.
Okay, all right. Thanks very much.
Yeah.
There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Ms. Hastings for closing remarks.
Thank you all for listening, and I look forward to catching up with you over the coming week.