Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Experience Co Half Year 2023 Results Conference Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. CEO John O'Sullivan and CFO Owen Kemp will present the results for the half year, followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I'd now like to hand the conference over to CEO John O'Sullivan. Please go ahead, John.
Thanks very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, can I start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the country that we now gather on here in Gadigal country, in the Eora Nation, and elders past, present, and also emerging. Thank you very much for your time this morning, and it's our pleasure to present to you Experience Co.'s first half of FY 2023 financial results. With me this morning, as per usual, is EXP CFO Owen Kemp. On slide three, you'll find the format for the meeting that the moderator has already outlined, being a business update provided by myself, followed by Owen running through the financial results for the half, and then we'll conclude the presentation by providing a brief trading update and outlook for the business and of course, happy to take your questions. Turning now to slide 5 in the presentation.
If our FY 2022 results represented the toughest year on record for Experience Co., the first half of financial year 2023 represented one of the more optimistic starts to our trading year that we have experienced since the COVID pandemic began. The key drivers of the optimistic start to the financial year were primarily down to four very distinct reasons. Firstly, we've seen a pronounced improvement in market conditions off the back of limited COVID-19 restrictions, a continual easing of labor supply pressures in the business, and strong performances in destination markets such as Queenstown, Cairns, and Port Douglas, all resulting in more solid trading conditions. Secondly, we've seen a domestic customer within Australia and also in New Zealand that has remained resilient to outbound replacement and macroeconomic changes in both markets, and with whom Experience Co.
was able to maintain a stronger direct relationship and a higher spend per passenger. Thirdly, we've also seen, during the half, meaningful improvements in policy adjustments that will favor the creation of upside for international tourism into both Australia and New Zealand, underpinned by the reopening of the North Asian markets and increasing aviation capacity. Finally, we've seen good progress on key EXP organic growth projects, in particular within our Wild Bush Luxury and Treetops Adventure business units. Turning now to slide six. Owen, of course, will go through the financial results in more details, but reflective of the improved trading conditions and factors experienced during the half, we're pleased to report that at a headline level, we saw revenues increase to AUD 51.5 million for the half, up from AUD 19.2 million in the corresponding half of FY 2022.
The business was able to produce an underlying EBITDA of AUD 5.8 million, up from an underlying loss of AUD 3.1 million in the first half of FY 2022, also resulting in a improvement in our net loss after tax of AUD 1.6 million, an improvement from a AUD 4.1 million dollar loss in the same corresponding half of FY 2022. Our balance sheet remains in good health, with AUD 14.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and net debt of AUD 2.3 million. Turning now to slide 7. As we outlined during the course of 2022 during our full year results and again at our annual general meeting in October, the Experience Co of today, even allowing for the impact of COVID-19, is a better business than the one that existed prior to the pandemic.
Since 2019, our board and management team have reset and reestablished the business with a clear strategy that is built around capital discipline, a focus on people and culture, a more diverse mix of customers and experience, all whilst staying true to the original escaping the ordinary ethos on which the business was founded over 20 years ago. The opportunity of the business still remains ahead. As last reported, we believe the business, prior to any new organic or inorganic growth projects, is capable of earning AUD 40 million through the four verticals we have within the business today. Turning now to slide four. As we reported during our full year results presentation for FY 2022, the key attributes of international demand recovery for Australia remain in very good health, as recorded and reported by Tourism Australia.
With regards to latent demand, Skyscanner now reports that pre-pandemic levels have been exceeded by the level of searching for Australia over the course of 2022. With regards to aviation capacity, we saw that at December 2022, aviation capacity into Australia was at 70% of pre-COVID levels and is projected to be closer to 90% by the end of this financial year. Finally, international arrivals have recorded 61% of pre-pandemic levels without the impact of the newly reopened China and Hong Kong markets. In addition to this, just this week, Tourism Research Australia, in their latest tourism forecast for the period of 2022 to 2027, now predict that inbound visitor arrivals will be above pre-pandemic levels during 2025 and a total of 11 million in 2027.
While they also, so forecast that total visitor expenditure, both domestic and international combined, will surpass pre-pandemic levels during the course of 2023. Turning now to slide nine. Before I hand over to Owen to take you through the financial results for the half, I'd like to give you a quick update on some key growth projects that have been occurring within the business. While, of course, our focus for during the FY 2023 has been unashamedly about restoring Skydive and Morningstar businesses to pre-pandemic levels. As we have outlined to the market previously, we have commenced a number of organic growth projects that have been focused without the requirement for additional external capital and focused on projects delivering a strong IRR.
Our Treetops Adventure business is poised to reopen its Taronga Park Zoo attraction prior to the end of this financial year. We are well advanced on securing new sites in locations such as Victoria, Queensland, and also the ACT. Our Wild Bush Luxury team are nearing completion of the new expansion to Bamurru Plains with the launch of a new six star Jabiru suite, offering a private family oasis in a very unique part of Australia. The new expansions into this luxury lodge will boost its capacity by some 30%. I'm also very pleased to advise you that Experience Co has been selected by the New South Wales government as the preferred tenderer to develop the new Gardens of Stone luxury guided walk and Lost City adventure experience.
Subject to final lease agreements and consultation, both will open progressively from the end of 2023 and will be part of the New South Wales Government strategy to further extend the iconic Blue Mountains tourism precinct further west in New South Wales. This announcement proves our capability as a business to work alongside state government successfully in developing sustainable and highly attractive tourism experiences, similar to the Reef Magic Pontoon, which we launched in partnership with the Queensland Government in April of 2022, and which continues to trade strongly. With that, I'd now like to hand over to Owen to taKe you through the first half financial results for financial year 2023. Thank you.
Thank you, John, and good morning to all on the line. As John said, today we're very pleased to be discussing the first half 2023 results, where we've seen the earnings potential of the reset EXP business coming through. Volumes were the strongest since pre-COVID in each segment. Along with disciplined pricing strategies, we see revenue at AUD fifty-one and a half million, or more than 2.5x the PCP. In the period of the first half, there was no government COVID support, which is easily overlooked. When considering the PCP, the results were aided by some AUD 3.3 million of government support attributable to tourism specific programs and wages support such as JobSaver. Echoing John's earlier comments, staffing shortage and inflationary pressures eased as the half progressed, thanks to the impact of adverse weather conditions.
The operating leverage in this business is evident, and that is seen in the underlying EBITDA of AUD 5.8 million in the half, and similarly at the improvement in the PBT line. Corporate costs at AUD 3.3 million for the half are in line with expectations and have remained on par with the second half of FY 2022. Once again, noting that the PCP of AUD 2.7 million was inclusive of some government support of over AUD 350,000. Those with a keen eye for detail on this page will notice that and in the 4D, will notice a AUD 29,000 income tax expense in the period despite a PBT loss. This is in a one-off effect of a re-estimation, and otherwise you'd see an income tax benefit that you'd normally expect at the corporate tax rate.
Importantly, summer trading has been robust. As volumes continue to improve as inbound markets normalize, margins are anticipated to improve into 2023. Moving into slide 12. The result was one all about operating leverage, with volume being the key driver here. Revenue is tracking in line with our recovery expectations, and this is despite the challenging weather conditions in Australia in the half which impacted our skydiving and Treetops Adventure categories in the calendar year 2022. Adventure experiences traded strongly in the half, with Refinitiv in particular, performing ahead of recovery expectations. Looking at skydiving on this page, while achieving the highest volumes post-COVID in both Australia and New Zealand, as you can see in the chart on the page, is recovering in line with the return of inbound markets. It also reflects labor supply improving as the half progressed.
Only in the recent December and January months have we seen both markets returned over 50% of pre-COVID comp. We look forward to this continuing to improve and result in improved earnings. Into slide 12, skydiving. Skydiving as a segment achieved break even in the half. That was principally top line driven. Sales revenue of AUD 19.5 million was 110% up on the PCP, with over 38,000 tandem packs compared to 18,000 in the prior period, and an increase in revenue per pack following price increases. We are pleased with the reset of our pricing approach over recent years, exiting the half with an average of AUD 460 per pack compared to pre-pandemic averages of approximately AUD 390.
As I discussed earlier, with no government support in the period. As such, I presented the other income line, which is predominantly in the PCP income support. You'll see that drop off from AUD 1.5 to AUD 0.2 in the current period. Looking to rationalize the skydiving EBITDA, which is the obvious question when you look at the page, there are three factors at play here, and they relate to timing and how the recovery is played out. The first being the trajectory of the recovery with the start of the half, including labor shortage and an uncertain demand overlaid with adverse weather. The second element to consider is the compounding effect of these factors on our supply.
With labor shortages and weather conditions, and to a lesser extent, Jet A-1 prices, each have a compounding effect when demand and supply are not in a steady state. As an example, in the half, we started Q1 with four tandems per plane load. By the end of the half, we were approximately six, with a view toward getting towards our more regular seven to eight. What this means is doing four loads today, it takes twice as long, ground crew and flight operations costs per passenger are twice as much. The often overlooked factor is the day goes longer, so you are exposed to adverse weather conditions, air traffic holds, and the like. The freeing up of the labor supply has been critical in improving the capacity of the efficiency of each plane. The third and last one is volume.
In particular, international is the key ingredient looking forward. We can see this in December and January, where an increased volume results in starkly improvement in revenue and earnings. All while it is worth noting that December and January are still more akin at the moment to what our normal off-peak times would be of July and August in a pre-pandemic year. It is with strong confidence, we look forward to the improvement of earnings in this segment. On the demand side, it remains robust with pent-up demand from the pandemic and weather reschedules, but also good momentum in new sales from a record Christmas campaign and a more active international consumer in the countries. In New Zealand, as you can see on the slide, Q2 was vastly improved with easily the best volume conditions post-COVID.
This is all about operating leverage from here, and it's all about volume in terms of magnitude and consistency, of which international markets will greatly assist in the near term, and we're excited about the trajectory ahead. China is fast emerging as an opportunity for the calendar year, and John will talk to this topic later in the presentation. Moving to slide 14, adventure experiences. In this category, we've seen the strong momentum from the final quarter of FY 22 continue. uncertain continued to achieve circa 90% of pre-pandemic volumes on the back of a largely domestic market to date. Labor shortages, similar to skydiving, eased considerably in the half, albeit some work remains to flex up our staffing levels to boost onboard sales and other revenue add-ons.
Treetops had a solid half, a very resilient business, albeit volumes were curtailed by the adverse weather in key operating locations, particularly New South Wales and the Sydney catchment in the all-important July and October school holiday periods. Summer holiday trading has been robust in the Treetops category, with over 3,000 packs on a few days in late December. Cape Tribulation was opened in July and has continued to build momentum as the region recovers. The Taronga Zoo is scheduled to reopen in the fourth quarter of this financial year. In our Wild Bush Luxury category, Bamurru Plains had a record season, and the expansion project, which commenced in November, is progressing nicely, albeit with the obvious timing challenges that come with building a project in the tropics. Maria Island also continues to perform strongly.
As John advised earlier in the presentation, we are delighted to be announced as the preferred operator for the Gardens of Stone projects, and these remain great opportunities for our Wild Bush Luxury and Treetops Adventure brands into 2024. Moving on to slide 15 and the balance sheet and cash flow. As John alluded to, we completed the period with the balance sheet remaining in a really healthy shape. On the cash flow, we saw robust operating cash flow of AUD 4.2 million from the improved trading, albeit in part offset by an increase in inventories and receivables at the balance date. We also invested in the period with fleet renewal in our skydiving segment, including the divestment of a non-core airframe, as well as the expansion construction costs at Bamurru Plains and other growth sites.
All the while noting that our through maintenance CapEx is somewhere in the order of AUD 7 million-AUD 8 million per annum, this is all in line with expectations. Cash holdings of AUD 14.4 million and net debt of AUD 2.3 million at 31 December has us in a good position. Our NAB facility has been continued to be extended out, and we work cooperatively with them going forward. We also have carried forward tax losses from the pandemic of AUD 44.5 million gross terms or AUD 13.3 million tax affected. These are real, we look forward to accessing those in coming years as trading improves. I'll now pass back to John to talk through the trading update and outlook, including a focus on the international demand outlook and what it means for our business.
Thanks, Owen. Turning now to slide 17. Perhaps the most exciting news of 2023 was the recommencement and re-engagement of the Chinese market in the international visitor economy. Equally, what is also becoming fast apparent within our business, but also broadly in the sector, is the improving fast rate of recovery from key inbound markets into Australia and New Zealand. Our internal view remains unchanged from previous presentation in that during 2025, we should see a recovery of the inbound markets to pre-pandemic levels, and therefore the impact on our business will be similar. Without question, China remains the most important market for Australia and New Zealand's visitor economy from both a visitation and expenditure perspective. For EXP, this is no different.
Whilst the initial flow of Chinese tourists outbound will be the markets probably more closer to home, we expect that as 2023 progresses and through 2024, it will begin to exceed its performance of 2019. This is also confirmed by Tourism Economics in recent work conducted for Tourism Australia to predict that by 2025, it will be almost 30% larger as a market to Australia than pre-COVID times. In addition to that, we are also buoyed and very excited about the opportunities that present itself from some other key inbound markets to Australia, in particular, the United States, the United Kingdom, and also very importantly, from a skydiving and adventure experiences perspective, the market of India. Turning now to slide 18.
Finally, this morning before we take questions, I'm pleased to report the demand for our experiences during the month of January remained robust and our business finished slightly ahead of our projected profitability for the month. In line with seasonality, February and March are traditionally quieter shoulder periods, but I'm very pleased that the business is well positioned for the remainder of the financial year. Once again, our discipline on cost of acquisition of customers, pricing, as well as cost controls generally have resulted in the business being able to continually improve its profitability and cash flows as volumes have increased. As a result of that, during the month of January, the business was positive at both an EBITDA and cash flow perspective.
We anticipate that 2023 will see a continued improvement in international volumes for our business as aviation capacity and inbound movements by key markets into both Australia and New Zealand continue to improve. Equally, we also believe that strong domestic demand for EXP's core experiences will remain. As always, management continues to remain vigilant to market conditions, both positive and negative, and we continue to build a pipeline of complementary and accretive acquisition opportunities. Of course, given the market uncertainty, we will not be releasing a guidance for financial year 2023. In conclusion this morning, I'd like to thank you again for your time and your ongoing support of Experience Co. With that, Owen and I are now very happy to take any questions that you may have. Thank you.
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 speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. The first question comes from John O'Shea from Ord Minnett. Please go ahead.
Morning, John and Owen. Can you hear me okay?
Can hear you loud and clear.
We can hear you.
Very clear, John.
Thanks very much and good work on the improvement coming through. Just a couple questions from me. One on the micro level, just in relation to your net debt calculation, just confirming there that when you've done that, you've included your finance leases in calculating your net debt?
Yeah, that's right. Any leases or asset finances, you'd traditionally call them, John. Yeah. They're included in that. If you were to back those out, it'd be a net cash position.
Okay. Thank you.
Yeah.
The second point is getting back to Slide seven on your recovery-based earnings, and you've mentioned that AUD 40 million number. Can you talk us through sort of how we should think about that AUD 40? Is it a base case AUD 40? Is it a kind of optimistic case, or do you understand what I'm asking?
Yeah, no, 100%. 100%.
Is there a particular?
I think the way. Yeah.
framework for thinking about it?
The framework for thAt number, I guess, John, is very similar to what we presented at the AGM and in the FY22 results series. What we're not factoring in there, we're just saying really this is what it'd be if those businesses did what they did before. We actually think they've got a bit more potential in them. As John alluded to there's potential for that market size to grow as well. We haven't factored any of that into the 40 that we've presented on the page, nor have we included any growth earnings. Say the Bamurru project or any of the Treetops expansion, for example, John. We haven't put that in the 40 because there's a lot of moving parts.
The Trees, the rollout of the additional sites for Trees are not included in that?
Correct.
Okay.
Yeah.
Um, so if-
No, no, that's all right. Of course, like, we haven't tried to put anything in there, like as we've talked about around our focus on yield and cost of acquisition, we haven't factored anything in there on that. The reason for that is, look, we're not trying to say that AUD 40 million is the absolute top potential of this business, John, as you'd imagine. I think it's got a bit more in it. You know, we need that volume to be through there on a consistent basis. We need that linear relationship between demand and supply to be in equilibrium again.
Yep. Just an extension of that, Alan, is what would we By definition, what would we need to see in terms of the Chinese and the inbound market? Are we assuming that in doing that, of course, it's an annualized pro forma, but that we kinda get back to those levels, and if we do better than that or worse than that than the numbers-
Yeah.
reflects it up and down, or?
I mean, just to sort of jump in on that, I think that's what we're, you know, we're saying that those levels or that level of profitability is based on the business in those, you know, those legacy business units getting back to those FY 19 volumes, which as we've said before, is a key focus of management. Then looks at, you know, the costs we've taken out of the business and then also the, you know, the performance that we know that the existing business units for Wild Bush Luxury and Treetops Adventures can do. That's how we've calculated that number. Yep.
Sure. I guess by extension of that, if Tourism Australia are right and Tourism Economics are right, then that would by definition mean that it was up.
Is upside for upside. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you very much, guys, for taking my questions.
Thanks, John.
I'll let someone else have a turn. Thank you.
Thanks, John.
Bye.
Thank you. The next question comes from Alan Franklin from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Thank you for your time. Great to get to this juncture again and be able to get some Q&A. I want to sort of flesh out a couple of discussion points, please. Just perhaps on your slides, on the international recovery. Could you perhaps cut it slightly differently, please? I mean, just sticking with the Skydive piece, but say in the Skydive New Zealand, in your other basket, I'm assuming Australia is in that. Can you just carve out a bit more detail what might be hiding in that other?
Yeah.
Yeah. Should I just get that through? Because maybe if I were actually do it. The domestic in Skydive New Zealand, Alan, it would be very similar. Australia would represent about the same. If you had New Zealand, which is domestic in that, it would be 8%, Australia would be 8% of the total pie.
Realistically, a lot of, I mean, the Queenstown Airport has been busy from an international perspective. I assume that's mostly Aussies flying in, yeah, but not necessarily jumping out of a plane as much as the other international cohorts have. New Zealand, is that a fair comment? New Zealand obviously does need a lot more of the international tourism piece, and is that delayed relative to what we might think here in Aus, or are you sort of feeling comfortable it's the same profile?
I'm feeling in terms of the, in terms of internationals, arrival into New Zealand or Australians arriving into New Zealand, it's basically on a like-to-like basis. It's actually slightly ahead of where it was in FY 2019, the Australian component. Queenstown as an aviation destination, the only international flights that go in there directly currently, is from Australia. That's traditionally been the case at that airport. That international traffic feeds in from, you know, Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland in particular, into that market.
I mean, I guess looking forward, we're feeling very comfortable about New Zealand as a market because it almost feels in some ways that their snapback as a destination is going along very well compared to, you know, compared to other international markets.
Yeah, sure. Helpful. Thank you. Then maybe just shifting still on Skydive, but just think about the yield dynamics. Presumably a little bit of a tailwind from the international side. Is that a fair observation?
Yeah. That was gonna be the comment. Yeah. I think that's a fair observation, Alan. Like, if we revert to historical type here in pre-pandemic, generally our internationals were higher yielding in terms, in particularly certain subsets such as China, on uptakes of, say, the video product in skydiving or the option of altitude. They'd generally be a higher value consumer. That'd be a fair sort of statement to introduce that there's a tailwind there.
Just any sort of commentary you can make around the sort of, the ability for you to capitalize on that, on the dynamics relative to competition. I presume you obviously need to be in the ear of agent networks again and the sort of mix shift to, I guess sort of shifting away from sort of a direct to an agent dynamic. Just sort of how that might sort of play through and any sort of any color you can sort of provide on how
I think that. I think for us, you know, we've spent a lot of time during the pandemic investing in systems and capabilities within the business that allows us to, you know, maintain a much more direct relationship with the customer. As, you know, what we've seen during, you know, December within the Skydive segment as a whole is that direct relationship's running at about, you know, I think it's around 70%. Pre-pandemic, it was at about, you know, 45%. Naturally, there will be an increased influence of third-party distributors in our business now as those international markets come back and we are starting to engage with them more frequently and more proactively.
You know, I guess one of the things that what excites Alan and I is that we're very well positioned now for that direct-to-consumer relationship to continue. A really practical example at the moment, Alan, is that, you know, we're spending a lot of time in the O-week networks. Rather than just being sort of handing out brochures like we might have done in the past, we're actually re-taking and receiving bookings at on-site and converting that directly. You know, we…
There will be an increase, no question. We welcome that and we value our trade partners. At the same time, we also know the importance of that direct relationship. We're, you know, gonna battle very hard to maintain that as that high a percentage as we can.
Perfect. That's all for me. Thank you.
Thanks, mate.
Thank you. The next question comes from Julian Mulcahy from E&P. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Just a couple of questions on the skydiving business. If you look at that in the first half result, you know, you did, you know, much greater volume in that sort of final quarter. What was the sort of EBITDA mix between first quarter and second quarter to sort of get an idea of the leverage?
That's a good question. It's very back ended is probably the best way to say that. I'm reticent to share too much detail on a quarterly basis of EBITDA at this stage until things settle. It's certainly back-ended, and we've seen that recovery really kick in from that December period, Julian. Yeah. That even goes across the business, I think at a high level, that earnings was weighted to the second quarter at the EBITDA line.
It was like a meaningful loss in that first quarter?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be considerable. Yeah. It'd be considerable. Like, you're talking a business that is when you start getting through that 50% comps, you can sort of get in the order of, you know, one half, AUD 1.6 million EBITDA in a month. Yeah, it's quite a considerable turnaround.
Yeah. Cool. Sorry, and as you go back to more agent traffic, is that gonna sort of change the sort of margin because of the pay around in terms of commissions?
Look, not for face value for you guys looking at the numbers prima facie, because what will happen is as you get more volume, which is where you'll have that happening at the same time, and that volume is really key to the labor efficiency and the flight operation efficiency. While we might see an increase in the commissions line, that efficiency of just throwing the volume and getting the plane more full, getting your days done quicker, all those sorts of things, you probably won't see that too much, I guess, Julian, from an outsider. You know, if you were to pick one line, I would expect the agent commission line in my P&L would go up, but I'd expect that to be offset by better efficiency as the volume plays out in the P&L.
Okay, cool.
The other thing as well, the other thing as well, Julian, we've spent a lot of time in, I guess, reshaping our relationships with distributors. We have, you know, taken quite a more disciplined approach to the levels of commissions that we pay. You'll probably find even allowing for the increase in that, you know, third-party channel as a channel overall, the commission rates that we paid, you know, percentage wise in the past are less. On average, we've taken about 5% off those commissions.
All right. Cool. Thanks, guys.
No, appreciate it. Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. The next question comes from David Kingston from Ocean Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, John. How are you?
Hi, David. How are you?
Very good, thanks. Just a couple of questions. Just clarifying the AUD 40 million, which is the magic number. Is that EBITDA or is it after head office costs?
Yeah, yeah.
give some color on that?
Yeah. Inclusive of head office costs. Correct.
It's at the EBIT line, EBITDA or the pre-tax line?
EBITDA for the group.
Okay. Okay.
Yeah.
Okay. Look, secondly, you know, good to hear you think the Chinese are coming back in numbers. Where do you see, you know, fast forward to 25, the split of inbound, John, roughly between Chinese, Americans, Europeans, et cetera?
In terms of total visitation to Australia, I'd see it being similar to what it had been before. I mean, if you take roughly, David, it was about 1.4 million visitors out of, I think it was a circa, you know, nine million overall visitors to Australia. I think it'll be similar. If not, it could be, you know, if you take what Tourism Economics are saying, it could be higher than that. I think as that overall inbound market grows, I think you'll roughly see to Australia, it'll be between sort of 10%-15% of total share.
Okay. Look, finally, on the business. You've got quite a few businesses, John. Look, the marine business is a good business. I think Treetops is solid. Look, clearly Skydive is pretty fragmented. You've got a lot of sites all around Australia and New Zealand, a lot of equipment to look after. It's heavily exposed to, inbound, severely exposed to weather. Skydive is sort of obviously been a challenge. Secondly, your new business on the Wild Bush Luxury, it sounds alluring and quite a few people like going on those, but they're relatively small scale and fair bit of management input in those. All these businesses do take up plenty of head office time.
Just interested in your general thoughts about which of your businesses you are happiest with in terms of delivering.
Happy with all of them, David.
Shareholder value.
It's pretty straightforward. Very happy with all of them.
Look.
Yeah, it's like trying to pick a child, but it, you know, we're very happy. We've obviously been very happy, as you would know from your own investment with Sunlover up on the Great Barrier Reef. The performance up there has been very strong. We've equally been happy with how our businesses in New Zealand have performed, and that's both our Skydive and our aviation business. We've got work to do in Australia, as I think as Owen has alluded to going through the segments. On Wild Bush Luxury, yes, it is.
It is currently a small scale of business. We are excited by the fact that, you know, the investment that we're making in Bamurru, we are looking at some expansion of Arkaba, and then obviously the tender that we've picked up with the NSW government as preferred bidder for Gardens of stone will allow us to grow that segment. We also like the customer that comes into that, David, because they're high yield. We also believe we can cross-sell them across other parts of our business, in particular the reef business and to an extent some of the Skydive locations. On Skydive more generally, yes, look, it's exposed to weather as, you know, as any tourism business is.
There's obviously some safety overlay we have on that. What we've become better at doing during the course of the pandemic is moving customers through the site. I guess leveraging the network. If there are, for example, delays or weather impacts at places like Wollongong, transferring those customers into, say, Newcastle, for example, is now what we're increasingly doing. We're lessening that impact of, you know, that operational impact we may have. You know, overall, happy with all the businesses. As I've said previously, the key focus and the key driver of that AUD 40 million EBITDA number is going to be getting the reef and skydiving businesses back to their pre-pandemic levels. That's where we are, spending a lot of time.
The final thing I'd say is what we're really happy with as well, is the level of our management capability that we have across the business now. Distinct as where we were from before and even, you know, we've made some changes during the course of this calendar year to our executive team. We're very happy with, you know, the level of capability, and it's better than where it has been. That also ensures that, you know, Owen and I can spend time on those things that are most important. Certainly for us, that for those two core businesses, being marine and also skydive, that's where we're focusing a lot of time on, as we've said consistently before.
To deliver that magic $40 million, what revenue are you assuming, John, will deliver the $40 million?
It's anything around sort of AUD 150-AUD 160 will get you there. Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Because it's been a fantastic company back in the days of Bowie, cranking it up and, you know, it's had its ups and downs, look, good recovery in the last six months. Yeah, look, I'm sure it will kick up from here on in. It's just a matter of how quickly you can get up to the AUD 160 million-AUD 200 million revenue. Judging from the revenue lift in the last six months, you may be able to do it in 2024. We look forward to that.
As do we.
Thanks, David.
Thanks, John.
Thank you. The next question comes from Roni Jiang from uncertain . Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys. Good morning, and thanks for the update. I just had a question about, so with the recent acquisitions with the Treetops and also the Wild Bush Luxury businesses, are you seeing a lot of cross selling activities between those two segments and, I guess the other ones that you have, the skydiving and some others, like the cruises?
It's a good question, you know, I guess similar to the parts of the question that David had before. One of the things we did do during the course of the pandemic was we invested in a new CRM capability with HubSpot, who are our provider. We've now got a customer database across the group. Any customers that have opted in for skydiving, Treetops Adventure, Wild Bush Luxury, and our Great Barrier Reef experiences business are all now within that, you know, that subset. We are able to now start offering experiences not just across the two acquisitions verticals, across the entire group, provided that customer opts in. Our opt-in rate has been pretty good.
Yeah, we don't look at it just as the new acquisition businesses. We look at it across the group.
Yeah, great. Thanks, guys.
Thanks, Romy.
Thanks, Romy.
Thank you. The next question comes from Aaron Jennings from Ausbil. Please go ahead.
Yeah. G'day, John and Owen. Thanks for taking my question and congrats on the result. Just focusing on the skydiving numbers, with your revenue, as a % of pre-pandemic, would that be higher than your volumes as % pre-pandemic?
Yes.
price improvements?
Yes. Yes. Yeah. With the yield driven, yeah, on a revenue per pack basis, Arden, that's correct. Yeah.
That's certainly what it looks like for the first half versus first half 2019. If all else equal with the price improvements, you'd expect pre-pandemic, you know, versus that to exceed it on a revenue basis, would you?
Yeah. If we did the simple all else equal, it's always a dangerous assumption in operating business in tourism, Arden. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah. Okay.
Yeah.
Just following down, obviously with more direct as opposed to the third-party, you know, third party services. That wouldn't necessarily increase your revenue presumably, but improve the gross margins.
Yeah. You'll see that come out in the gross margin in two ways. You'd have, first of all, the percentage mix, as you alluded to, but also as John sort of touched on earlier, which we haven't spoken about extensively in a while, just that reset of the commission base. That has happened over the pandemic as well.
Okay, excellent. Then just lastly, just looking at the inbound tourism numbers on slide 8, just focusing on Australia, what would you say your volumes would be as a % relative to that for your skydiving numbers? Would you be lagging?
Yeah. Well, that's a, that's a good observation. You've used the word I'd use when we, when we look at it, is we say it does seem to lag. I know it's a small data set since Australia opened its borders, but it seems to be that point where, it's that initial capacity was taken up by a lot of VFR, rather than actual, tourism consumers, if you will, who are going to do activities in our space. I guess if you compare us with some of the other travel stocks, everyone has to hop on a plane to get to Australia, right? You've got a shot at the prize, whereas we need the people who get on the plane and coming here actually doing experiences. We are lagging that visitation, but it is improving.
As that gets out and that initial VFR gets out of the mix and we get to that more steady state, I'd expect that to close the gap.
Yeah. Excellent. Presumably that segment of the market, would be... Are they backpackers, students?
Yeah. Combination. Yeah, think about it, backpackers, students, for a skydiving segment, but just also the free independent traveler as well, Arden, in the skydive segment in particular. Up in the Reef Unlimited, it'd be some of that group and major markets. Your North Asia markets, your big Western groups as well, is what we'd see there.
All right. Excellent. Thanks so much, Alan and John.
Thanks, John. Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.