Wonderla Holidays Limited (NSE:WONDERLA)
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522.00
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May 7, 2026, 3:29 PM IST
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Q1 23/24

Aug 14, 2023

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Wonderla Holidays Limited Q1 FY24 results conference call hosted by ICICI Securities Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aditya Chattopadhyay from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Adhidev Chattopadhyay
VP and Senior Research Analyst, ICICI Securities

Yeah, good morning, everyone. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Wonderla Holidays Q1 FY24 results call. From the management, we have with us today Mr. Arun Chittilappilly, the Managing Director, and Mr. Arun Srinivasan, the DGM Finance and Accounts. I'd like to congratulate the company for posting yet another strong quarter. Now, I'd like to hand it over to the management for their opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Hi, thank you so much for the introduction. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining this phone call today. I extend a warm welcome to all of you to discuss our Q1 earnings. FY 23 was a spectacular year for us. After enduring two challenging years, we've been able to achieve extraordinary results in the last year. Our footfall, revenue, PAT, EBITDA all have reached all-time highs in the last FY itself. We w- we were hoping that the growth momentum would be continued. We also have a lot of innovative rides, shows, and we're able to revolutionize the concept of entertainment that captured millions of visitors who came pouring into our parks. All this has, all this dedication and strategic approach has established us one of the largest amusement park companies in the country.

Our strategies in digital marketing have been remarkable and enabling us to reach our audience with relevant promotions and effective campaigns. We have done a lot of musical events, festivities, and occasions as well, and occasions to visit. Our endeavor is to create more occasions to visit Wonderla. During the quarter, we witnessed a footfall of 11.02 lakh. We are now comparing post-COVID numbers, keeping base year as FY 23. Bangalore Park saw a footfall of 4.69 lakh visitors, Kochi Park registered 3.19, and Hyderabad did 3.14. The ARPU for the quarter was INR 1,626, an increase of about 25% YOY.

The increase in ARPU was driven by healthy growth in non-ticket revenue, along with encouraging response from walk-in and groups and all aspects of our customer base. The construction of our fourth park in Odisha is in full swing, we are working hard to finish it on time. We will also be starting work on our construction of our fifth park in Chennai after receiving necessary approvals to start construction. We also have made some significant changes in our senior management, we are happy to introduce the announce the appointment of Dheeran Choudhary, Dheeran Singh Choudhary as Chief Operating Officer for the company. Viren brings with him 15 years of experience working in marketing and ops, and he was associated with companies like Zomato, Red Bull, et cetera.

His experience, expertise, and insights in leadership will be instrumental in achieving our goals going forward. On behalf of Wonderla, I would like to extend a warm welcome to him. Now, moving on to the financial performance for the quarter. Our revenue for the quarter stood at INR 185 crore, up by about 24% compared to last year. EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 123 crore, up by 30% YOY. Our EBITDA margin stood at 64%, having improved by 260 basis points. PAT for the quarter was at INR 84.5 crore, a huge 31.2% growth. The margin, PAT margin is at 44%, highest it's ever been. As we continue to be debt-free and cash rich, we ensure that our ability to make strategic investments and maintain high profitability.

Looking at the future, we are excited about all the opportunities that are coming our way to set up new parks and to collaborate with other people, other business houses to set up parks. I think it's going to be a very rewarding journey with us. With this, I conclude my speech, and I'll now open the forum for questions.

Operator

Thank you very much. We'll now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask the question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Karan Khanna from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.

Karan Khanna
VP and Senior Research Analyst, Ambit Capital

Yeah, hi. Thanks for the opportunity, and congratulations on a great quarter, Mr. Chittilappilly. My first question is on your thought process behind your ARPU versus ARPU versus if I look at the footfall growth, because in Bangalore, you've shown us an 11% footfall growth despite a 21% growth in your ARPUs. While in Kochi and Hyderabad, the ARPU growth has impacted your footfall significantly. Do you believe that Bangalore as a micro market is more resilient to price hikes, and you could take possibly another 20% price hike without impacting the footfall much? When you talk about Kochi and Hyderabad, what's your strategy going to be here in terms of increasing your ARPU, or will it be, will the focus be on footfall?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

... See, I think, one of the things that you all should remember is that we were already running full, if you remember my con call from, Q1 FY 23, our parks are already running pretty much full. The only thing we could now do is to look at how we can maximize the revenue potential from, you know, parks is already running at capacity. Last year, because it was, COVID, first year of post-COVID, we had a unusually large size of group, in all the parks, actually, especially in Kochi. One of the reasons why the footfall could have grown, de-grown in the, in the other two parks, is because, we got a higher percentage of, retail versus, you know, group footfalls.

Having said that, it's not really much of a worry for us because, you know, post-COVID, we didn't expect all the parks to perform at the same level. Bangalore obviously, is the biggest city in the most wealthiest and, you know, in terms of disposable income, it, I think, continues to be the highest, and that's reflected here as well. Also, Bangalore has always been our most popular park. Its footfalls are always higher than the other two parks. That's because the brand is from there. In a way, that, that continues. I'm not really worried about footfall growth because even, even, in spite of doing a much higher R2, 25% higher R2 this year, our footfalls have not really de-grown.

It's grown, grown down by 1% as a company, so it's not really much of an issue for us.

Karan Khanna
VP and Senior Research Analyst, Ambit Capital

Sure. That is helpful. Yeah, yeah. Please go ahead.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, that's it.

Karan Khanna
VP and Senior Research Analyst, Ambit Capital

Sure. Second question is on your discussions. You know, you have, you've been having discussions with other state governments, including MP, Goa, Punjab, Gujarat. How soon could these possibly materialize for the company?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

I think, one or two projects will be, as announced this year, this FY. The rest, I mean, we want to do it, you know, stage by stage, as and when we get favorable proposals from state government, we will, you know, we will look at it, and we will decide. As of now, we already have two parks in construction, so we are not very aggressive in getting new projects, but we also want to see who... We have a lot of interest from the various state governments. We are talking to many of them, and from time to time, we'll announce.

Karan Khanna
VP and Senior Research Analyst, Ambit Capital

Sure. Regarding the hiring of Mr. Dheeran Choudhary, as your CEO also, could you highlight key initiatives he would be responsible for, and how do you intend to use his capabilities and experience to scale your business?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

He is somebody who's got a lot of expert expertise in business, and, you know, improving yield and especially sales within the parks and those kind of things we want to improve. A lot of efficiencies can be. In, in, in every sense, he will be a Chief Operating Officer. He will work directly under me. He will also have charge of PNL. He'll have a PNL focus, obviously, and operations. These are the two things, operations of the parks and resort, and PNL focus is what he's going to broadly do. I mean, but it will evolve over time.

Karan Khanna
VP and Senior Research Analyst, Ambit Capital

Sure. My last question is on your resort business. What are your plans on scaling up, rooms and offerings at your Bengaluru resort, and are you also planning to add resorts at the other locations?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, yeah. We are, we are actually in the process of finalizing plans to upgrade our resort. We've already done some work in this area. We've already upgraded our bar and restaurant. We have a new convention space, but more and more refurbishment and upgrades are coming to the resort. Yes, we will be looking at building our next resort in Hyderabad, but it will not happen in this FY. Maybe I think we'll take it up next year.

Karan Khanna
VP and Senior Research Analyst, Ambit Capital

Great. That's it from my side. Thank you and all the best.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from line of Kaustubh Pawaskar from Sharekhan by BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Yeah, good morning, sir. Thanks for giving me the opportunity, and congrats for a good set of numbers. My first question is on the non-ticketing revenues, which grew by around, sorry, APU, which grew by around 26% for you. So just wanted to understand how much is the growth in how much was the growth in ticketing revenues, and how much was the growth in non-ticketing revenues?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Both have grown, I think the, the highest growth has come in non-ticket revenue.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Ticket revenue has also grown, grown up by about 18%-18% compared to last year.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

non-ticket revenue, has also grown much, much more than that, more than 20%.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Okay. The, the highest, higher growth in the non-ticketing revenues is because of the initiatives what, what you have recently focused largely on the food, you know, the-

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Correct.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

various initiatives on ticket taken on the food part, that is helping you to achieve good growth in the non-ticketing revenues?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes, correct.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Okay. Though this quarter we can understand it is because of the high base, you know, the footfalls were, you know, flat. Do you still believe that, you know, 5- 6% kind of a growth on an annual basis in terms of footfalls is achievable, considering, you know, various initiatives you have, in post, in the coming quarters, and, you know, for the entire year, 5- 6% kind of average footfall growth is achievable?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, that's what we, that's what we are aiming for. Having said that, this is a year, this is the first normal year we are having after two, three years, right?

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Right, right.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

There may be some changes in foot, people's spending capacity. People are more busy. I mean, trips, you know, things are getting back to normal in that sense. Because of that, I think there will be some differences compared to how it was last year, so hard to predict how it will be. We are reasonably confident that we should be able to get at least 5% footfall growth.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Right. My third question is on the new, you know, states where you are planning to come up with the, you know, projects. It will be in line with what you are having, the park in Odisha. You know, a smaller park where you will be having around 25-30 rides, and, you know, the model will be more on the lease base kind of a thing, where you will be having a land from government on a lease basis, and you will be putting CapEx behind only, you know, setting up of the park. It would be a similar model?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, it will be similar. It depends on the size of the market. Some markets we are, we are also talking to, for example, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Those will be larger investments. In a smaller states, like, I mean, smaller cities like Indore and, maybe even Goa will be smaller investments, yes.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Right. One last one on the events, you know, the Father's Day or some of the events which you have been launching into the park. You know, what kind of incremental footfalls they are helping you to achieve with that? Help us understand on a particular day when there is a celebration, what kind of footfalls you are achieving? You know, from the capacity-

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Depends on the kind of initiatives. Some initiatives will have huge traction and create a lot of footfalls. Some initiatives do not. That's why we need to keep doing different, different things. Overall, it definitely has a positive effect on our footfall and just the buzz in the market about the brand. We are always in the news, so there's always something happening. People like to, you know, check out our website more and more. The number of people who are coming to our site has more than doubled in the last two years. More than doubled, I think tripled. All that, I mean, so there is multiple reasons why we are doing that.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Right. Yeah. Is it helping you for more in walk-ins or even groups are attracted towards this initiative?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Mostly walk-ins, but then walk-ins always has a ripple effect on groups also. That's how it is.

Kaustubh Pawaskar
Deputy Vice President, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

Okay, thank you. I will get back if required.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Operator, give me press star and one to ask the question. Next question is from line of Angad, from Monarch Networth Capital. Please go ahead. Angad, may I request you to unmute your line and go with your question, please.

Angad Katdare
Senior Research Analyst, Monarch Networth Capital

Sorry. Yes. Congratulations on the good set of numbers, sir. I have two-three questions. First, you mentioned that you will announce one or two projects in this FY regarding the other cities. Will these projects also be on the same line as the Bhubaneswar park, or will you have a business strategy for that

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

I just answered that question. you know, depending on the city, we will decide. Some of the larger cities, obviously, we will do a larger project. Smaller cities, we'll do a smaller project.

Angad Katdare
Senior Research Analyst, Monarch Networth Capital

Okay. Sir, what is the split, between the groups and walk-ins for the 3 parks, for this quarter?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Arun, can you just... Arun Sreenivasan, split of group and walk-ins.

Arun Sreenivasan
DGM, Finance and Accounts, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, yeah. Group and walk-ins overall as a company, we have achieved 15:85 ratio.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, that's a good ratio for Q1. I think last year it was, I think 22 and 88 or something.

Arun Sreenivasan
DGM, Finance and Accounts, Wonderla Holidays

20, 23: 77 last year.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

23: 77. Okay.

Arun Sreenivasan
DGM, Finance and Accounts, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

That's the difference there. Sure.

Angad Katdare
Senior Research Analyst, Monarch Networth Capital

Yeah, sir, what is the percentage of tickets that are booked via the online route, sir, for this quarter?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Online is roughly about, roughly about, 15-20% online.

Angad Katdare
Senior Research Analyst, Monarch Networth Capital

Okay. Yeah, other questions have been answered. That's it from my side. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Tejas Shah from Spark Capital. Please go ahead.

Tejas Shah
SVP and Equity Research Analyst, Spark Capital

Hi, thanks for the opportunity, and congrats to the whole team on good set of numbers. Arun, you spoke about Bangalore's resilience versus the, the market. Just wanted to see if you can share some insights. Is it, is it largely the spending power which is higher, or are you seeing-- are you reading any other trends also in these micro markets, on the-

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes, see, Bangalore is the largest city in South India in terms of spending power, so there definitely there is a difference between Bangalore and Hyderabad. Although the difference is not much, there is a difference, and that maybe that's why. Also for us, Bangalore is our home market, and it's, it's always been the biggest, and we've been there as a brand the longest. I mean, Cochin is an exception, Cochin, but we've had a different brand, and then, then it, it came under the 10 years back and things like that. There is a bit of, yeah. Also spending power in Cochin, Cochin tends to be more price sensitive, whereas, you know, Hyderabad and Bangalore are not so price sensitive.

I think every city is slightly different, and that's why you're seeing that.

Tejas Shah
SVP and Equity Research Analyst, Spark Capital

Sure. Then when you measure Net Promoter Score of all the three parks, are they trending in same direction, at the same rate, or are there are some divergences there?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

They're all almost the same. There's not much of a difference.

Tejas Shah
SVP and Equity Research Analyst, Spark Capital

Okay. Lastly on, you spoke about some two-three projects, in this FY. Just wanted to know what kind of investments are we making in our project team in terms of managing two-three projects, at the same time? Then, what kind of capacity we are building for future also, how many projects we can handle at one point of time?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We are, we speak, we are recruiting a lot of people into our engineering and technology team, so we want to make it bigger. Right now, we have the capacity to handle twp projects simultaneously and hoping that we can make that to maybe one-three projects also at some point soon. As of now, for the next two years, we will be until we finish Chennai and Odisha, we'll be focusing on those two. Of course, we'll keep signing on new projects if we feel that, you know, it's advantageous for us to go there.

Tejas Shah
SVP and Equity Research Analyst, Spark Capital

Okay. Very clear. Thanks, and all the best.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from line of Devang Patel from Samiksha Capital. Please go ahead.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Hi, sir, I wanted to understand what is the ticket price increases you've taken in Q1? Earlier, you'd mentioned 10-12% hike you'd already taken, and that would be reflected in Q1, but the ticket price is QOQ is much higher. How much of this increase is because of the mix change?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

The Q1 will see the highest increase because we've increased our peak rates, more than our normal rates. Q2, obviously, our rate differential compared to last year will be slightly lower. Having said that, there will be at least between 15% and 20% growth overall, for the remainder of the year. 15%, at least.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Sir, you mentioned, walk-ins were 85% in Q1. Maybe Q1 last year is not comparable, but generally, what would have been the trend for walk-ins in Q1?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, walk-ins is highest in Q1. 87% is correct. That's how usually... That's how it's always been. Last year is different. Yeah.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Have you taken any measures to discourage group bookings, or this is just, in the normal course, we've seen more walk-ins?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

The first year post-COVID, which is last summer, we were little more relaxed on group discounts because we wanted more footfalls in order to build that momentum. This year, what we have done is, we've removed some of those extra discounts which used to apply during the peak season. Discounts are lower during peak season.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

In this group bookings, we have seen the absolute number of, let's say, school children, still growing YOY, because the overall footfalls are lower.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

School children, it's hard to predict yet, because the first quarter, we don't get too many school kids. It's mostly college kids and corporates. Schools are closed in Q1, right? We don't get too many school kids.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Okay. You know, the parks are running full, as you mentioned earlier. Are we accelerating our expansion plans at these three parks?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We are, we are, we are spending roughly INR 70 crore on maintenance CapEx for the existing three parks. We are adding at least six, five, six attractions to each park this year. That's on, on, it's ongoing.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Is this included in the INR 70 crore CapEx that you mentioned?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes, yes.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Okay. You mentioned you will add one more, you know, you sign up one more agreement this year. When would construction for that start?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

I don't know. We can't predict right now, but I'm thinking that as soon as one of our new projects that we are doing currently, if that finishes, then we can look at the next one, or maybe we could start earlier also. It just depends on the timing of it. As of now, we are, I think we should be able to sign at least one more project, and then we will see. We will take a call on it.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Okay. Chennai, particularly, you've got the approval in June. Will we be able to finish it, within two years or, would we look at some partial-?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Chennai is already. Yeah, Chennai is a project that we have already planned everything. A lot of the architecture and design and all has already been done. We just have to execute it. We were waiting for this crucial exemption to come through because we felt that it, it doesn't make sense for us to do it otherwise, and it just sets a bad precedent for other states. That's why we've done it. Now we will start, and we should be able to, we should be able to finish it by June 2025.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Okay. Sir, quickly, if you could update us how many acres we are looking to take up in both Chennai and Odisha, initially, and what CapEx is our latest estimate?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

That, we can't give you that information, but we will likely something similar to our existing parks ratio.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Okay. Sir, as we move to digital marketing, has our total AMP spends gone down over what we do normally?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

No, AMP spends have not gone down. We're just more efficient at getting to people, and that's why you're seeing better numbers, post-COVID compared to pre-COVID, because I think our marketing has become much more efficient. We're doing many more things, so our advertising and marketing budget will not go down. It will, it will continue as we will spend all that money, but because we want more and more footfalls and we are trying to build our brand in new states and new areas and things like that, yeah.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Okay. Our other expenses have grown and, you know, kept pace with our top line. Is this to do with more subcontracting, or what would you ascribe the growth to?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, other expenses will also continue to grow with the top line. Yeah, in line with what has happened before.

Devang Patel
Principal Officer & Investment Team Member, Samiksha Capital

Okay. Thank you so much for taking my question. Thank you.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is on the line of Naman Shah from Monarch Network Capital. Please go ahead.

Naman Shah
Equity Research Associate, Monarch Networth Capital

Hi, sir. Congratulations on the good quarter numbers.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Thank you.

Naman Shah
Equity Research Associate, Monarch Networth Capital

My first question would be, the growth CapEx for the existing parks. What would be the growth CapEx for the existing parks, to attract more footfalls?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We are spending roughly about INR 70 crore on maintenance CapEx for existing parks.

Naman Shah
Equity Research Associate, Monarch Networth Capital

Okay. You said that you are coming up with a new park, you are going to make an announcement this year. Will it be similar to our satellite model thing, or...?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We are preferring that. Like I said, it depends on the city that we are going to get sign up. Large cities, we will do larger investments, small cities, we'll do smaller investments.

Naman Shah
Equity Research Associate, Monarch Networth Capital

Okay. Okay. That would be, my set of questions. Thank you.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Participant, remember press star and one to ask a question. Ladies and gentlemen, you may press star and 1 to ask a question. Next question is from the line of Anuj Sharma from Three M Investment Private Limited. Please go ahead.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

Yeah. Thank you.

Operator

Anuj, sorry to interrupt you. Your audio is not coming clearly.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

Yeah. Is it better now?

Operator

It's still the same. Can you please speak through the handset?

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

Yeah, I'm actually on the handset. Is it clear?

Operator

Please go ahead.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

Okay. To see, in terms of Chennai park, how different will be the ride experience versus the Bangalore or the Hyderabad park? Will it be a completely different experience, or there'll be similarity between the experiences? The reason I'm asking is, the customers might be fungible from one place to another. Would somebody who's visiting a Bangalore park again want to visit a Chennai park?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah. Our park in Chennai will be different from Bangalore and Kochi and Hyderabad. Kochi and Bangalore are different from Hyderabad and vice versa. They're all slightly different. Chennai also will be different, it will have different rides and, yeah, you can expect it to be a little different from what we've done before.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

If somebody were to put a commonality percentage, what would be the commonality between all parks in terms of ride experience?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Commonality will be about 60-70% will be common, and 30-40% will be different.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

Okay. All right.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Mm-hmm.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

One more thing. We, we based our model earlier, we have reiterated that we would want to look like a Six Flags or similar models. If we see globally, these models are under some challenge. you know, have, can we say that we have innovated our own model or, the challenges were.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, we are not following, I mean, we like to be compared to Six Flags because that's the only other comparable player to what we are trying to do. Six Flags is in US, and US is a very different market. They are, they are in a very different maturity level and spending level and all that. The customer mix is also different. Six Flags depends mostly on grew, a lot of, you know, young adults and local, the local part is similar, but they more focused on young adults as against families. We are focused more on a family outing, as against young adults outing. We are mix of everything. Yeah, it's, it's similar, but it's also different.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

All right. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from line of Naman from Mirae Asset. Please go ahead.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

Hello? Hello, am I audible?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

Hi, sir. My first question is on your current demand trends. If you give us some sense, I mean, a website available in the public domain, suggests website traffic seems to be down slightly on a YOY basis. How is that playing out currently?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

It's like I said, you know, this year we're not expecting footfalls to grow too much. We are, it's like a consolidation year for us, so hard to kind of predict. Also, off seasons will become a little more pronounced post-COVID, because immediately after COVID, there was that, what do you call it? Revenge travel phenomenon. That is more or less, I mean, it's not there anymore. People are back to their routines, and they travel at specific points in time. That will definitely create a season and off season. That will be there, but I don't think it's, like I said, we are expecting to maintain revenue growth, what we have already projected for the year.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

Sure. So could you give us some sense in terms of the Q2, the month of, say, July? Was there some higher rainfall versus last year, which could, say, have an adverse impact on demand, specifically for the quarter, that could be more one-off led?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Hard to predict how the quarter will go, because we're still only, yeah, just finished July, one month, right? Hard to say how it will go, but so far it's looking okay. It's better than what we thought, considering all the rain we have seen.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

... Got it. Sir, could you, is it possible to share some sense what is the contribution of these, non-ticket, not non-ticket, but these events that we're hosting, music festivals, et cetera. What's the contribution of that to the top line currently?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

That will be adding roughly about 8-10% of extra top line.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

This wouldn't be there on a pre-COVID, during pre-COVID?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, it's not there pre-COVID.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

Got it. Sir, does the footfall number also include, footfall from these events, or is that, not included?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

The events, it comes under non-ticket revenue.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

Okay. The footfall numbers would not include that?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Naman Gupta
AVP-Institutional Equity Sales, Mirae Asset

Understood. Very clear. That's all from my end. Good luck.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Daman Shah from ITI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.

Sumit Kaitan
Investor Relations Representative, Orient Capital

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Quickly, if you can give us, you know, you have taken both the ticket price and the non-ticket price, seems to have propelled meaningfully. At the EBITDA level, we see not as much impact. If you can clarify what is causing this, number one. Number two, in terms of northern states, we were to get some approval. Could you also enlighten us as to what is the status on that, apart from the Chennai park?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

See, as far as we are concerned, EBITDA is tracking, so our margin has improved, and EBITDA also has improved, so I don't understand why you're saying that. The second part-

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

No, the average ticket price hike, plus, the, non-ticket price hike, the way we see it.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Mm.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

needs to have some meaningful, you know, rundown on the EBITDA margin. They are up by far, and it's almost at a record level.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

EBITDA margin also has gone up, right?

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Yeah, sure, sure. When we, when we see from Q1 to Q1, possibly, is there something more to read to it or, you know?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

I think, see, this year also, the other changes. In our people costs have gone up significantly this year, about 20%, 20%-25% has gone up. Those kind of things will also impact a little bit the margins, because the cost of doing business is also going up, right? Especially after COVID, with the new hires and all that, the cost of hiring and retaining people is higher. Those kind of things are there. Operating expenses-wise, nothing else really has changed. Only our people costs have gone up a little bit.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Sure. What about the approvals? I think Jharkhand or somewhere we had applied. We had-

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

No, no, we are looking, we are looking at Mohali in Punjab. That also we are, it's on in processing, and we'll let you know when there's something.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

One more northern state, we were looking at?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We were looking at UP also to do something in the NCR area. That also, we are awaiting some developments there.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Oh, okay, okay. Secondly, on the CapEx side, do you have a mix of the Chinese equipment and, you know, or is there a standardized approach over there?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We don't have Chinese equipment. I don't know where you got that information from. We either make everything-

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Do we have? I'm not saying that you have. I'm just asking, do we have some mix of Chinese equipment?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We don't have.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Our equipment is predominantly European, is it?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

European or Indian.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Okay, okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Mm.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Between, as somebody had asked previously, between, you know, different theme parks, is there one or two or three things that you sort of, endeavor to differentiate and...

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

See, all our parks are different. If you come to our parks, you will realize that.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

That we will continue to maintain. Each park is designed to its home city and the culture there, and the architecture follows that, you know, design element, and the rides are different. Depending on the spending capacity, we have more rides or less rides, and whether depending on whether it rains more or is it hot more, we design the park. All our parks are designed differently. Of course, they are inspired by the same ethos, but the execution is slightly different, and that will continue for future projects.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Super, super. Lastly, if you can help us, you know, overall, when you make your budget, you know, what are the cornerstones that go into projecting how much growth you will possibly undergo in the short term and medium term?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

It's, I mean, we are making educated guesses like everybody else, and we feel like, you know, the young people's propensity to spend in Indian cities is only growing, and it's growing at a very fast pace. People are more exposed. They are exposed to the social media. They want more avenues for entertainment. I think COVID has also changed people's thinking about spending on themselves, spending on experiences and holidays. That is what we are seeing as also that change in terms of people's spending pattern. Like, for example, people go less and less to a multiplex or a movie. I think some of those, there is some disruption happening there as well, right? I think people now save and spend more for meaningful, bigger experiences, travel and things like that.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Mm.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

This is the sense that I get, I mean, this is not, but I, I see this kind of trend happening all over the world.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

No, no, fair point. Any critical inputs that you would want to enumerate which help us, you know, kind of boil down to a number which is as close as what you have projected?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

It's hard to say that. I mean, I don't, we don't project numbers, and we, we just make educated guesses and say, "Okay, this is what we think will happen in this year," and then we plan for that. Of course, things might not work, you know, work out, always, but at that, that time, we should be nimble enough to change our strategy and, you know, look at alternative strategies if something doesn't work. That is how I look at it. It's not that we are looking at any particular number.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Okay. There is no planned, as such, growth level that you jot out at the start of the year, to the end of the year to, you know, achieve a stated kind of, or work towards the stated.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what we do.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Fair point. Thanks. Thanks for answering everything.

Operator

Thank you. For seven, you may press star and one to ask a question. Next question is from line of Guneet Singh from Counter Technical Investment Private Limited. Please go ahead. Guneet Singh, may I request you to unmute your line and go ahead with the question, please?

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Hello, I'm audible?

Operator

Yes.

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Hello. Yeah. Yes. So I'm-

Operator

Guneet, sorry to interrupt you, but your audio is not coming at all. May I request you to come in a better reception area, please?

Guneet Singh
Equity Research Analyst, Counter Cyclical Investments Private Limited

Is it better now?

Operator

Yes, we can hear you. Guneet, sorry, your voice is breaking terribly.

Anuj Sharma
Senior Research Analyst, M3 Investment Private Limited

I'm hearing it again.

Operator

Guneet, I'll request you to join the queue again. Next question is from the line of Raj Rishi from the CPL. Please go ahead.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Yeah, hi. Any plans to increase adjacencies other than amusement parks? Like, you have that hotel in one of your parks. Any focus on that?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah. We are planning to add resort to next stop will be Hyderabad. After we do Bangalore. We are expanding our resort in Bangalore right now, and then after that, we will do Hyderabad.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

This would be a part of your plan, right? Each of your parks

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

have a hotel.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes, sir.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

And-

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

It's always there in the master plan.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. This Bangalore hotel, what kind of expansion are you doing?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

We're adding about 40 rooms. We're adding, convention space. We are adding some new attractions. We're adding two new bars. We are going to refresh the rooms, all that, you know, to give it an upgrade.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. How much land is unutilized in the current three parks?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

About half of the land is unutilized.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

You can utilize the entire thing, right?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes, sir.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. Any plans as to, how you plan to utilize it?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Like this, when we add rooms, we will use a plan. When we add rides, we will use a plan. When we add restaurants, we will use a plan. The facility will keep growing.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. In how many years do you think, you'll be able to utilize the entire land in the existing parks?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

It should last us another 10-15 years easily.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. Okay, okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

This can also be a big play for weddings, et cetera, right? For your,

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah, yeah. We are getting a lot of that kind of demand. That's why we are adding more space in the resort.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. This would be the trend in your future parks also, the same model?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes, yes.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Yes, yes.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. Sir, what's the main moat which Wonderla has? Say, entry of new players, international players, et cetera. If they also talk with state governments on an asset-light model, say, Disney or something-

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Mm.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Can you just elaborate, what's your thought process on this?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

See, Disney and all, we will not compete with them because they operate in a very different price bracket and their investment and everything will be in a very, very different. We don't see that as potential. In fact, that will only, if that happens, that will only grow the market. Because that they, they, they cater to a very high-end, premium kind of experience.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

People who can spend about INR 8,000, you know-

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

per day, per person. That's the kind of number.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

you need to go to a Disney park.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay. What, what kind of threat do you perceive from, and from who, for, for your?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

See, we, we always say that our competition is not just other amusement parks. We look at all forms of entertainment as potential competition, including digital entertainment, other holidays. Any day trips or any, you know, how people spend their days, free holidays with their friends and family, that will have a bearing on whether they want to go to an amusement park or not. Having said that, I do feel that the sector itself is very underrepresented in India. I think there's a lot of-

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Under what?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

The sector is underrepresented in India. There are very few players in India. There's a lot of scope for growth.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay, okay. Sir, you would stick to this business area, right? Amusement park plus hospitality, et cetera. You would not venture into any other area?

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Why do you... I mean, anything allied to our entertainment, we will something that, we'll keep exploring. For example, we want to look at some form of digital version of Wonderla at some point. Not maybe immediately, but soon. Yeah, anything related to entertainment and outings, where we feel we are relevant as a brand, we will look into that.

Rajrishi Singh
CMO & CBO, Corporate Travel & GCC, CPL

Okay, okay. Okay, thanks a lot.

Operator

Thank you very much. As there are no further questions, I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Sumit Keitan from Orient Capital for closing comments.

Arun Sreenivasan
DGM, Finance and Accounts, Wonderla Holidays

Yeah. Thank you, everyone, for participating in this conference call today. I would like to thank management of Wonderla for taking out the time and answering all the questions today. We are Orient Capital Investor Relations advisor to Wonderla Holidays. For any queries, please feel free to reach out to us. Thank you so much.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Thank you, all.

Arun Sreenivasan
DGM, Finance and Accounts, Wonderla Holidays

Thank you.

Arun Chittilappilly
Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays

Good day.

Operator

Thank you very much. On behalf of ICICI Securities Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.

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