Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Wonderla Holidays Limited Q2 FY24 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities. Please note that the duration of this call will be 30 minutes only. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask question after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Adhidev Chattopadhyay from ICICI Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good morning, everyone. On behalf of ICICI Securities, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Q2 FY24 results call of Wonderla Holidays Limited. Today from the management we have with us, as always, Mr. Arun Chittilappilly, the Managing Director, and Mr. Arun Srinivasan, the DGM, Finance and Accounts. Now I'd like to hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks. Over to you, sir. Thank you.
Hi, good morning, everyone. Thank you, Adhidev. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today on the joyous occasion of Dhanteras. On behalf of Wonderla Holidays, I would like to wish all of you a happy Diwali and then extend a warm welcome to all of you to discuss the Q2 and H1 FY 2024 results. We started FY 2024 on a strong note with great performance and scaling new heights in Q1. Our EBITDA, PAT were the highest since inception. I'm pleased to inform you that the growth trajectory continues for us. In Q2, we grew at a remarkable 17% growth in our revenues, which stood at about INR 81 crores.
This is a good achievement for us, particularly in Q2, because of the lower seasonality at this point. This shows the faith and enthusiasm of our visitors choosing Wonderla as the first choice destination for thrill and adventure. Our strategies in digital marketing have been giving us remarkable results, enabling us to reach higher-paying customers and with the relevant promotions and effective campaigns. During the quarter, we undertook different marketing campaigns to highlight festivities and events.
It seems that we have lost the connection for Mr. Arun. Please stay connected while we reconnect to him. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patiently holding. We have the line for the management reconnected.
Yeah, hi. Sorry about that. So as I was saying, I think we did a lot of digital marketing initiatives to, you know, enable us reach our audience, and we did a lot of festivals and events like Independence Day, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, et cetera. So we had good, pretty good numbers during the quarter, especially during the festive season. The total footfall in our parks stood at INR 4.96 lakhs, 6% growth YoY. Bengaluru Park saw a footfall of INR 2 lakh visitors, INR 2.07 lakh visitors. Kochi Park registered a footfall of INR 1.8 lakh, and Hyderabad observed a footfall of INR 1.05. Hyderabad is the only park which has shown a slight degrowth.
But the footfall for H1 stood at INR 15.9 lakh, versus INR 15.8 lakhs in H1 FY 2023, registering footfall growth of only 1%. So park-wise footfall in first halves, Bengaluru recorded a footfall of INR 6.7 lakh visitors, Kochi had about INR 5.5 , INR 5.03 lakh visitors, and Hyderabad witnessed about INR 4.2 lakh visitors. With the improving weather and the festive season in Q3, we anticipate better footfalls in the coming quarter. We have implemented multiple strategies to spur growth in non-ticket revenues. Consequently, our ARPU in Q2 FY 2024 increased by 9%, and stood at about INR 1,440....
Our Q2 for H1, FY 2024 is at INR 1,568, registered a healthy 20% growth YoY. We endeavor to provide thrilling experiences to our visitors and are always looking at innovative ways to ramp up mojo. So during the quarter, we launched two new attractions in Bengaluru Park, Drop Loop and Rainbow Loop. These are slides imported from a very prestigious manufacturer in Turkey. Our Hyderabad Park also won the Best Innovation Award for Mission Interstellar ride from Department of Tourism of Telangana Government. The construction of our Odisha park is progressing at a good pace. I'm happy to announce that after receiving all the necessary approvals from Tamil Nadu Government, we have commenced the construction of our park in Chennai.
So we've just about started doing preliminary work for like, the starting construction of our workshops, et cetera. We are also exploring opportunities to establish amusement parks in different parts.
Mr. Arun, your line is not audible. Ladies and gentlemen, we have again lost connection for Mr. Arun. Please stay connected while we reconnect him to the conference. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for patiently holding. We have a line for Mr. Arun reconnected on call.
Yeah. So could you let me know where did you lose me? Did you lose me, like, at the...? Did I move to the financial performance already?
Yes, sir, you can continue.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay.
Financial performance.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think, so we've done an EBITDA of about INR 26.6 crores against INR 23, 15% growth. Then about 13% of PAT, which is a growth of about 28%. Now moving to half yearly, our revenue for first half is about INR 271 crores, versus INR 222 crores in the first half of FY 2023, clocking a 22% growth. EBITDA is INR 149 crores and grown by 27% YoY, and EBITDA margin stood at 55% and increased 200 basis points YoY. We have delivered a robust growth in profit after tax for H1, registering INR 98 crores, which is INR 74.9 crores. The PAT margin is 36%, 200 basis points growth.
As we continue to be debt free, we can ensure the ability to make strategic investments and maintain high profitability. We thank you for your unwavering support, and hope to deliver value to you, in long term. With this, I conclude my speech, and wishing all of you happy and prosperous Diwali once again. Now we can open for Q&A, please.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. First question is from the line of Jaiveer Shekhawat from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Sure. Thanks for taking my question. So, Arun, my question is in relation to the kind of expectation you have for footfall growth next year, given that next year there won't be a high base, and any plans of expanding or adding more attractions at your existing parks to drive that footfall growth in FY 2025?
Yeah. So, we should... See, this year, we are kind of, it's a coming back to kind of a normalcy kind of year for us. So that's why we, and we didn't expect any footfall growth. So next year onwards, we are expecting footfall growth because we have, you know, introducing more attractions. Like I already said, we have opened a couple of attractions in Hyderabad. We are adding one more attraction in Hyderabad, before the end of this year. In Bengaluru, is getting a very big attraction with about an INR 30 crore investment, which is like our virtual reality, show, Mission Interstellar, which we already have in Hyderabad, which we don't have it in our biggest park.
So, you know, so we are, we are doing some of these investments, so you'll see, the capacity of the park, especially Bengaluru, also will go up a little bit. One of the issues we have in Bengaluru is capacity, especially during peak months, so we need a big new ride to kind of soak in more people. So that's why we are doing this. So yeah, so like that, we are, all three parks will see, in, good investment this, you know, for the next one, one and a half years to kind of, you know, grow ourselves a little bit and, you know, you know, be able to accommodate more people. So that's going to happen. Yes.
Sure, that's very helpful.
We'll be able to do, we are expecting to get back to, like a 5%-6% growth in footfall per year, kind of a thing, which is what we are looking for. It's unrealistic to expect more than that because we are all-- Sorry?
That's excluding Chennai and Odisha park, the footfall-
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And, yeah, yeah. It is excluding Chennai and Odisha. So it's unrealistic to expect more growth, you know, in Bengaluru and what do you call it? Kochi. But we are kind of not happy with the performance of Hyderabad. We do feel there is more that we can unlock there, so we are looking to see whether we can get a higher growth of footfall in Hyderabad. So that's something we are working on.
Sure. That's very helpful. Secondly, we heard about the bomb blast at the convention center in Kalamassery, Kochi. Was there any impact-
Mm.
-on footfalls in Kochi during the third quarter because of that?
We had an impact for about a week. I think a lot of groups, especially schools and colleges and all, they were, I think, canceled for about a week.
Sure.
They've come back since then. I think that is kind of... That died very quickly, so not a long-term impact.
Sure. Also, in your recent interview, you've mentioned about opening your Odisha park by June of 2024. Could you talk about your pricing strategy there and your expectation of footfalls during FY 2025 from the Odisha park?
See, our pricing strategy in Odisha is still being evolved, but I think we should be able to price it about 30% lower, 30%-40% lower than our full-size parks. So because of that, I think we should be able to get a decent footfall. Arun will be able to give you some what modeling we have done in terms of footfall, footfalls for the first year. I'm not sure what the exact number is. Arun?
Yeah. Sir, about INR 6 lakh footfall is what we have tried to project.
INR 6 lakh. Yeah, that's what I also thought.
Yeah, in the first year. And, as you said, 30% traffic, 70% of Bengaluru will be the pricing that we have planned. So-
Sure.
We are expecting that to account in future.
Sure. And could you just detail-
Maybe, so maybe we will, to start off, we will be aggressive with pricing. So that depends on the marketing, strategy that we take. That is still not decided, how we will do it. So it could fluctuate a little bit, you know, our pricing might be a little more aggressive in the beginning, like an opening period and things like that. So, yeah.
Sure. Sure, that's helpful. Could you just detail how much of CapEx on the Chennai and Odisha park has already been incurred till date?
Yes.
Arun, you can just give an update.
Yeah. So till date, it is INR 48 crore for Odisha and INR 113 crore for Chennai.
Sure.
That's actually interesting day.
Yeah, sure.
And lastly, in terms of your discussion with various state government-
May we please request you to rejoin the queue, as there are several participants.
Sure.
waiting for their turn.
Sure. No worry.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you, sir.
Yeah, two questions maximum, please, per...
Yeah.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, due to lack of time, we request the participant to restrict your questions to one per participant. Next question is from the line of Angad Kadale from Monarch Networth Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Happy Diwali, and congratulations on a good set of numbers. I have a small question, just a follow-up on the previous participant. Regarding the Hyderabad footfall, can you just mention the reasons why you saw a slight degrowth or flat numbers compared to the other two parks?
Yeah. So for us, Hyderabad is still a evolving market, so our strategy needs to be a little more aggressive there. Whereas in, Kochi and, Bengaluru, we are very well established already. Like, we've been there for more than 15 years kind of thing, right? So I feel like our strategy needs to be a little different because we still feel our, footfall, like our retail footfall, is not as high as it is in the other two parks, so we need to work a little bit more. So that's why, I said that I'm hopeful that by next year we should be able to change that trend.
Okay. Just one small question. Can you just provide the breakup of ticket and non-ticket revenue, ARPU, and also for footfall, walk-in and group ratio for Q2?
Yeah. So for Q2, the group versus walk-in ratio is 31:69 versus 24:76 in the last quarter of fiscal 2023. So there is more contribution from the group. So there is a 37% increase in the group contribution in Q2, and walk-in share is in a degrowth of about 4%. And in terms of breakup, in terms of breakup of ARPU, INR 1,048 is the ATP, and INR 392 is the SPH. Put together, it is INR 1,440, we have it. So SPH has seen a tremendous growth of 15%, and ATP has seen a tremendous growth of 7%. Put together, it's 9% growth over last year.
Okay. Thank you. I will get back in the queue.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Kaustubh Pawaskar from Sharekhan. Please go ahead.
Yeah. So just couple of questions. One, on the employee cost. This quarter, the employee cost was higher, so any particular reason for it or?
Employee cost, compared to June, or is it compared to the last year?
Compared to last year.
So last year, the employee cost will go up because of several reasons, because we have given increments. There are new roles added, new positions have been added in the current year. The management remuneration has increased, so that's why you are seeing, seeing a kind of increase there. Compared to Q2, Q1, we are down, in fact. That is basically due to the commissions and profitability.
Right. And one last one on the second half there. For the last year, we have seen substantial increase in the footfall. So considering that, this year, considering the high base, should we assume, you know, that is kind of footfalls or still you expect that there will be, you know, low to mid-single digit kind of a footfall growth?
See, this year we are not expecting growth in footfall, to be very honest. We expect some minor growth here and there and, you know, some seasons and all that. Because last year the base is so high, right? So-
Right.
-this year, you know, things are more, more, you know, everything is gone back to normal. So that effect will be there, but at the same time, it, it's not as bad as... At some point we thought it, we were not sure it would be, you know, it's not as bad. So it's pretty good. We are able to improve, at least keep it, I mean, you know, steady state. This quarter, we should be able to grow a little bit more, I think better, because we are, you know, groups are also coming back this year in a much bigger way. But can't predict for the remainder of the year, and I think next year onwards we should be able to show some growth basic, because again, we are adding new rides.
There'll be a slightly more aggressive marketing, especially around launch of new rides and all that. So all that will create more buzz, and we should be able to grow a little bit next year.
And any final-
Yeah.
Any finalization of talks with any of the states where you expect to open a new park in?
We'll keep... We are talking to various state governments. I think, we'll be announcing something soon. Right now, nothing, because, you know, a lot of states are going into election and all that. So, you know, there's no update as such, but we will definitely, we are meeting, we are actually, been talking to many state governments. So actively, we are talking to, Madhya Pradesh, we are talking to, Punjab, we are talking to Uttar Pradesh, we are talking to Gujarat. So these are the governments that we are talking to. As and when there is any update, we'll definitely inform.
Thank you, sir, and all the best for future quarter, and we get back into this.
Thanks. Thanks.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Devang Patel from Samiksha Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. The ARPU growth, YoY in Q1 was much stronger at 25%, in Q2 it is at 9%. So what is the outlook for ARPU growth this year? And on a related note, there is an ATP decline in all three parks sequentially. Is this part of seasonality and the mix change? Or, you'd say, you'd had to take a, you know, higher ticket price cut than you were expecting to encourage footfalls?
No, no. So this is in line with how we pace, because Q2 for us, I said, like I say, Arun has already told you, we had a higher growth in groups, and that's a seasonally weaker quarter for us. So sequentially, ARPU will decline because Q1 is high prices and Q2 lower prices and, you know, the growth of group footfall. So that's completely normal. So for us to get a 9%-10% growth in our Q2 is actually pretty good ATP growth. So I think it's okay. Yeah.
And for the rest of... In the second half, roughly this kind of growth in footfalls and ARPU one can expect to continue?
We should be able to start growing a little bit more during the next seasons and all. I think we'll see. I mean, hard to predict, but I think we should continue along this kind of a path, maybe flattish growth or slightly some, you might see some bumps in footfall here and there during... But it's hard to predict because, you know, it's too early to say how the quarter will or the rest of the year will, so, yeah, it's hard for us to give a number on it or anything, but we should do, you know, this way or slightly better than what we are doing so far.
Okay. Sir, and very quickly, reason why the Bengaluru resort revenue and occupancy is down YoY?
So last year, this time, we had a lot of long-staying guests from large companies who were doing projects around the, you know, expanding the, like, for example, Toyota had taken a lot of rooms from us, you know, for months together. So that didn't happen this year because those kind of clients are not there. This is, that's why you're seeing that drop, drop. But our retail business actually grown. So it's, it's not bad. And then revenues, I think we have roughly about 10% less, no, Arun, compared to last year?
For the quarter, we are about 15%-16% down. But as we said, the long stays have only impacted. Last year, we sold about 1,438 rooms for long stay. This year we have only 279.
Yeah.
So the long stays have impacted the occupancy as well as the revenues.
But the rest of it is, we are okay with.
We have seen a double-digit growth in ARR, so 21% growth in the ARR.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you. Next question is from the line of Aditya Rathi from Aequitas Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. My first question is regarding the timeline of our both parks that are coming up, Odisha and Chennai.
Yes.
The timeline regarding that, when do you think that it will be functional?
So I think, next year, the next financial year, we will open Odisha, and the year after that, we'll open Chennai. So, maybe June/July of 2024, and same, July/August of 2025.
Okay, perfect. And then my last question is regarding the CapEx that we have already incurred on it and CapEx that we'll incur on it.
Arun can give an update on that.
Yeah. Yeah, so as I updated earlier, we have spent about INR 48 crore out of INR 146 crore, which is budgeted for Odisha. For Chennai, the budget is INR 330 crore, out of which we have spent INR 113 crore.
INR 130.
113. One one three .
Okay, one one three. And Chennai, we've incurred INR 48 crore out of what is the total plan?
Not Chennai, Odisha. Odisha is INR 48, Chennai is INR 113.
Okay.
There will be some revision in our cost, though, Aditya-
There will be, there will be a revision in the cost also going forward, so.
Okay, the numbers are something up.
Yeah.
So-
Actually, it will be, 48 and 11.
Mr. Aditya, does that answer your question?
Yeah, yeah. I think that's it from me. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Next question is from the line of Ankit Kanodia from Investor. Please go ahead.
Thank you so much for taking my question, and congratulations on good set of numbers. So my question is slightly long-term oriented as to how do we see this, footfall going up, say, about five to seven years down the line?
I know it is hard to put a number, but when we look at the examples in the U.S. where we have so many parks like this and the kind of runway we see in the Indian economy, where the consumption and the retail demand for having these kind of experiences, is it okay to assume somewhere around, say, assuming that we have the capacity in our park, we can reach somewhere around any big number or any number you would like to share, say, seven, eight years down, 10 years down the line, footfalls?
See, right now we are at 1.2 million. You know, by seven to eight years, we should get closer to 2 million visitors. That's the goal. So we should grow, the footfall should grow in each park. But, you know, when you grow footfalls like that, you also, the park also has to get bigger. So, so that is, so it's a, it's a chicken and egg. Well, we have to do both. So that's why we are kind of embarking on a, some, you know, like expansion on our, parks, because that's also, that's what also drives more footfalls in a way. Because people need to have the right experience, right? And we should be able to accommodate more people.
Right. Right, right. My second and the last question would be related to ARPU. So,
Okay.
Again, from a longer term perspective, where do we see ARPU from here as more and more parks becomes,
So ARPU will should grow. I mean, I think it should grow inflation plus another 5%, 5-6% on top of that also. So I think, yeah, I mean, ARPU should grow because I think we have a multi-pronged approach to improve ARPU. One is to increase ticket prices, one is to improve non-ticket revenue, which is also actually going to be a bigger and bigger contributor of ARPU going forward. So I think that also should grow in double digits, is what I think.
Okay. Thank you so much, sir.
Yeah.
All the best. Thank you.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will take this as the last question for the day. I now hand the conference over to the management for the closing comments.
Thank you, everyone, for joining our Q2 conference call. Wishing all of you a very happy Diwali once again, and I'll see you... Hope to see you guys soon. Yes. Thank you so much.
Thank you. On behalf of ICICI Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.