Ardent: Substantial growth in a high margin business

Ardent: Substantial growth in a high margin business. One of our long held portfolio positions is Ardent Leisure (AAD) which operates a portfolio of leisure related assets both here in Australia and, increasingly, also in the US. The domestic assets include theme parks in the key Queensland tourist market, Goodlife and Fitness First gyms, ten-pin bowling centres and a marinas business. These assets are at various stages of maturity and support the dividend yield which we forecast to be around 5% in FY15. Furthermore, we expect AAD to generate significant growth in the coming years from its US based, Main Event business. Headquartered in Dallas, Main Event operates indoor family/corporate entertainment centres offering ten-pin bowling, laser tag, arcade games and rock climbing as well as fast food and restaurant dining. AAD currently has 15 operational centres in the southern US and has plans to roll out a further 8 centres per annum over the next 3-5 years which should lead to substantial growth in this high margin business.