Forum Archive Index - October 2003

[<feal.nz@xtra.co.nz>]

Thanks for your comments snoopy,
In reply:

The profit target is better quantified with the following: (ex the Chairmans 
address – Buyback proposal)
"With the inclusion of a full tax charge (the past two years required little
or no tax charge) and now the potential of increased interest costs to fund
bank debt if the buyback proceeds, that profit target equates to a net
surplus in the vicinity of $900,000".

Note also that ticket prices are going up $2 for both children and adults and 
this is included in the managements profit forecast.
Another included cost was the need to put money into "essential Maintenance 
assets", I find this particularly interesting and somewhat vague. Having a near 
20yr maintenance/operations background in the Dairy, Electricity and more 
recently Oil and gas industry, I imagine this to be "ride specific equipment" 
necessary for maintaining the individual rides. Usually these tools are 
manufacturer supplied and come at a premium price, Highly likely warranties 
become void if those specific tools are not used etc..Althouhg it might well 
include new lathes, mills or what have you - this is something I will put my 
thinking cap on and try to find out more about, if only to satisfy my own 
curiosity.But when you look at the rides available at Rainbows end , poor 
maintenance would eventually result in human casualties. I need write no more 
on the possible impact to the business with  that scenario !

My day at the park ?
Fantastic, exhilarating, fun and exceptionally good value for money.
I too had not been for many a year – took my two daughters and two of their 
friends, we got a family ticket for somewhere around $130, this allowed us to 
ride any ride as many times as we liked all day ! I think with the upcoming $2 
each price hike the park is still excellent value for money. For example, the 
following day we all went on a one hour horse trek at a price of $30 each ! 
The rides ? Two years ago a new ride was introduced – I think this was the 
"Fear Fall"( incidentally two years ago was the last price rise on the basis of 
introducing this ride) The Fear Fall is a ride which takes 12 people at a time 
sitting in 3 X seats of four, spaced 120 degrees around a vertical column. The 
seats are raised up the column to a height of approx 80m ( providing an awesome 
view by the way and encouraging one to go on it at least three times to get the 
view in each direction) before releasing and letting you drop at the speed of 
gravity( 9.81m/sec² in case anyone is  interested) before arresting you with 
electromagnetic brakes approx 15m from the ground. Words cannot do this ride 
justice. The roller coaster, while probably a good 15yrs old now is every bit 
as good as I remembered it with a full loop, sharp bend into a corkscrew , 
another sharp bend and your speed reduces for passenger changeout and you first 
breath since the coaster initially accelerated.
A tamer ride was the gold "something or other", an Indiana Jones style trip 
through a goldmine, I thought this was an excellent use of space as it wound 
its way amongst the older log flume ride.
We met my mother and grandmother there for lunch ( they had to pay approx $10 
each for admission as spectators, which I didn't think was very good value for 
money at all, but none the less reflects a bit of business acumen). Mother was 
allowed to bring in picnic lunch which we ate in an undercover area with 
roughly 30 picnic tables in front of a stage where childrens participative 
entertainment was performed.this area is another new area to the park in the 
last year. 
There was a small cinema theatre with seats that moved to the theme of the 
movie on display which in our case appeared to be the representation of an 
expensive computer game – you might have seen the small shuttles on hydraulic 
rams that a dozen or so people climb into and get tossed around while watching 
the view from the cockpit of a plane or similar on the screen in front? Well, 
this was at least tenfold better than one of them.
So yes, the rides were definitely 'exciting enough' for the younger and older 
generations alike.
The park looked far from tired, in fact I was very impressed, however I 
remember noting tatty carpet ( to the point of being potential trip hazards) in 
the front buildings and strongly support the move to upgrade this area.
These front buildings ( though I did not see these areas) must also have 
something like function rooms for work parties and such, the new upgrade is to 
increase the capacity and/or number of these rooms as management say at times 
they cannot satisfy demand. From my impressions of the outside park area, I am 
sure the front buildings will be suitably appointed and far from being " lovely 
skirts but dirty knickers".

The news releases also talk about the culture of their people being there best 
asset, to which I can only comment that I found all the staff I had dealings 
with to be very helpful and polite, I believe NZE also intend increasing staff 
with customer service in mindas they say " of primary importance to both repeat 
visitation and word of mouth promotion" this must work as if the above is not a 
word of mouth promotion I don't know what is !

Park population was largely younger people( but then I am getting a bit long in 
the tooth now and more and more people are falling into the "young" category. A 
number of adults who incidentally ALL appeared to be enjoying the rides ( I 
recall myself and a middle-aged woman getting a good soaking while trying to 
ram the youngsters in the bumperboats – she was cackled so much I even looked 
in her boat at the end to see if an egg remained!
I got the impression a lot of the younger folk had either got to the park under 
their own steam or had been dropped there for the day by busy or worn out 
parents .

I have a positive feel about this company, The market valued NZE shares at 25c 
before any news of a buyback was announced, I can only see the cancellation of 
a third of these shares increasing any perceived worth from this level.
So Think I will put my ***** on the chopping block now and say that I will be 
in the market very soon for a small parcel of NZE, and I hope your suggestion 
that the shares could possibly dip following the buyback comes to fruition as 
this wilk present an excellent opportunity to increase my holding.

Best Regards
Barrel Scraper



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