Ardent Leisure shares fall after Dreamworld tragedy

Dreamworld operator Ardent Leisure has had its share price fall by as much as 8% following news of a fatal ride incident at the Gold Coast theme park earlier today.

The theme park closed after the incident on the Thunder River Rapids ride, in which four people have died, and will remain closed on Wednesday as a mark of respect for the victims and their families.

The Queensland Ambulance Service advised earlier that two adults were ejected from the ride, while another two were trapped. All four subsequently died from severe injuries.

The group said Dreamworld will remain closed tomorrow [Wednesday] as a mark of respect for the victims and their families.

A statement from Ardent Leisure advised "Dreamworld is working as quickly as possible to establish the facts around the incident and is working closely with emergency authorities and police to do this. Dreamworld's focus and priority is with the families of those involved in this tragedy and will be providing an update to the public as soon as information becomes available.”

Ardent shares fell to $2.35 at the close of trading. In its recently published full year results, Ardent Leisure’s theme park division reported a second half sales growth of 9.8% which analyst said was a combination of strong inbound tourism numbers and Ardent's ongoing revitalisation of its assets.

Today Ardent Leisure completed the sale of its Goodlife Health Clubs division for $260 million.

The company plans to use the proceeds to invest in its theme parks and family entertainment centre operations.

Global attractions operator Merlin Entertainments, which runs the UK’s largest theme park Alton Towers, was fined £5 million ($8 million) after failures on a ride in 2014 led to 16 people being were injured and two teenagers needed amputations.

According to the Daily Mail, in sentencing the company over health and safety breaches, Judge Michael Chambers QC called the incident a 'catastrophic failure' and a 'shambles' which could have been avoided.

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