Event Hospitality and Entertainment


Event Hospitality & Entertainment Ltd is an Australian company which operates cinemas, hotels and resorts in Australia, New Zealand and Germany. It has a market capitalisation of A$2.15billion.
Event owns the largest cinema circuits in Australia and New Zealand. Its cinema brands include Event Cinemas, Birch, Carroll and Coyle, CineStar, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema, and Sydney State Theatre. Event also owns over 60 hotels worldwide, operating more than 10,000 rooms, under the subsidiaries Atura Hotels, Rydges Hotels & Resorts, QT Hotels & Resorts, and Thredbo Alpine Resort, making it Australia's fourth-largest hotel operator. Revenue is also generated from managing and leasing commercial property.

Structure and brands

Event Hospitality & Entertainment is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded under the code EVT. For much of its recent history it has effectively been controlled by billionaire Alan Rydge, whose family companies reportedly owned 45 per cent of the shares in 2004, and 60 per cent in 2011.
The company has 62 hotels and resorts around the world, along with 75 cinemas in Australia, 54 cinemas in Germany, and 20 cinemas in New Zealand. It makes most of its money from its cinema division, and describes Event Cinemas as its flagship. In 2014, it was the fourth biggest owner of hotels in Australia, operating 9000 rooms across the country. Most of its hotel and cinema brands are based in Australia but some are in other countries:
Australia: Atura Hotels, BCC Cinemas, Edge Digital and Technology, Event Cinemas, Greater Union Cinemas, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinemas, QT Hotels & Resorts, Rydges Hotels & Resorts, State Theatre Sydney, Thredbo Alpine Resort.
Germany: CineStar Cinemas.
New Zealand: Downtown Cinemas, Event Cinemas, QT Hotels & Resorts, Rialto Cinemas, Rydges Hotels & Resorts.

Personnel

The board in 2017 consisted of directors Kenneth Chapman, Peter Coates, Valerie Davies, David Grant, Jane Hastings, Patria Mann, Richard Newton and Alan Rydge. The company secretaries are David Stone and Gregory Dean, who is also the chief financial officer. The company is estimated to have between 5000 and 10,000 employees.

Corporate alliances

Event Hospitality & Entertainment owns and operates some of its cinema chains as a joint venture with Village Roadshow. Their joint entity was established in 2003 under the name Australian Theatres. Many of its hotels belong to the Global Hotel Alliance.

History

1911 – 1940s: In 1911, The Christian was released. This was the first film produced by West's Pictures, which later became part of Greater Union. From 1911 to 1913, a series of mergers resulted in the formation of The Combine, a powerful alliance between exhibitor Union Theatres and the production and distribution company Australasian Films. The Combine imported many of its films and was blamed by independent competitors for a drop in the local production of films. In 1932, the box-office hit On Our Selection was produced by Cinesound Productions, a subsidiary which had been set up the previous year by Greater Union Theatres. In 1936, businessman Norman Rydge was elected chairman and managing director of Greater Union Theatres after buying a controlling interest. The company returned to profitability within three years. In 1942, Cinesound co-produced Kokoda Front Line!, the first Australian film to win an Academy Award. A full-length version of a wartime newsreel, it won an Oscar for best documentary.
1980s: In 1980, Alan Rydge inherited the company on the death of his father, becoming the youngest chairman of an Australian public company. In 1984, the company was once again fully Australian-owned after gaining control of Rank Organisation's half share.
In 1987, the company acquired Thredbo Alpine Resort. In 1988, Rydge wanted to begin a hotels division and so recruited David Seargeant, who later became managing director.
2000s: In 2004, Amalgamated Hospitality Limited suffered a share plunge after writing off more than $70 million on its German cinemas. In 2005, Greater Union dropped its ban against cinemagoers bringing their own snacks and drinks after an investigation by the New South Wales Commissioner for Fair Trading.
The same year, the Rydge family expanded its compound on Point Piper by buying a sixth adjoining property. In 2009, Meredith Hellicar resigned from the company board after being criticised in a judgement by the New South Wales Supreme Court for her part in approving, while chairwoman of James Hardie, a press release which falsely claimed that a trust for asbestosis victims had been fully funded.
2010s: In 2010, Amalgamated bought a chain of cinemas in New Zealand and Fiji from Skycity Entertainment Group. The same year, it also acquired outdoor cinema operator Moonlight Cinema for $1.75 million from Prime Media Group. In the financial year 2010–2011, Alan Rydge was among the wealthy Australians who donated to a secret fund set up for Sydney politician Malcolm Turnbull. In 2011, Amalgamated sold its 49 per cent share of a cinema chain in the Middle East. The same year, its operations in Queensland suffered losses due to severe flooding in 2010-2011. In 2013, the Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney was sold to Moss Capital for an estimated A$15 million. Amalgamated had owned the park since 1996. In 2014, a three-year plan was unveiled to build or redevelop 14 new cinemas. In December 2015, the company changed its name to Event Hospitality & Entertainment Limited. Its ticker code changed from AHD to EVT on the Australian Securities Exchange.
In November 2016, David Seargeant gave notice that he would step down as managing director and CEO in the second half of 2017. He was replaced by Jane Hastings. In 2017, the company sold its two-thirds interest in a Fiji cinema joint venture.