The attraction-hydra has had a decent 2018 so far, though following a truly, truly awful 2017 it couldn’t really afford not to. Initially it looked like its miserable form was going to continue, slipping from an opening price of £3.63 to an all-time closing low of £3.20.
But since then it has been on the up and up, aided by well-received statements at the start of March and the end of April. Merlin Entertainments PLC (LON:MERL) eventually hit £4.14 in mid-July, a 9 month high, before pulling back to a current trading price of £4.03.
Though the stock leapt more than 4% in the aftermath of April’s update, it wasn’t a release flush with good news. The main takeaway was that visitors to the London division remain down year-on-year ‘reflecting the strong trading in the comparative period and continued impact from the 2017 terror attacks’. Elsewhere, the company claimed that ‘while an earlier Easter period and poor weather’ affected a number of its parks, overall trading was in line with expectations.
In terms of Thursday’s interim results, analysts are expecting revenue to fall around 3%, from £685 million to £664 million year-on-year, but with EBITDA forecast to jump 3% to £488 million. Investors will also be after any comment on the firm’s recent trading, specifically whether the warm weather has given a boost to its UK performance.
Merlin Entertainments PLC has a consensus rating of ‘Buy’ alongside an average target price of £4.36.
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