The Kings City amusement park in Eilat is considering staying open on Saturdays and holidays. Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL; Pink Sheets:AFIVY), Elran (DD) Real Estate Ltd. (TASE:ELRE), and private investors owns the amusement park.
Today's presentation by Elran Real Estate states that the company is seeking to open Kings City on Saturdays. "Until now, this was not possible because of contractual restrictions imposed in the shareholders' agreement, which at the request of Africa-Israel, stipulates that the park will not be open on Saturday."
Africa-Israel chairman Lev Leviev is an observant Jew, who does not allow company businesses, such as the Ramat Aviv Mall, to open on Saturday.
The Saturday opening is under consideration because of Kings City's dire financial problems, as its owners no longer have the wherewithal to continue injecting capital into it. Elran Real Estate said that the amusement park's revenue and profits are plummeting at a precipitous rate.
Kings City posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of NIS 1.33 million in January-August, which includes the summer tourist season, compared with NIS 4.2 million in 2008 as a whole and NIS 10.5 million in 2007.
Kings City has 11,000 square meters of built-up space on a 16-dunam (four-acre) site on the Eastern Lagoon on Eilat's north shore. Elran Real Estate said that since the amusement park opened in the second half of 2005, it has had more than 1.3 million visitors. "Maintaining the level of visitors at 350,000 a year is conditional on innovating the attractions and adding facilities," it said.
It hard to see who can finance these necessary measures.
Kings City is currently financed by a NIS 63.5 million bank loan, most of which matures in 2012. The company has been trying to change the terms and amount of the financing.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 19, 2009
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