David and Charles Kingston’s K Capital has been agitating for change and potentially taking Ardent Leisure private after several years of poor performance by the company, which owns Dreamworld and Whitewater World on the Gold Coast. K Capital holds a fraction of the company’s overall shares but has been communicating with some shareholders to force changes at Ardent.

Ardent has responded to the claims by telling investors the recovery of the company was well underway and there had been year-on-year growth in visitation and revenue “despite the very significant challenges to the business since the tragedy at Dreamworld in October 2016”.

That was a reference to the death of four people on its Thunder River Rapids ride.

Ardent said that even before that event, there had been underinvestment in Dreamworld, but the negative impact of the publicity surrounding the event and the coronial inquest that followed had been among the challenges along with numerous legal claims and then the pandemic and the subsequent disruption to tourism.

Added to all that was the current economic conditions which was impacting consumer discretionary spending, Ardent said.

Ardent said the challenges had meant the recovery had taken longer and capital costs and operating losses were greater than anticipated.

It claimed substantial progress had been made over recent years including a debt free-balance sheet with cash balances of $141 million. There had also been an investment of $69 million to add attractions to the theme parks.

It has previously announced another $50 million to $60 million would be invested in new rides over coming years and that there was now a “reinvigorated” management team.

The company was also negotiating with the State Government for a preliminary development approval for the Dreamworld site.