Fund Managers Say EVT's Property Value Makes The Operating Business Free

Perpetual Asset Management framed the case for EVT in June 2026 around a simple observation: the stock had fallen from $18 to around $12 a share, yet its property holdings alone are worth close to $11.70 a share, meaning investors are effectively not paying for the operating business at all. The manager pitched looking past the group's volatile cinema arm, which it noted accounts for less than 10 per cent of the business, arguing the real story lies in a hotel division transitioning to a capital-light, third-party management model, alongside two flagged major property divestments in Sydney.

A refinancing that reset the balance sheet narrative

That property-backed valuation argument gained a firmer footing after EVT completed a $750 million refinancing in March 2026. Wilson Asset Management said the deal extended debt maturities and improved covenant headroom, building on positive momentum from the FY2026 interim results reported in February, which showed 5.4 per cent revenue growth and 21.6 per cent net profit growth, supported by record performance in the hotels division. Perpetual Asset Management, describing the same refinancing, noted the facilities were secured against a portion of the property portfolio with strong support from major lenders CBA, NAB and Westpac, and said it continues to hold EVT for the asymmetric upside it sees at current valuation levels.

A market still trading on cinema noise

Perpetual Asset Management made a related point in December 2025, after the stock fell 9 per cent despite no company-specific announcements, on the back of box office trends that lagged what had been optimistic market expectations for an improved film release line-up. The manager argued this reflected an increasingly short-term focus in the market on near-term earnings swings rather than fundamental value, since cinemas make up only a small portion of EVT's overall worth yet have an outsized impact on short-term share pricing, while hotel division data continued to point to strong revenue-per-available-room growth throughout the same period.

Not every manager sees further upside

Oracle Advisory Group offered a more cautious counterpoint in a December 2025 quarterly report, noting its original thesis had relied on the company trading below its property portfolio's net tangible asset value, a gap that closed as the stock rallied above $17. The manager said it had trimmed a large part of its holding at that level and, in hindsight, believed it should have exited entirely once the stock traded above its assessed fair value, describing EVT as a business with minimal further upside given it is not a high-growth company.

What managers are watching next

With hotel upgrades in Queenstown and the Gold Coast expected to translate into improved earnings momentum from FY27 onwards, and the flagged Sydney CBD property divestments, including 525 George Street, still to be completed, the key questions for managers are whether the proceeds are directed toward a dividend or capital return as some have speculated, and whether the hotels division's continued shift toward roughly 60 per cent of group EBITDA finally shifts how the broader market values the stock away from its historical focus on cinema box office performance.