What does Indoor Skydive Australia do?

Established in 2011, Indoor Skydive Australia Group shares first began trading on the ASX in 2013. The adventure and leisure company specialises in experiential, training and simulation solutions. It counts tourists, thrill seekers and the military among its clients.

The company has two indoor skydiving facilities; iFLY Downunder in Penrith New South Wales and iFLY Gold Coast in Queensland. Additionally, Indoor Skydive Australia owns and operates FREAK Entertainment, specialising in virtual reality (VR).

Why is the Indoor Skydive share price rocketing up today?

The company announced this morning that its FREAK Entertainment branch was opening a third venue. The new venue, FREAK Westfield Bondi Junction, is scheduled to open by mid-November.

The company has signed agreements with Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) for an initial 14-month pilot program. The goal is to expand into additional retail sites in New South Wales in 2021.

Scentre Group's Bondi Junction shopping mall has an annual turnover of more than $1 billion. The new 211sq m facility includes 2 of FREAK's signature free-roam VR 'Arena' spaces, marking Westfield's first free-roam VR centre in Australia.

The technology is provided by HP and HTC, which the company reports having formed strategic partnerships with over the last year.

Commenting on the new venue opening, Indoor Skydive chief executive officer Wayne Jones said:

This is a significant step forward for FREAK Entertainment to be moving into Westfield Centres, with the first location being a prominent position within one of the most successful centres being Bondi Junction. The team at FREAK have been working extremely hard with the other two sites to ensure the product is ready for the high throughput expected.

Lyn Hutcheson of Scentre Group also welcomed the move:

We are excited to be working with ISA Group through FREAK Entertainment to bring free-roam virtual reality into our Westfield Living Centres. Our customer-focused strategy means we are always seeking to partner with innovative retailers to offer new and engaging experiences in our centres. This is a great example of this in action.

The post Why the Indoor Skydive (ASX:IDZ) share price is up 300% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Shares opened at 31 cents, well above their IPO price of 25 cents, and soared as high as 35 cents. Shares have dipped slightly since, currently trading at 34 cents in lunchtime trading.

Investors were clearly buoyed by the fact the company is profitable and expects to pay an initial dividend in October 2015.

Skydive began in Wollongong in 1999 but has expanded to include 11 drop zones in 4 states. In the 2014 financial year, the company had more than 40,000 tandem skydive jumps. The funds raised in the IPO allowed Skydive to expand through an acquisition of Australia Skydive, to offer 16 drop zones and expected to deliver an annualised 112,000 tandem jumps in the 2016 financial year.

Australia Skydive had 47,492 tandem jumps in the 2014 financial year – so the acquisition virtually doubles the size of Skydive the Beach business.

Revenues should also increase dramatically from $18 million in the 2014 financial year to more than $26 million this financial year and an estimated $47.5 million in 2016.

According to the prospectus, there is plenty of scope for Skydive to expand through further acquisitions as well as establishing its own 'greenfield' sites – although it will have roughly 54% of the market post-acquisition. Additional acquisitions may require ACCC approval.

As the company also notes, there are very low barriers to entry into the skydiving sector – only needing an aircraft, a pilot, parachutes, an instructor, one person on the ground, an Australian Parachuting Federation (APF) licence, somewhere to take off and land, and the ability to comply with relevant regulations.

That presents a problem for Skydive, as it means if the company generates high profit margins, which will immediately attract competition – with very low start-up costs – and force margins lower.

Unless Skydive can maintain some control over certain attractive locations and have a competitive advantage, then effectively tandem skydives become a commodity product – with price likely to be the key differentiator, much like airline seats. Skydive also has to compete with indoor skydive operators such as Indoor Skydive Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IDZ) – which can offer jumps that are cheaper, all weather and use less equipment.

As such, investors may be getting ahead of themselves. Skydive may do well initially and we wish it the best success, but Foolish investors should be looking for companies with more sustainable competitive advantages. I'm not sure Skydive the Beach is one of those companies. Additionally, at current share prices around 34 cents, the company is trading on a prospective P/E ratio of 25x for this financial year. That doesn't appear cheap.

The post Skydive the Beach Group Ltd shares skyrocket appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

New listing Skydive the Beach Group Limited (ASX: SKB) is following on the heels of Indoor Skydive Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IDZ), which listed in January 2013. Skydive the Beach expects to list on the ASX on March 30, and investors will likely be hoping it has similar results to Indoor SkyDive. It was the best performing IPO of 2013/2014 with a 175% return.

Then we also have the existing players, Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX: SUL) – and its Rebel Sports and Amart Sports stores, Avanti Fitness and Workout World – the latter two acquired in 2013. While the company's latest results weren't exactly stellar, Super Retail is expanding its core competencies such as Automotive and Sports into other similar businesses, which could pay off in the long term.

Catapult Group International Ltd (ASX: CAT) which provides sports teams and athletics associations with hardware and software to analyse performance, monitor rehabilitation, optimise training etc. Catapult already supplies most of Australia's highest-profile sporting teams, including Wallabies, Kangaroos and the Australian Cricket team and has a number of contracts with international teams. We've covered Catapult in more detail here.

Follow the NRL? What about the Brisbane Broncos? Yes, you can invest in the company, Brisbane Broncos Limited (ASX: BBL). The company generates revenues from numerous sources including merchandise sales, game tickets and sponsorship revenues and is primarily concerned with the operations of the Brisbane Broncos NRL team.

Last, but not least, Ardent Leisure Group (ASX: AAD) has its Goodlife gyms and Kingpin and AMF bowling alleys. But the gyms business is struggling, primarily as smaller operators open 24-hour gyms in direct competition with Goodlife.

For my money, I'd consider Catapult first, followed by Ardent Leisure and others bringing up the rear.

The post The ASX's sportiest stocks appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Now, the opportunity to experience first-hand the companies you might consider investing in provides an enormously wide set of possibilities. Some of those experiences such as making a phone call via a network owned by Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) is hardly going to be a thrill – and possibly not all that insightful given the complexity of a corporation such as Telstra. There are other times however when experiencing the product or service can indeed be thrilling and also offer important insights into a company's potential. This can be particularly true for early stage firms or new product releases.

Although perhaps not familiar with their corporate entities, many investors will be familiar with the fun parks, ski resorts, movie theatres and bowling alleys of Village Roadshow Ltd (ASX: VRL), Ardent Leisure Group (ASX: AAD) and Amalgamated Holdings Limited (ASX: AHD).  All three companies operate in the entertainment and leisure sector, their share prices are up 38%, 46% and 10% over the past year, and investors who have taken the time to 'test them out' would likely have had a good time doing so.

A high flying opportunity

Cutting to the chase – a small, little known company called Indoor Skydive Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IDZ) listed last year with the exclusive license for access to technology which allows it to operate air conditioned vertical wind tunnels in Australia that –you guessed it – provide for an indoor skydiving experience.

It is still early days for Indoor Skydive, with the first facility only opening to the public in late April, however the company recently stated that it expects to report revenues of $1.2 million for FY 2014.

The post Is this little stock about to FLY high? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

With the Australian dollar currently trading around 91 US cents, further falls may well see an influx of big-spending tourists into Australia. In 2013, tourism's contribution to GDP hit $42.3 billion, while total visitor expenditure rose 4% to $98.5 billion.

The following companies are working hard to get their share of that spending.

SeaLink Travel Group (ASX: SLK) operates the one-and-only ferry to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It's reportedly a popular destination, not just with international tourists, but fellow Aussies from other states. SeaLink also runs the Captain Cook Cruises on Sydney Harbour, an activity that you might imagine many tourists will consider. With Managing Director Jeffrey Ellison recently acquiring 440,000 shares on market, now might be the time to follow the smart money into SeaLink.

Reef Casino Trust (ASX: RCT) is the property trust that owns the property and the hotel for the Cairns casino. Currently subject to a takeover bid, units (shares) are trading at a large discount to the offer price. Casino resorts developer Aquis Casino Acquisitions is offering $4.354 for each Reef Casino Trust unit, but shares are currently trading at around $4.00. Given the Queensland government's shortage of revenues, it seems highly likely that the takeover will proceed. A brand new multi-billion casino is being proposed for Cairns, which is expected to generate plenty of jobs and inject some much needed capital into the state.

Indoor Skydive Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IDZ) is developing indoor skydiving facilities. Its first facility is under construction at Penrith in Sydney and further facilities are expected to open on the Gold Coast, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. It's early days yet, but given the popularity of outdoor skydiving, this company could be onto something. On the other hand, any investment now is highly risky given the company won't generate any revenues until at least one facility is operational, and there's no certainty that the company can genuinely make a profit after that.

Ardent Leisure Group (ASX: AAD), which operates theme parks on the Gold Coast among other leisure destinations, or Village Roadshow Ltd (ASX: VRL) which recently opened Sydney's Wet'n Wild theme park, may well be waiting in the wings to see if indoor-skydiving takes off, before developing their own facilities or taking over Indoor Skydive Australia Group directly.

Foolish takeaway

Sealink and Reef Casino Trust could be worthwhile adding to your watchlists, but you may want to sit on the sidelines with Indoor Skydive and wait to see how it plays out.

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