EVT is an Australian entertainment and travel company. It runs Event Cinemas, the Rydges, QT and Atura hotel brands, and the Thredbo ski resort.
What you get
Shareholders with at least 500 EVT shares qualify for a Shareholder Benefits Card. It offers set-price tickets at participating Event and BCC cinemas, discounts at participating Rydges, QT and Atura hotels, and discounts at Thredbo. The rates and restrictions are listed below. EVT places no limit on the number of times you can use the card.
Hotel rooms
15% off the best available rate for bookings made online at rydges.com, qthotels.com, aturahotels.com or evtstays.com. Enter EVTSHARE in the corporate code field when you book, and show the card when you arrive. Subject to availability.
Hotel restaurants
20% off the food and drink bill at participating hotels’ restaurants. You must be at the table, with six or fewer people on a single bill, and show the card before paying. Bars, the mini bar, breakfast, room service and conference catering are excluded, as are all restaurants and bars at Thredbo.
Thredbo
10% off the Thredbo Alpine Hotel’s best advertised rate, and off full retail prices for lift access, group and private lessons, equipment rental and the leisure centre. You must be in the booking and present when the benefit is used. The discount covers up to four people. Season passes are discounted from the in-season rate. Online shop rates, locker rental, the swim academy and seasonal programmes such as mountain camps and race training are excluded.
Cinema tickets
A$13 a ticket for standard sessions at participating Event and BCC cinemas in Australia, A$18 for VMAX, and A$29 for Gold Class on Monday to Wednesday before 5pm. Two tickets per visit. Not valid on Friday or Saturday evenings after 5pm, for films advertised as “no free tickets”, for special programmes such as movie marathons, or with any other offer.
What it takes
You need at least 500 EVT shares.
Before buyingA perk is a minor benefit of owning a share, not a reason to buy one. Share prices fall as well as rise, and dealing costs, spreads and tax can exceed a perk’s value. Read about the risks.
Holding through a broker
EVT does not say whether shares held through a broker, custodian or platform qualify, or whether the holding must be in your own name on the register. Ask EVT before buying shares for the card.
Other conditions
- Where the benefit applies
- Cinemas in Australia; hotels in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore; Thredbo, New South Wales
- Physical card required
- Yes
How to claim
EVT does not publish what proof of share ownership it needs before issuing a card.
- 1. Get the cardEVT says the card is issued to holders of 500 or more shares but does not publish how to apply or whether it is sent automatically. Email maddie_nott@evt.com and ask how to receive it.
- 2. CinemasShow the card at the box office of a participating Event or BCC cinema for up to two tickets at the shareholder price.
- 3. HotelsBook online at rydges.com, qthotels.com, aturahotels.com or evtstays.com with EVTSHARE in the corporate code field, then show the card at check-in and again before paying a restaurant bill.
- 4. ThredboSay you are using your shareholder entitlement when you book, and be present when it is used.
EVT - Shareholder benefits enquiries: maddie_nott@evt.com
Exclusions and limits
Excluded: QT Bondi, Horizons Lake Jindabyne, Rydges Palmerston, Rydges Gold Coast Airport, Rydges Townsville, Rydges Armidale, Powerhouse Hotel Tamworth by Rydges, Oval Hotel at Adelaide Oval, Rydges Australia Square and Yarra Valley Lodge; Food and drink at Rydges Port Macquarie and Sails Resort Port Macquarie (these hotels offer the room discount only).
The offer cannot be combined with other discounts.
Dates
The published terms do not say when you must own the shares, how long you must hold them or when the benefit expires.
Practical notes
Check both pages for current terms
EVT publishes the card terms as an image on its shareholder benefits page. Its investors page separately lists hotels that do not participate under “View terms”. Check both before booking, because EVT can change the benefits at any time.
An older brochure is still online
A 2022 brochure on EVT’s site shows earlier prices and booking sites. The current terms are the ones on the shareholder benefits page.
History of the perk
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Dining at 20%, cinema from A$11
The 2019–20 card gave 20% off dining at participating hotel restaurants. Cinema prices were A$11 for standard tickets, A$16 for VMAX and A$25 for Gold Class on Monday to Wednesday before 5pm, with two tickets at the shareholder price.
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Dining returns to 25%
AHL set the restaurant discount at 25% and offered 15% off the best available room rate for online bookings at participating Rydges and QT hotels.
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Dining falls to 20%
The 2012–13 card reduced the food and drink discount to 20% at participating hotel restaurants and bars.
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The dining discount halves
The 2011–12 card reduced the food and drink discount at participating Rydges restaurants and bars from 50% to 25%.
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The card requires 500 shares
By the 2010–11 card year, holders needed at least 500 shares. The card still gave 50% off food and drink at participating Rydges restaurants and bars.
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The threshold rises from 50 to 300
AHL raised the minimum holding from 50 to 300 shares. It said eligible shareholders on the register at each interim dividend record date would receive an annual card, with the benefits substantially unchanged.
Company story
A card to encourage custom
Chairman Alan Rydge encouraged shareholders to support the company’s products and services in its 2005–06 benefits brochure. EVT was then called Amalgamated Holdings (AHL). The board told shareholders that the scheme balanced access to the company’s products with returns for all investors. Eureka Report wrote in 2010 that many investors had assumed such schemes ended with the Coles Myer card; its survey counted nine listed companies still offering benefits, AHL among them.
Cruises and koalas
AHL’s 2003 description of the card invited shareholders to cruise on the harbour, ski or cuddle a koala. Its businesses included Matilda Cruises and Featherdale Wildlife Park. AHL sold Matilda in November 2005, describing the sale as part of its policy of disposing of businesses outside its main activities. The group sold Featherdale in 2013.
The Rydge name
EVT traces its beginnings to 1910; the Australian Dictionary of Biography dates the formation of Union Theatres and Australasian Films to 1913. The dictionary records that Norman Rydge took control of Greater Union in 1936, after buying into six loss-making cinema operators. He had launched Rydge’s Business Journal in 1928 to publish stock-market advice and financial commentary. EVT says the journal later inspired the Rydges hotel name. The first Rydges hotel opened in Canberra in 1988, a year after the group bought Thredbo.
Sources: AHL, 2005–06 benefits brochure ; Eureka Report, 2010 ; Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2002