LOS ANGELES • Walt Disney Co estimated on Tuesday that global measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic cut profits by US$1.4 billion (S$1.99 billion), mostly from its shuttered theme parks, but said it would reopen Shanghai Disneyland to a reduced number of visitors next week.

It is unclear when Disney's other parks in Asia, the United States and France would again welcome visitors, executives said, or when the company's range of idled businesses, including retail stores and cruise ships, would return.

Disney said it will not pay a dividend for the first half of the fiscal year. This will preserve US$1.6 billion (S$2.27 billion) in cash, assuming it had kept the dividend constant at 88 US cents a share.

Mr Bob Chapek, who became Disney's chief executive in February just as the coronavirus was spreading around the globe, said Disney would reopen the Shanghai park next Monday.

The Chinese government has asked Disney to cap attendance at 30 per cent of capacity, or roughly 24,000 people, Mr Chapek said.

Disney will restart operations with "far below" that number for a few weeks while it adjusts to new safeguards, including social distancing, masks and temperature screenings, he added.

"While it's too early to predict when we'll be able to begin resuming all of our operations, we are evaluating a number of different scenarios to ensure a cautious, sensible and deliberate approach to the eventual reopening of our parks," he said.

Just three months ago, Disney was boasting about a record year for its movie studio and a strong start to the company's dive into the streaming media wars.

In late January, the coronavirus started battering businesses across Disney's global portfolio when the company shuttered Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland. By mid-March, all of the company's theme parks were closed, movie theatres went dark and television and film production were put on hold. Also, Disney's ESPN sports network was left with no major live sports to broadcast.

"In total, we estimate that the Covid-19 impact on our current quarter income from continuing operations before income taxes across all of our businesses was as much as US$1.4 billion," Disney said, adding that US$1 billion of that came from losses at theme parks.

Disney posted adjusted earnings per share of 60 US cents for January to March inclusive, down 63 per cent from a year earlier. Overall revenue for the quarter rose 21 per cent to US$18 billion, just ahead of analyst forecasts of US$17.8 billion.

Disney is expected to take a larger hit in the current quarter, which ends next month.

It does not intend to provide financial guidance for the rest of the year.

REUTERS