Dolphin Cove Limited

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What it is

Dolphin Cove is a Jamaica-based operator of marine parks and adventure attractions — dolphin programmes, restaurants, gift shops, photography and adventure experiences at several sites across the island. Its parks include Dolphin Cove Ocho Rios, Dolphin Cove Montego Bay, Moon Palace Jamaica, and Puerto Seco Beach.

Stafford and Marilyn Burrowes founded the company in September 1998 with a marine park at Ocho Rios, and it listed on the JSE Junior Market in December 2010, raising J$240 million (US$2 mn) at J$3 (US$0.02)per share. The company was formerly known as Gabarone Limited and changed its name to Dolphin Cove Limited in March 1999.

Who owns it

World of Dolphins Inc., a subsidiary of Dolphin Discovery, owns 79.99% of Dolphin Cove Limited’s ordinary shares, acquired between December 2015 and January 2016. Dolphin Capital Company, S.

de R.L. de C.V., is the ultimate parent company of Dolphin Discovery, serving as the intermediate holding company for all operating companies including Dolphin Cove.

Founder Stafford Burrowes still holds a collective 9.81% stake, largely through his holding company Garden House Holdings Limited, which owns 9.55%. The remaining roughly 10% is the public free float.

Who runs it

Gonzalo Pachéco Perez serves as CEO of Dolphin Cove. As of late June 2025, Eduardo Albor Villanueva and three other Mexican directors — Valeria Albor Domínguez, Sergio Jácome Palma, and Federico Lozano Pérez — were removed from the board, leaving governance in the hands of the remaining Jamaican independent directors.

Stafford Burrowes had served as chairman from the company’s incorporation in September 1998, though his status has been fiercely contested throughout 2025 and his directorship was ultimately vacated. Independent Jamaican directors Noel Levy, John Bailey, and Richard Downer, along with company secretary Rhonda Goodison, remain central figures in the governance dispute.

The money, in plain words

In its full-year 2024 results, net profit fell 40% to US$1.83 million (J$282.8 million (US$2 mn)), while consolidated revenue dropped 11% to US$15.30 million (J$2.37 billion (US$15 mn)). That leaves about 12 cents of profit from every US dollar of sales — a net profit margin of 12.0% (our calculation), still respectable for a leisure operator but a meaningful step down from recent years.

Total operating expenses were down 5% to US$9.86 million, yet consolidated operating profit still declined 31% to US$2.94 million. The company also booked a US$136,036 loss on the disposal of live assets — the animals it keeps at its attractions.

At roughly 5.9% return on equity (our calculation), the business is earning less than six cents per dollar of owners’ capital — thin compared to its own history.

What it is doing now

The overriding story of 2025 is that the company’s ultimate parent, Leisure Investments Holdings LLC, entered US Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware on March 31, 2025, after creditors appointed Steven Strom as the administrator for the group. World of Dolphins had pledged all of its Dolphin Cove shares as collateral for a Dolphin Discovery US$100-million senior note, and the outstanding funded debt of the group’s subsidiaries exceeds US$200 million, in default since September 2023 and January 2024.

Dolphin Cove’s own stock is down 29% in 2025, with a market capitalisation of J$5.15 billion (US$33 mn) — less than a third of where it sat in mid-2024. On the operating side, the Ocho Rios cruise port was closed after storm damage in February 2024, cruise visitor arrivals fell 1% nationally to 1.25 million visitors, and Hurricane Beryl forced park closures for up to eight days in July.

What to watch

• Bankruptcy resolution: Court filings note that outstanding funded debt obligations for Leisure Investments subsidiaries exceed US$200 million. How that restructuring concludes will determine who ultimately controls the 79.99% stake — and whether Dolphin Cove’s shares could be sold or transferred.
• Board stability: The removal of four Mexican directors in late June 2025 leaves a rump board; a functioning, legitimate board is a precondition for investor confidence and JSE compliance.
• Port recovery: Dolphin Cove had been receiving fewer visitors because of the Ocho Rios Port closure following February 2024 storm damage to the main pier. Restoration of the port would be the single fastest route to revenue recovery.
• Dividend sustainability: The trailing J$2.40 (US$0.02)annual dividend is not covered by 2024 earnings at a payout ratio well above 100% — a signal that the current payout cannot continue without either a profit rebound or a cut.

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This is news, not investment advice.