Speaking at a more subdued annual meeting than the previous year, Dr Weiss said the new board was working "collaboratively and collectively" to return shareholder value by improving the two business divisions of entertainment and bowling in Australia and the Main Event centres in North America.

"I would like to take this opportunity to assure all shareholders that I am committed to creating a stable board environment and will remain focused on realising the full potential of our businesses and delivering value to our stakeholders," he said.

His appointment as non-executive chairman caps off a long and challenging year for the group, which has see the departure of two chief executives, Deborah Thomas in June and Simon Kelly, who left after only five months. Dr Weiss said the board was "surprised and disappointed" by Mr Kelly's departure.

There was also the tragic accident at the Dreamworld theme park in October last year, when four people died on the White river rapids ride, which is now in a rebuilding stage.

The 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast is expected to help boost visits to Dreamworld.

Ardent posted a net loss of $62.6 million for the 2017 year, down from a profit of $42.4 million in the prior year, driven predominantly by writedowns and subdued trading at Dreamworld. The Main Event business was hit by Hurricane Harvey and Irma and the flat trading results for the bowling and entertainment division all contributed to revenue being significantly lower than previous years.

Dr Weiss, who replaced the former chairman George Venardos after a bitter battle, said the priority now was to appoint two new chief executives for the Australian and US business and get the operations back to "where they should be".

But not all shareholders agreed with his appointment as he received an 86.05 per cent yes vote and 91.32 per cent with director proxies. Newly appointed US-based directors Randy Garfield and Brad Richmond were also successfully voted onto the board.

In response to an investor question, Dr Weiss said there were no plans to split the business, while Ardent was in its "rebuilding phase".

"The immediate focus is on remediating the business and hopefully materially improving the performance of the group," he said.

"We tabled plans with the proxy advisers to restore value, that's essentially our strategy moving forward. But once the business has been remediated then clearly an optionality will present itself in terms of where the businesses are appropriately housed moving forward."

He said at Dreamworld, the board's focus is to reinvest in the theme park business; reinvigorate customer attendance by offering new attractions and to continue to explore opportunities to develop the land.

"Our goal is to rebuild trust and confidence in the safety of the park and become an industry leader in safety, maintenance and training standards," Dr Weiss said.

He said Ms Thomas continued to work at Ardent as a consultant and would be involved in the coronial inquest into the Dreamworld tragedy, which is expected to be held next year.