Shares in Merlin fell as much as 8.4 percent on Tuesday after the group said Legoland's like-for-like sales had fallen short of expectations over the 40 weeks to Oct. 6, declining 0.3 percent against hopes for a positive performance.

"My view is it's just a blip," Chief Executive Nick Varney told Reuters, forecasting a much improved performance in its 2018-19 financial year.

"Anybody writing off Legoland and reacting on the share price - I will happily sit down with them in the hat eating saloon at the end of the year."

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)