SANDUSKY, Ohio, Sept. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cedar Fair
Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN), a leader in regional amusement
parks, water parks and immersive entertainment, today announced
that preliminary results for the five weeks ended Monday, September 3, 2018, represented record
revenues for the fiscal month of August.
For the five weeks, preliminary net revenues were $288 million, up 6%, or $17 million, when compared with the same period
in 2017. This was the result of a 5%, or 255,000-visit,
increase in attendance, a 1%, or $0.52, increase in average in-park per capita
spending and a 7%, or $2 million,
increase in out-of-park revenues, including resort
accommodations.
"Over the past five weeks we have experienced strong growth
across all aspects of our business, reaffirming our confidence in
the resiliency of our business model and the outlook for growth in
the business for the long term," said Richard Zimmerman, Cedar Fair's president and
CEO. "During this time, we successfully executed on a number
of initiatives designed to drive guest urgency while at the same
time maintaining integrity in our pricing structure. These
efforts resulted in a solid lift in attendance and increased guest
spending inside our parks during the period. We also saw
robust demand for our hotel and resort accommodations, an asset
class we are actively developing in an effort to generate
additional and attractive returns over the longer term.
Looking ahead, we believe these strong results reflect the positive
response from consumers for the compelling entertainment
experiences we provide to our guests of all ages, and we expect
that to continue for the balance of the year."
Year-to-date preliminary net revenues through Labor Day,
September 3, 2018, were $1.04 billion, up slightly when compared with the
similar period through Labor Day, September
4, 2017. The 2018 results compared with 2017 reflect
increases of 1%, or $0.38, in average
in-park per capita spending to $47.46
and 5%, or $5 million, in out-of-park
revenues, including resort accommodations, to $120 million. These increases were offset
by a 1%, or 225,000-visit, decrease in attendance to 20.0 million
guest visits.
"For the remainder of the year, we are focused on building upon
the momentum we have established over the past five weeks,"
continued Zimmerman. "Our near-term strategy includes fully
maximizing the potential of our very popular seasonal celebrations
including Halloween Haunt, The Great Pumpkin Fest and
WinterFest. Our fourth quarter has become a meaningful period
of operations, particularly as we leverage our highly popular fall
events to jump-start sales of our 2019 season pass and all-season
products, which are off to a strong start."
Zimmerman noted that the strong August results were not enough
to entirely overcome the challenges the Company faced through the
first seven months of the year. Based on
the year-to-date results and outlook for the rest of the year,
the Company now expects 2018 full-year net revenues to be in the
range of $1.32 billion to
$1.34 billion, and full-year Adjusted
EBITDA1 to be in the range of $460 million to $470
million. Zimmerman also reiterated the Company's
commitment to delivering a steady 4% annual increase in the cash
distribution to unitholders while continuing to invest in the
business at a responsible level.
Turning to 2019, Zimmerman added the Company has generated
strong early-season increases in its advance purchase channels,
including season pass sales and all-season products. Driving
the strong early-season sales is the introduction of a 12-month
payment program and unlimited visits for the remainder of 2018 at a
number of parks, combined with a unique and diverse array of new
attractions and offerings within the Company's 2019 capital
program.
Zimmerman noted that headlining next year's capital lineup will
be the unveiling of two highly immersive roller coasters, each
designed with unique regional flair. On opening day,
Canada's Wonderland will introduce
Yukon Striker, the world's longest, fastest and tallest dive roller
coaster. Yukon Striker will be the 17th coaster at
Canada's Wonderland, elevating the
park in stature with sister park Cedar
Point as one of the world's top amusement parks with the
best thrill rides. At Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, park goers will
line up to experience Copperhead Strike, the Carolinas' first
double-launch coaster designed to simulate a harrowing chase of
getaway cars racing through rolling farmland, sending riders on two
launches through a relentless, winding ride over a half-mile of
steel track. Copperhead Strike is the central element of Blue
Ridge Junction, Carowinds' seven-acre, richly themed area designed
to engage all five senses.
"Our new coasters for 2019 should prove to be showstoppers, and
we are excited and proud to add them to Cedar Fair's growing list
of world-class thrill rides," said Zimmerman. "But beyond our
2019 slate of new rides, we also remain focused on broadening the
experiential entertainment offerings at our parks. Next year,
we'll be expanding our immersive holiday celebration, WinterFest,
to a sixth park, Canada's
Wonderland, while at Cedar Point
we'll be introducing Forbidden Frontier on Adventure Island, a
real-life, fully interactive experience that will allow guests of
all ages to explore and discover the secrets of Adventure
Island. Additionally, guests can expect to see a variety
of new and enhanced celebratory and regionally focused events and
activities unique to each park's brand, including more nighttime
entertainment accentuated with special lighting and décor, while
featuring unique culinary fare created by our onsite executive
chefs," concluded Zimmerman.
About Cedar Fair
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
(NYSE: FUN), one of the largest regional amusement-resort operators
in the world, is a publicly traded partnership headquartered in
Sandusky, Ohio. Focused on
its mission to become "THE place to be for FUN," the Company owns
and operates 11 amusement parks, including its flagship park,
Cedar Point, along with two
outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and four hotels.
It also operates an additional theme park under a management
contract. Its parks are located in Ohio, California, North
Carolina, South Carolina,
Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan and Toronto, Ontario.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements
contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the
United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
including statements as to the Company's expectations, beliefs and
strategies regarding the future. These statements may involve
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those described in such statements. Although
the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance
that such expectations will prove to have been correct.
Important factors, including general economic conditions, adverse
weather conditions, competition for consumer leisure time and
spending, unanticipated construction delays, changes in the
Company's capital investment plans and projects and other factors
discussed from time to time by the Company in reports filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") could affect
attendance at the Company's parks and cause actual results to
differ materially from the Company's expectations. Additional
information on risk factors that may affect the business and
financial results of the Company can be found in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the filings of the Company made
from time to time with the SEC. The Company undertakes no
obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
1 Adjusted EBITDA represents earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, other non-cash items,
and adjustments as defined in the Amended 2017 Credit Agreement and
the 2013 Credit Agreement. The Company believes Adjusted EBITDA is
a meaningful measure as it is widely used by analysts, investors
and comparable companies in our industry to evaluate our operating
performance on a consistent basis, as well as more easily compare
our results with those of other companies in our industry.
Further, management believes Adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful
measure of park-level operating profitability and we use it for
measuring returns on capital investments, evaluating potential
acquisitions, determining awards under incentive compensation
plans, and calculating compliance with certain loan
covenants. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a substitute
for operating income, net income or cash flows from operating
activities as defined under generally accepted accounting
principles. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA may not be
comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.
The Company is not reconciling Adjusted EBITDA guidance to Net
Income, in reliance on the unreasonable efforts exception provided
under Item 10(e)(1)(i)(B) of Regulation S-K. The Company is
unable, without unreasonable efforts, to forecast certain
individual items required to reconcile Adjusted EBITDA guidance
with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure (Net
Income). These items include the net effect of swaps,
non-cash foreign currency (gain) loss, as well as other non-cash
and unusual items and other adjustments as defined under the
Company's debt agreements, which are difficult to predict in
advance in order to include in a GAAP estimate.
Contact: Investor Relations
419.627.2233
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SOURCE Cedar Fair Entertainment Company