Vail loss widens, but dividend declared

BROOMFIELD – Vail Resorts Inc. on Wednesday reported a widened loss for its fiscal fourth quarter – and issued a quarterly dividend.

Broomfield-based Vail Resorts cited 15 percent higher operating expenses and a $10.8 million loss associated with a debt repayment that offset growth in revenue. On Sept. 11, the company announced that it had acquired the Park City Mountain Resort in Utah from Powdr Corp. for $183 million in a deal that ended a legal dispute between the ski-resort operators.

For the period ended July 31, Vail reported a loss of $75.4 million, or $2.08 a share, compared with a loss of $59.9 million, or $1.67 a share, for the same quarter in 2013.

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Revenue rose 21 percent to $135.5 million for the quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share loss of $1.95 and revenue of $127.21 million.

The company’s board of directors also declared a quarterly cash dividend of 41.5 cents per share of common stock, payable Oct. 22 to shareholders of record on Oct. 7.

On the day Vail announced the Park City acquisition, its stock closed up $8.98 at $85.75, a new high at that time, with volume at an eight-month high. Since then, it’s been selling as high as $89.36. By midafternoon Wednesday, after the earnings report was issued, the stock was trading at $86.08, down 1.26 percent from its opening price.

Total skier visits for fiscal 2014 increased 10.2 percent from a year ago, according to the fiscal fourth-quarter report issued Wednesday, while ticket prices climbed 4.9 percent. Sales of season passes through Sunday for the upcoming ski season rose about 14 percent, while related sales revenue grew about 18 percent. The company said about 55 percent to 60 percent of its total season pass sales usually are made by this date.

Net income for fiscal 2014 was $28.5 million, the company said.

In addition to its Utah properties, Vail Resorts operates the ski resorts of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mount Brighton in Michigan; and the Grand Teton Lodge Co. in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

“Our results continue to reflect increases in overall visitation, pricing, average guest spend and season pass sales,” said Rob Katz, Vail Resorts chief executive, in a media statement. “Summer revenue increased over the prior fiscal year as we continue to build out our summer activities including new zip lines at Vail and Breckenridge, as well as challenge-ropes courses at Vail and Heavenly.”

Katz hailed “an outstanding season in Colorado, with a particularly strong spring break and late season,” and said the company expects to see significant growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization as it implements plans to combine Park City with the nearby Canyons resort to create the largest mountain resort in the nation.

“This is truly a transformative acquisition for Vail Resorts,” Katz said in the statement. “We have added access to Park City Mountain Resort to the Epic Pass and Epic Local Pass, and the Epic Pass now provides skiers and riders unlimited and unrestricted access to the best resorts in Colorado, Utah and Tahoe, as well as five days of skiing in each of Switzerland, France and Japan.

On Monday, the company announced that it had rebranded its charitable arm. Echo, which has been focused on environmental and community sustainability efforts, now will be known as EpicPromise.