Vail Resorts posts 1Q loss, announces upgrades at Breckenridge, Vail Mountain

BROOMFIELD — Vail Resorts Inc.’s share price climbed 3 percent Monday after the company reported earnings for its first quarter of fiscal year 2016 that exceeded expectations despite a $59.9 million net loss.

Chief executive Rob Katz said the owner and operator of several ski areas around the country and in Australia expects to sell more than half a million season passes for the 2015-16 season, with sales of season passes through Dec. 5 up 13 percent by volume and 19 percent in sales dollars versus the same period a year ago.

Vail (NYSE: MTN) reported the net loss, which amounted to $1.63 per share, for the fiscal quarter ending Oct. 31. That was compared with a $64.3 million loss, or $1.77 per share, for the previous year. Revenue for the quarter, meanwhile, rose from $128.3 million last year to $174.6 million this year.

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Broomfield-based Vail Resorts’ ski areas include Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Park City in Utah; and Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada.

Katz said the company typically turns a loss in its first fiscal quarter, given that winter ski operations aren’t yet rolling.

“We were very pleased with our results in the quarter, with strong summer visitation to our U.S. mountain resorts driving increases in all of our key lines of business bolstered by the investments we have made in new summer activities,” Katz said.

The company has spent $50 million to combine and upgrade the Park City and Canyons resorts, making the new Park City resort the largest ski area in the country. But Katz also said on Monday that plenty of capital investment is planned for Colorado in the coming year as well.

The company plans to add a 500-seat restaurant at the top of the Peak 7 chairlift at Breckenridge, and it will also upgrade the Sun Up chairlift at Vail Mountain to a high-speed four-passenger lift. Those improvements are to be made next year in time for the 2016-17 ski season, and they’re part of an overall $100 million resort capital plan for the 2016 calendar year.

In addition to its earnings, Vail Resorts also announced a quarterly cash dividend of 62.25 cents per share to be paid to investors.

Vail Resorts shares were trading at $25.80 by late afternoon Monday, up $3.80 from Friday’s close.