COLORADO: Vail Resorts Inc. said its loss narrowed in the latest quarter as the ski-resort operator reported better-than-expected revenue growth on stronger season-pass sales for the coming winter season and a higher percentage of destination guests.
The Broomfield, Colo.-based company said that as of Dec. 5, sales of season passes for the coming ski season rose 13% by number of passes, excluding its recent Perisher acquisition in Australia, and 19% by sales revenue compared with a year earlier.
Based on historic data, the company typically sells less than 50% of the bookings for the winter season by this time.
The company said more than three-quarters of growth is attributed to destination guests—those who visit for a vacation, compared with season pass holders—and that 44% of total pass holders are now destination guests.
For the winter season, the company expects to sell more than half a million season passes. International bookings, particularly from Canada, the U.K. and Brazil, were hurt by the strong U.S. dollar, the company said in a news release.
For the period ended Oct. 31, Vail reported a loss of $59.6 million, or $1.63 a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $64.3 million, or $1.77 a share. Revenue increased 36% to $174.6 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a per-share loss of $1.75 on revenue of $168 million.
Due to the seasonal nature of its business, the company usually posts a loss for the quarter that spans the fall.
Vail reiterated its annual guidance.
The company also said that in 2016 it plans to build a new restaurant on the top of a chairlift at Breckenridge and to upgrade a Vail Mountain chairlift. The company said this would make every major chairlift at Vail Mountain high speed. It expects total capital spending to be $100 million.
Shares, up 34% year-to-date, were inactive premarket.
