Vail Resorts Reports Fiscal 2021 Third Quarter Results, Early Season Pass Sales Results, and Provides Fiscal 2021 Outlook

BROOMFIELD, Colo., June 7, 2021 /CNW/ -- Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) today reported results for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 ended April 30, 2021, which were negatively impacted by COVID-19 and related limitations and restrictions, reported results of early season pass sales for the 2021/2022 North American ski season, and provided its outlook for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2021.

Highlights

• Net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. was $274.6 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2021, an increase of 80.0% compared to the third fiscal quarter of 2020. The prior year period was primarily impacted by the early closure of the Company's North American destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas on March 15, 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19 (the "Resort Closures").
• Resort Reported EBITDA was $462.2 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2021, compared to a Resort Reported EBITDA of $304.4 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2020. The prior year period was primarily impacted by the Resort Closures, which included the resulting deferral of approximately $120.9 million of pass product revenue and $2.9 million of related deferred costs from the third fiscal quarter of 2020 to fiscal 2021 as a result of pass holder credits offered to 2019/2020 North American pass product holders.
• The Company issued full year guidance for fiscal 2021 and expects Resort Reported EBITDA to be between $530 million and $570 million, which assumes all of our operations are open and aligned with current health and safety protocols and capacity restrictions, current demand trends continue, we experience normal weather conditions throughout the Australian ski season and North American summer season, and there is no impact from potential COVID-19-related shutdowns or lockdowns.
• Pass product sales through June 1, 2021 for the upcoming 2021/2022 North American ski season increased very significantly as compared to sales through June 2, 2020 for the 2020/2021 North American ski season, due to the lack of any spring sales deadlines in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, making the year over year comparison to the spring 2020 results not relevant for performance trends. Compared to sales for the 2019/2020 North American ski season through June 4, 2019, pass product sales for the 2021/2022 season through June 1, 2021 increased approximately 50% in units and 33% in sales dollars. Pass product sales include Peak Resorts pass sales in both periods and are adjusted to eliminate the impact of foreign currency by applying an exchange rate of $0.83 between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar in both periods for Whistler Blackcomb pass sales. As a reminder, pass product sales for the full selling season through December 6, 2020, as compared to the full selling season through December 8, 2019, increased approximately 20% in units and approximately 19% in sales dollars.
• We continue to maintain significant liquidity with $1.3 billion of cash on hand as of April 30, 2021 and $621 million of availability under our U.S. and Whistler Blackcomb revolving credit facilities.

Commenting on the Company's fiscal 2021 third quarter results, Rob Katz, Chief Executive Officer, said, "Given the continued challenging operating environment as a result of COVID-19, we are very pleased with our overall results for the quarter and for the full 2020/2021 North American ski season. Results continued to improve as the season progressed, primarily as a result of stronger destination visitation at our Colorado and Utah resorts, including improved lift ticket purchases relative to fiscal 2021 second quarter results. Excluding Peak Resorts, total visitation at our U.S. destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas for the third quarter was only down 3% compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2019. Whistler Blackcomb's performance continued to be negatively impacted due to the continued closure of the Canadian border to international guests, including guests from the U.S., and was further impacted by the resort closing earlier than expected on March 30, 2021 following a provincial health order issued by the government of British Columbia. Whistler Blackcomb's total visitation for the third quarter declined nearly 60% compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2019.

"While visitation and lift revenue trends improved throughout the quarter, our ancillary lines of business continued to be more significantly and negatively impacted by COVID-19 related capacity constraints and limitations, particularly in food and beverage and ski school. We maintained disciplined cost controls throughout the quarter and continued operating our ancillary lines of business at reduced capacity. Resort Reported EBITDA margin for the third quarter was 52.0%, exceeding both the prior year period of 43.9% and fiscal 2019 third quarter of 50.2%. These results reflect our rigorous approach to cost management, as well as a higher proportion of lift revenue relative to ancillary lines of business compared to prior periods."

Operating Results

A more complete discussion of our operating results can be found within the Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section of the Company's Form 10-Q for the third fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2021, which was filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The following are segment highlights:

Mountain Segment

• For the three months ended April 30, 2021, total lift revenue increased $202.9 million, or 54.1%, compared to the same period in the prior year, to $577.7 million. The increase was primarily due to strong North American pass sales growth for the 2020/2021 ski season, including the deferral impact of the pass holder credits offered to 2019/2020 North American pass product holders from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2021 as a result of the Resort Closures, as well as improved non-pass visitation due to the Company operating for the full U.S. ski season in the current year, with particularly strong demand at the Colorado and Utah destination resorts.
• Ski school revenue increased $3.8 million, or 5.0%, and retail/rental revenue increased $13.2 million, or 16.8%, compared to the same period in the prior year, both as a result of the Company operating for the full U.S. ski season in the current year as compared to the impact of the Resort Closures in the prior year, partially offset by COVID-19 related capacity limitations and restrictions in the current year. Dining revenue decreased $16.3 million, or 26.5%, compared to the same period in the prior year, due to capacity-related limitations and restrictions associated with COVID-19 in the current year, which disproportionately impacted our results at our dining outlets. The declines in dining were partially offset by the benefit of operating for the full U.S. ski season in the current year as compared to the impact of the Resort Closures in the prior year.
• Operating expense increased $38.4 million, or 11.5%, which was primarily attributable to the Company operating for the full U.S. ski season in the current year as compared to the impact of the Resort Closures in the prior year, partially offset by cost discipline efforts in the current year associated with reduced levels of operations and limitations and restrictions on our North American winter operations resulting from COVID-19.
• Mountain Reported EBITDA increased $156.6 million, or 51.9%, for the third quarter compared to the same period in the prior year, which includes $5.1 million of stock-based compensation expense for the three months ended April 30, 2021 compared to $4.4 million in the same period in the prior year.

Lodging Segment

• Lodging segment net revenue (excluding payroll cost reimbursements) for the three months ended April 30, 2021 increased $1.7 million, or 3.1%, as compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily due to the Company operating for the full U.S. ski season in the current year as compared to the impact of the prior year Resort Closures, partially offset by operational restrictions and limitations of our North American lodging properties in the current year as a result of the ongoing impacts of COVID-19.
• Lodging Reported EBITDA for the three months ended April 30, 2021 increased $1.3 million, or 44.7%, for the third quarter compared to the same period in the prior year, which includes $1.0 million of stock-based compensation expense for the three months ended April 30, 2021 compared to $0.8 million in the same period in the prior year.

Resort - Combination of Mountain and Lodging Segments

• Resort net revenue was $888.3 million for the three months ended April 30, 2021, an increase of $194.6 million as compared to resort net revenue of $693.7 million for the same period in the prior year.
• Resort Reported EBITDA was $462.2 million for the three months ended April 30, 2021, an increase of $157.9 million, or 51.9%, compared to the same period in the prior year.

Total Performance

• Total net revenue increased $195.0 million, or 28.1%, to $889.1 million for the three months ended April 30, 2021 as compared to the same period in the prior year.
• Net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. was $274.6 million, or $6.72 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 compared to net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. of $152.5 million, or $3.74 per diluted share, in the third fiscal quarter of the prior year.

Liquidity

The Company continues to maintain significant liquidity. Our total cash and revolver availability as of April 30, 2021 was approximately $2.0 billion, with $1.3 billion of cash on hand, $419 million of U.S. revolver availability under the Vail Holdings Credit Agreement and $203 million of revolver availability under the Whistler Credit Agreement. As of April 30, 2021, our Net Debt was 2.8 times trailing twelve months Total Reported EBITDA. We remain confident in the strong cash flow generation and stability of our business model, and we will continue to be disciplined stewards of our capital with a focus on high-return capital projects, continuous investment in our people and strategic acquisition opportunities. While we are not reinstating the dividend this quarter, we remain committed to returning capital to shareholders, and our Board of Directors will continue to closely monitor the economic and public health outlook on a quarterly basis to assess the appropriate time to reinstate the dividend."

Season Pass Sales

Commenting on the Company's season pass sales for the upcoming 2021/2022 North American ski season, Katz said, "We are very pleased with the results for our season pass sales to date, with guests showing strong enthusiasm for the enhanced value proposition of our pass products, driven in part by the 20% reduction in all pass prices for the upcoming season. Pass product sales through June 1, 2021 for the upcoming 2021/2022 North American ski season increased very significantly as compared to sales through June 2, 2020 for the 2020/2021 North American ski season, due to the lack of any spring sales deadlines in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, making the year over year comparison to the spring 2020 results not relevant for performance trends. Compared to sales for the 2019/2020 North American ski season through June 4, 2019, pass product sales for the 2021/2022 season through June 1, 2021 increased approximately 50% in units and 33% in sales dollars. Pass product sales are adjusted to include Peak Resorts pass sales in both periods and eliminate the impact of foreign currency by applying an exchange rate of $0.83 between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar in both periods for Whistler Blackcomb. As a reminder, pass product sales for the full selling season through December 6, 2020, as compared to the full selling season through December 8, 2019, increased approximately 20% in units and approximately 19% in sales dollars."

Katz continued, "Relative to season to date pass product sales for the 2019/2020 season through June 4, 2019, we saw very strong unit growth with our renewing pass holders and even stronger unit growth in new pass holders, which include guests in our database who previously purchased lift tickets or passes but did not buy a pass in the previous season and guests who are completely new to our database. We saw our strongest unit growth in our destination markets, particularly in the Northeast, and also had very strong growth across our local markets. Compared to the period ended June 4, 2019, effective pass price decreased 10%, as compared to the 20% price decrease we implemented this year. We believe this highlights how our lower pricing has increased the propensity of pass holders to spend a portion of the new discount to purchase higher valued pass products. The pass results to date exceeded our original expectations for the impact of the 20% price reduction, however we still have the majority of our pass selling season ahead of us and it is not yet clear if these trends will continue through the fall. We will provide more information about our pass sales results, including comparisons to pass sales results for the 2020/2021 North American ski season, in our September 2021 earnings release.

Regarding Epic Australia Pass sales, Katz commented, "We are very pleased with ongoing sales of the Epic Australia Pass, which end on June 15, 2021 and are up approximately 43% in units through June 1, 2021, as compared to the comparable period through June 4, 2019, representing significant growth following the acquisition of Falls Creek and Hotham in April 2019. Given the recent COVID-19 related lockdowns in Victoria, Australia, we will be monitoring any impacts on Epic Australia pass sales."

Outlook

Commenting on the outlook for fiscal 2021, Katz said, "Net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. is expected to be between $93 million and $139 million for fiscal 2021. We expect that Resort Reported EBITDA for fiscal 2021 will be between $530 million and $570 million, and we expect that Resort Reported EBITDA Margin for fiscal 2021 will be approximately 28.9%, using the midpoint of the guidance range. Our guidance assumes all of our operations are open and aligned with current health and safety protocols and capacity restrictions, current demand trends continue, we experience normal weather conditions throughout the Australian ski season and North American summer season, and there is no impact from potential COVID-19-related shutdowns or lockdowns. The guidance specifically assumes no impact from potential demand or operational disruptions associated with the current lockdowns in Victoria, Australia. The outlook for fiscal year 2021 is predicated on current Canadian and Australian foreign exchange rates of $0.82 and $0.78, respectively, for each currency to the U.S. dollar for the remainder of the fiscal year."

The following table reflects the forecasted guidance range for the Company's fiscal year ending July 31, 2021, for Reported EBITDA (after stock-based compensation expense) and reconciles such Reported EBITDA guidance to net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc.

Earnings Conference Call

The Company will conduct a conference call today at 5:00 p.m. eastern time to discuss the financial results. The call will be webcast and can be accessed at www.vailresorts.com in the Investor Relations section, or dial (800) 367-2403 (U.S. and Canada) or (334) 777-6978 (international). A replay of the conference call will be available two hours following the conclusion of the conference call through June 21, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. eastern time. To access the replay, dial (888) 203-1112 (U.S. and Canada) or (719) 457-0820 (international), pass code 9073089. The conference call will also be archived at www.vailresorts.com.

About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN)

Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading global mountain resort operator. Vail Resorts' subsidiaries operate 37 destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada; Perisher, Falls Creek and Hotham in Australia; Stowe, Mount Snow, and Okemo in Vermont; Hunter Mountain in New York; Mount Sunapee, Attitash, Wildcat and Crotched in New Hampshire; Stevens Pass in Washington; Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail, Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania; Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, Brandywine and Mad River in Ohio; Hidden Valley and Snow Creek in Missouri; Wilmot in Wisconsin; Afton Alps in Minnesota; Mt. Brighton in Michigan; and Paoli Peaks in Indiana. Vail Resorts owns and/or manages a collection of casually elegant hotels under the RockResorts brand, as well as the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning and development subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements discussed in this press release and on the conference call, other than statements of historical information, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including the statements under "Outlook" above; our expectations regarding our liquidity; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on, among other things, our operations; expectations related to our season pass products; our expectations regarding our performance for fiscal 2021 (and the assumptions related thereto), including our expected net income and Resort Reported EBITDA; our expectations regarding our summer operations; and our expectations regarding our ancillary lines of business. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the ultimate duration of COVID-19 and its short-term and long-term impacts on consumer behaviors, the economy generally and our business and results of operations, including the ultimate amount of refunds that we would be required to refund to our pass product holders for qualifying circumstances under our Epic Coverage program; prolonged weakness in general economic conditions, including adverse effects on the overall travel and leisure related industries; willingness or ability of our guests to travel due to terrorism, the uncertainty of military conflicts or outbreaks of contagious diseases (such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic), and the cost and availability of travel options and changing consumer preferences; unfavorable weather conditions or the impact of natural disasters; risks related to our reliance on information technology, including our failure to maintain the integrity of our customer or employee data and our ability to adapt to technological developments or industry trends; risks related to cyber-attacks; the seasonality of our business combined with adverse events that occur during our peak operating periods; competition in our mountain and lodging businesses; high fixed cost structure of our business; our ability to fund resort capital expenditures; risks related to a disruption in our water supply that would impact our snowmaking capabilities and operations; our reliance on government permits or approvals for our use of public land or to make operational and capital improvements; risks associated with obtaining governmental or third party approvals; risks related to federal, state, local and foreign government laws, rules and regulations; risks related to changes in security and privacy laws and regulations which could increase our operating costs and adversely affect our ability to market our products and services effectively; risks related to our workforce, including increased labor costs; loss of key personnel and our ability to hire and retain a sufficient seasonal workforce; adverse consequences of current or future legal claims; a deterioration in the quality or reputation of our brands, including our ability to protect our intellectual property and the risk of accidents at our mountain resorts; our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, or that acquired businesses may fail to perform in accordance with expectations, including Falls Creek, Hotham, Peak Resorts or future acquisitions; our ability to satisfy the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, with respect to acquired businesses; risks associated with international operations; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates where the Company has foreign currency exposure, primarily the Canadian and Australian dollars; changes in accounting judgments and estimates, accounting principles, policies or guidelines or adverse determinations by taxing authorities as well as risks associated with uncertainty of the impact of tax reform legislation in the United States; risks related to our indebtedness and our ability to satisfy our debt service requirements under our outstanding debt including our unsecured senior notes, which could reduce our ability to use our cash flow to fund our operations, capital expenditures, future business opportunities and other purposes; a materially adverse change in our financial condition; and other risks detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2020, which was filed on September 24, 2020 and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2021, which was filed on June 7, 2021.

All forward-looking statements attributable to us or any persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. All guidance and forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forecast or forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Statement Concerning Non-GAAP Financial Measures

When reporting financial results, we use the terms Resort Reported EBITDA, Total Reported EBITDA, Resort EBITDA Margin, Net Debt and Net Real Estate Cash Flow, which are not financial measures under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"). Resort Reported EBITDA, Total Reported EBITDA, Resort EBITDA Margin, Net Debt and Net Real Estate Cash Flow should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to, or substitute for, measures of financial performance or liquidity prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, we report segment Reported EBITDA (i.e. Mountain, Lodging and Real Estate), the measure of segment profit or loss required to be disclosed in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, these measures may not be comparable to similarly-titled measures of other companies. Additionally, with respect to discussion of impacts from currency, the Company calculates the impact by applying current period foreign exchange rates to the prior period results, as the Company believes that comparing financial information using comparable foreign exchange rates is a more objective and useful measure of changes in operating performance.

Reported EBITDA (and its counterpart for each of our segments) has been presented herein as a measure of the Company's performance. The Company believes that Reported EBITDA is an indicative measurement of the Company's operating performance, and is similar to performance metrics generally used by investors to evaluate other companies in the resort and lodging industries. The Company defines Resort EBITDA Margin as Resort Reported EBITDA divided by Resort net revenue. The Company believes Resort EBITDA Margin is an important measurement of operating performance. The Company believes that Net Debt is an important measurement of liquidity as it is an indicator of the Company's ability to obtain additional capital resources for its future cash needs. Additionally, the Company believes Net Real Estate Cash Flow is important as a cash flow indicator for its Real Estate segment. See the tables provided in this release for reconciliations of our measures of segment profitability and non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Reconciliation of Measures of Segment Profitability and Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Presented below is a reconciliation of net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. to Total Reported EBITDA for the three and nine months ended April 30, 2021 and 2020.

Presented below is a reconciliation of net income attributable to Vail Resorts, Inc. to Total Reported EBITDA calculated in accordance with GAAP for the twelve months ended April 30, 2021.

The following table reconciles long-term debt, net to Net Debt and the calculation of Net Debt to Total Reported EBITDA for the twelve months ended April 30, 2021.

The following table reconciles Real Estate Reported EBITDA to Net Real Estate Cash Flow for the three and nine months ended April 30, 2021 and 2020.

The following table reconciles Resort net revenue to Resort EBITDA Margin for the three months ended April 30, 2021, 2020 and 2019.

The following table reconciles Resort net revenue to Resort EBITDA Margin for fiscal 2021 guidance.

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SOURCE Vail Resorts, Inc.