Cedar Fair Announces 2021 Second Quarter Results
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN) reported strong demand for its amusement and water parks in Q2 2021, with net revenues reaching $224 million, up from $7 million in Q2 2020. Attendance rose by 3.4 million visits thanks to 354 additional operating days compared to last year. In-park per capita spending increased to $55.94. While total operating costs rose to $227 million, the operating loss decreased to $38 million from $142 million in 2020. The company maintains strong liquidity with $652 million available and anticipates $50 million in annual run-rate benefits from its Business Optimization Program.
- Net revenues increased to $224 million from $7 million year-over-year.
- Attendance rose by 3.4 million visits due to more operating days.
- In-park per capita spending reached $55.94, indicating strong guest spending.
- Operating loss decreased significantly to $38 million from $142 million in Q2 2020.
- Strong liquidity with $652 million available.
- Business Optimization Program expected to generate $50 million in annual run-rate benefits.
- Operating costs increased to $227 million, up from $93 million in Q2 2020.
- Net loss reported at $59 million, compared to $133 million in Q2 2020.
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (NYSE: FUN), a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and immersive entertainment, today announced results for its second quarter ended June 27, 2021.
“With all parks now open, guests are enjoying another FUN-filled season at our parks and we are seeing strong demand across our portfolio of properties,” said Cedar Fair President and CEO Richard A. Zimmerman. “Our team did an excellent job of managing through early-season headwinds, allowing us to return most park operations to full capacity without the need for guests to make reservations. We also took decisive actions to mitigate the effects of labor shortages, attracting thousands of seasonal associates to bridge the gap in our workforce and allowing us to resume more normal operating schedules at most of our parks. As park restrictions have been relaxed and capacity expanded, attendance is now approaching 2019 levels, particularly on our busiest days. Our ability to drive historical levels of attendance across our parks so quickly following a generational business disruption, while effectively adjusting our operations to meet changing consumer preferences, reconfirms our confidence in the overall strength and integrity of our business model.”
Zimmerman added, “We are seeing strong consumer confidence across our markets, creating a tailwind in terms of guest purchasing power and enabling us to build momentum as we approach our busiest period of the year. Guest spending started off strong this year and has continued to increase in recent weeks, similar to the trends we saw at parks that reopened during 2020. Our business intelligence team has done an outstanding job of dynamically pricing into the robust demand environment both at the gate and within the parks, and we continue to offer additional opportunities for guests to enhance their experience with each visit. Together, all of these initiatives have successfully pushed in-park per capita spending to record levels through July.”
Second Quarter 2021 Results
Given the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on park operations in both 2021 and 2020, results for the second quarter and six-month periods are not directly comparable. This year, all Cedar Fair parks opened for the season on various dates in May except for Canada’s Wonderland, which remained closed through the entire first half of the year due to local COVID-19 restrictions and reopened for the first time on July 5, 2021. Last year, full park operations of Knott’s Berry Farm, as well as abbreviated operations of the two Schlitterbahn water parks, had begun prior to the suspension of all park operations on March 14, 2020.
In 2021, operating days in the second quarter totaled 393, excluding the culinary festival at Knott’s Berry Farm. This compared to 39 total operating days in the second quarter of 2020. For the six-month period, the Company had 393 total operating days in 2021 compared to 129 operating days in 2020.
For the second quarter ended June 27, 2021, net revenues totaled
Operating costs and expenses in the quarter totaled
Interest expense for the second quarter totaled
In the second quarter of 2021, a benefit for taxes of
After the items above, the Company reported a second quarter net loss of
Adjusted EBITDA(1), which management believes is a meaningful measure of the Company’s park-level operating results, increased
Results of Second Quarter 2021 Compared to Second Quarter 2019
As previously noted, given the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and suspension of park operations during the summer of 2020, results for the second quarters of 2021 and 2020 are not directly comparable. Due to the postponed opening of our parks for the 2021 operating season until May 2021, the results for the second quarters of 2021 and 2019 are also not directly comparable. The parks had 393 of total operating days in second quarter of 2021 compared with 726 total operating days in the second quarter of 2019.
To provide more informative comparisons, the following information compares results for the second quarter of 2021 versus the second quarter of 2019, and also includes comparisons on a comparable same-day basis for attendance and in-park per capita spending (2).
With abbreviated operating calendars and 333 fewer operating days in the current period, attendance for the second quarter of 2021 decreased
July 2021 Update
Including the results from Canada’s Wonderland since its opening on July 5, 2021, preliminary net revenues for the seven-month period ended August 1, 2021, totaled
Given the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and suspension of park operations during the summer of 2020, results for the July 2021 and July 2020 periods are not directly comparable. To provide more informative comparisons, the following information reflects results for the 5-week periods of June 28 through Aug. 1, 2021, versus July 1 through Aug. 4, 2019. The parks had 471 of total operating days in July 2021 compared to 525 total operating days in July 2019.
For the 5-week period ended Aug. 1, 2021, attendance totaled 5.2 million visits, a
Balance Sheet and Liquidity Update
Deferred revenues as of June 27, 2021, totaled
At the end of July, the Company had approximately 2.9 million season passes outstanding and valid through the 2021 season, or longer at Knott’s Berry Farm and Canada’s Wonderland, with sales of season passes since the end of the first quarter exceeding more than 1 million units.
As of June 27, 2021, the Company had cash on hand of
Business Optimization Program
Cedar Fair commenced its Business Optimization Program earlier this year with the goal of improving the guest experience, producing sustainable cost savings, and creating incremental value for unitholders. Under the program, the Company is strengthening functional areas of responsibility, establishing new and more effective ways of doing business, and innovating by embracing new, user-friendly technologies to create efficiencies and more clearly communicate with guests and other stakeholders.
As previously communicated, the Company expects its optimization efforts to generate an incremental
“While change can be challenging, our team is united in its commitment to implementing our business optimization initiatives to improve the way we do business and ensure we continue to meet and exceed the expectations of our guests and associates,” said Zimmerman. “We have remained flexible and continue to modify our plans to mitigate unanticipated headwinds that challenge some of our cost-saving assumptions, including pressure on seasonal labor wages and costs of goods sold, by identifying additional efficiency opportunities in areas like centralized procurement and business intelligence. We remain confident in our ability to achieve the program’s target of
Conference Call
As previously announced, the Company will host a conference call with analysts starting at 10 a.m. ET today, Aug. 4, 2021, to further discuss its recent financial performance. Participants on the call will include Cedar Fair President and CEO Richard Zimmerman, Executive Vice President and CFO Brian Witherow and Corporate Director of Investor Relations Michael Russell.
Investors and all other interested parties can access a live, listen-only audio webcast of the call on the Cedar Fair Investors website at https://ir.cedarfair.com under the tabs Investor Information / Events & Presentations / Upcoming Events. Those unable to listen to the live webcast can access a recorded version of the call on the Cedar Fair Investors website at https://ir.cedarfair.com under Investor Information / Events and Presentations / Past Events, shortly after the live call’s conclusion.
A replay of the call is also available by phone starting at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, until 11:59 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. To access the phone replay, please dial (800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642, followed by the Conference ID: 6472259.
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 make people happy by providing fun, immersive, and memorable experiences, the Company owns and operates 13 properties, consisting of 11 amusement parks, four separately gated outdoor water parks, and resort accommodations totaling more than 2,300 rooms and more than 600 luxury RV sites. Cedar Fair’s parks are located in Ohio, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, Texas and Toronto, Ontario. The Company also operates an additional theme park in California under a management contract.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements contained in this news release that are not historical in nature constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements as to the Company's expectations, beliefs, goals, and strategies regarding the future. These forward-looking statements may involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and 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 be correct, or that the Company's business optimization and growth strategies will achieve the target results. Important factors, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, 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 its reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) could affect attendance at the Company’s parks, as well as the Company's business optimization program, and cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations or otherwise to fluctuate or decrease. 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 publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, information, circumstances or otherwise that arise after the publication of this document.
(1) |
For additional information regarding Adjusted EBITDA, including how the Company defines and uses Adjusted EBITDA, see the attached reconciliation table and related footnotes. |
(2) |
For additional information regarding statistics on a comparable same-day basis, including how the Company defines and uses these measures, see the attached Key Operational Measures table and related footnotes. |
(3) |
On a comparable same-day basis, we excluded 0.5 million visits for the five weeks ended August 4, 2019 to exclude the results of 2019 operating days without equivalent 2021 operating days. |
This news release and prior releases are available under the News tab at http://ir.cedarfair.com
(financial tables follow)
CEDAR FAIR, L.P. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands) |
|||||||||||||||
|
Three months ended |
|
Six months ended |
||||||||||||
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
||||||||
Net revenues: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
Admissions |
$ |
99,072 |
|
|
$ |
668 |
|
|
$ |
99,072 |
|
|
$ |
27,317 |
|
Food, merchandise and games |
83,945 |
|
|
2,860 |
|
|
91,191 |
|
|
22,807 |
|
||||
Accommodations, extra-charge products and other |
41,120 |
|
|
3,058 |
|
|
43,616 |
|
|
10,097 |
|
||||
|
224,137 |
|
|
6,586 |
|
|
233,879 |
|
|
60,221 |
|
||||
Costs and expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
Cost of food, merchandise, and games revenues |
23,630 |
|
|
2,005 |
|
|
25,936 |
|
|
8,390 |
|
||||
Operating expenses |
155,945 |
|
|
66,983 |
|
|
222,099 |
|
|
173,351 |
|
||||
Selling, general and administrative |
47,066 |
|
|
23,727 |
|
|
77,416 |
|
|
48,536 |
|
||||
Depreciation and amortization |
33,992 |
|
|
54,923 |
|
|
35,445 |
|
|
60,011 |
|
||||
Loss on impairment / retirement of fixed assets, net |
1,937 |
|
|
1,036 |
|
|
3,476 |
|
|
7,803 |
|
||||
Loss on impairment of goodwill and other intangibles |
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
88,181 |
|
||||
Gain on sale of investment |
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
(2 |
) |
|
— |
|
||||
|
262,570 |
|
|
148,674 |
|
|
364,370 |
|
|
386,272 |
|
||||
Operating loss |
(38,433 |
) |
|
(142,088 |
) |
|
(130,491 |
) |
|
(326,051 |
) |
||||
Interest expense |
46,005 |
|
|
36,746 |
|
|
90,101 |
|
|
63,965 |
|
||||
Net effect of swaps |
(3,834 |
) |
|
1,559 |
|
|
(7,396 |
) |
|
21,338 |
|
||||
Loss on early debt extinguishment |
— |
|
|
1,696 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
1,696 |
|
||||
(Gain) loss on foreign currency |
(11,099 |
) |
|
(12,651 |
) |
|
(16,904 |
) |
|
21,551 |
|
||||
Other income |
(27 |
) |
|
(130 |
) |
|
(105 |
) |
|
(309 |
) |
||||
Loss before taxes |
(69,478 |
) |
|
(169,308 |
) |
|
(196,191 |
) |
|
(434,292 |
) |
||||
Benefit for taxes |
(10,608 |
) |
|
(36,756 |
) |
|
(26,905 |
) |
|
(85,763 |
) |
||||
Net loss |
(58,870 |
) |
|
(132,552 |
) |
|
(169,286 |
) |
|
(348,529 |
) |
||||
Net loss allocated to general partner |
(1 |
) |
|
(2 |
) |
|
(2 |
) |
|
(4 |
) |
||||
Net loss allocated to limited partners |
$ |
(58,869 |
) |
|
$ |
(132,550 |
) |
|
$ |
(169,284 |
) |
|
$ |
(348,525 |
) |
CEDAR FAIR, L.P. UNAUDITED BALANCE SHEET DATA (In thousands) |
|||||||
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ |
292,596 |
|
|
$ |
301,135 |
|
Total assets |
$ |
2,664,233 |
|
|
$ |
2,657,534 |
|
Long-term debt, including current maturities: |
|||||||
Term debt |
$ |
256,713 |
|
|
$ |
255,897 |
|
Notes |
2,704,002 |
|
|
2,404,638 |
|
||
|
$ |
2,960,715 |
|
|
$ |
2,660,535 |
|
Total partners' deficit |
$ |
(841,560 |
) |
|
$ |
(411,862 |
) |
CEDAR FAIR, L.P. RECONCILIATION OF ADJUSTED EBITDA (In thousands) |
|||||||||||||||
|
Three months ended |
|
Six months ended |
||||||||||||
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
||||||||
Net loss |
$ |
(58,870 |
) |
|
$ |
(132,552 |
) |
|
$ |
(169,286 |
) |
|
$ |
(348,529 |
) |
Interest expense |
46,005 |
|
|
36,746 |
|
|
90,101 |
|
|
63,965 |
|
||||
Interest income |
(18 |
) |
|
(76 |
) |
|
(31 |
) |
|
(424 |
) |
||||
Benefit for taxes |
(10,608 |
) |
|
(36,756 |
) |
|
(26,905 |
) |
|
(85,763 |
) |
||||
Depreciation and amortization |
33,992 |
|
|
54,923 |
|
|
35,445 |
|
|
60,011 |
|
||||
EBITDA |
10,501 |
|
|
(77,715 |
) |
|
(70,676 |
) |
|
(310,740 |
) |
||||
Loss on early debt extinguishment |
— |
|
|
1,696 |
|
|
4 |
|
|
1,696 |
|
||||
Net effect of swaps |
(3,834 |
) |
|
1,559 |
|
|
(7,396 |
) |
|
21,338 |
|
||||
Non-cash foreign currency (gain) loss |
(11,018 |
) |
|
(12,515 |
) |
|
(16,822 |
) |
|
21,688 |
|
||||
Non-cash equity compensation expense |
3,638 |
|
|
1,334 |
|
|
9,007 |
|
|
(3,460 |
) |
||||
Loss on impairment / retirement of fixed assets, net |
1,937 |
|
|
1,036 |
|
|
3,476 |
|
|
7,803 |
|
||||
Loss on impairment of goodwill and other intangibles |
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
— |
|
|
88,181 |
|
||||
Other (1) |
496 |
|
|
(54 |
) |
|
505 |
|
|
170 |
|
||||
Adjusted EBITDA (2) |
$ |
1,720 |
|
|
$ |
(84,659 |
) |
|
$ |
(81,902 |
) |
|
$ |
(173,324 |
) |
(1) |
Consists of certain costs as defined in the Company's Third Amended 2017 Credit Agreement and prior credit agreements. These items are excluded from the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA and have included certain legal expenses and severance expenses. This balance also includes unrealized gains and losses on short-term investments. |
(2) |
Adjusted EBITDA represents earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, other non-cash items, and adjustments as defined in the Third Amended 2017 Credit Agreement and prior credit agreements. 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 provided as a supplemental measure of our operating results and 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. |
CEDAR FAIR, L.P. KEY OPERATIONAL MEASURES (In thousands, except per capita amounts) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Three months ended |
|
Six months ended |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
|
June 30, 2019 |
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
|
June 30, 2019 |
||||||||||||
Attendance |
3,409 |
|
|
38 |
|
|
8,500 |
|
|
3,409 |
|
|
974 |
|
|
9,675 |
|
||||||
In-park per capita spending (1), (2) |
$ |
55.94 |
|
|
N/M |
|
$ |
47.22 |
|
|
$ |
55.94 |
|
|
N/M |
|
$ |
47.09 |
|
||||
Out-of-park revenues (1) |
$ |
40,833 |
|
|
$ |
5,563 |
|
|
$ |
49,344 |
|
|
$ |
50,980 |
|
|
$ |
17,654 |
|
|
$ |
64,105 |
|
(1) |
In-park per capita spending is calculated as revenues generated within our amusement parks and separately gated outdoor water parks along with related tolls and parking revenues (in-park revenues), divided by total attendance. Out-of-park revenues are defined as revenues from resort, out-of-park food and retail locations, marina, sponsorship, online transaction fees charged to customers and all other out-of-park operations. A reconciliation of out-of-park revenues to net revenues for the periods presented is as follows: |
|
|
Three months ended |
|
Six months ended |
||||||||||||||||||||
(In thousands) |
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
|
June 30, 2019 |
|
June 27, 2021 |
|
June 28, 2020 |
|
June 30, 2019 |
||||||||||||
In-park revenues |
|
$ |
190,666 |
|
|
$ |
1,217 |
|
|
$ |
401,383 |
|
|
$ |
190,666 |
|
|
$ |
44,244 |
|
|
$ |
455,596 |
|
Out-of-park revenues |
|
40,833 |
|
|
5,563 |
|
|
49,344 |
|
|
50,980 |
|
|
17,654 |
|
|
64,105 |
|
||||||
Concessionaire remittance |
|
(7,362 |
) |
|
(194 |
) |
|
(14,537 |
) |
|
(7,767 |
) |
|
(1,677 |
) |
|
(16,534 |
) |
||||||
Net revenues |
|
$ |
224,137 |
|
|
$ |
6,586 |
|
|
$ |
436,190 |
|
|
$ |
233,879 |
|
|
$ |
60,221 |
|
|
$ |
503,167 |
|
(2) |
On a comparable same-day basis, we excluded |
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210804005351/en/
FAQ
What were Cedar Fair's Q2 2021 financial results?
How did attendance perform for Cedar Fair in Q2 2021?
What is Cedar Fair's plan for business optimization?
What was Cedar Fair's net loss in Q2 2021?
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