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Cedar Fair reports record annual results for the third
Cedar Fair Entertainment, which operates 11 amusement parks, 5 water parks and 5 resorts in North America, today announced new record financial results for its fiscal year 2012 ended December 31, 2012.
The turnover of the operator, one of the largest on the market of regional parks in the United States, has once again exceeded the billion of dollars to reach 1.068 billion (about 800.9 million euros), ie an increase of nearly 4% compared to 2011. This is mainly due to an increase in average spending per visitor by 4.8% while the attendance of all properties remained stable at 23.3 million visitors.
Despite higher charges as a result of the rise in wages and costs associated with deploying the trade initiative FUNforward (a new e-commerce platform), the Group net income rose sharply by 43% to $101.2 million (about €76 million).
Matt Ouimet, Cedar Fair's president and chief executive officer said, "I am pleased to report a third consecutive year of record revenues. The introduction of a new e-commerce system, improved messaging to our consumers and premium benefit offerings, combined with our continued investment in new entertainment offerings for the whole family, were the major catalysts for the strong year-over-year results. All of our parks delivered strong performances for the year, with Canada's Wonderland, Cedar Point, Kings Island, Dorney Park and Carowinds leading the way."
"A strong capital plan is also important to the growth of our business and we believe our 2012 capital strategy was a success. Our investments in new rides and entertainment offerings, including the world-class coaster at Canada's Wonderland and the water park expansion at Kings Island, allowed us to maintain our record attendance while increasing the guest spend at our parks. Going forward, we will continue to strategically invest capital across all of our properties, particularly where we believe we will achieve the greatest return on investment." added Matt Ouimet.
The adjusted EBITDA, a financial measure considered as the most significant by the group to represent operating income, is up 4.4% to $391 million (about €293 million) due to the increase in average spending per visitor and to a strict control of the costs. The company is close to its medium term goal of an adjusted EBITDA of $450 million in 2016.
"Looking ahead to 2013 and beyond, we continue to be confident in the fundamentals of our business model and growth opportunities," concluded Matt Ouimet. "Consumers continue to choose to spend their discretionary entertainment dollars in our parks and given the on-going budgetary constraints all consumers are experiencing, this is a particularly strong endorsement of the price value we provide. We understand consumers, employees and investors have many alternatives available to them, so we remain focused on being their entertainment of choice, employer of choice and investment of choice for many years to come."
The outlook for the 2013 financial year are considered encouraging. Cedar Fair plans to invest approximately $100 million (about €75 million) to diversify and improve the guest offering of all its properties. The main expense of the year ($30 million) is devoted to GateKeeper, a Wing Coaster designed by Bolliger & Mabillard currently under construction at Cedar Point. Other amusement parks will receive important novelties such as California's Great America with a wooden roller coaster from Great Coasters International (Gold Striker) and Worlds of Fun with an expansion of its water park.
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The NewsParcs' Theme Park Supplier's News of the Week is a round-up of the latest news relative to companies supplying the theme park industry around the world. This weekly report covers topics such as corporate announcements, ...
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