Intrawest reported a strong fiscal second quarter and managed to pull itself out of the red, largely due to the sale of its Mammoth ski area in Lake Tahoe. The sale added $60.0 million to the companys bottom line, but even without this benefit, the companys income from continued operations increased to $11.3 million compared to a loss of $10.5 million last year.
Resort and travel operations revenue increased from $178.2 million in fiscal Q2 of 2004 to $193.4 million this year. On a same-business basis, resort and travel revenue increased by 3% to $183.8 million. Revenue from the mountain segment decreased slightly from $99.8 million to $99.3 million, mainly due to a strike at the Tremblant Ski resort. Skier visits increased from 1.39 million in 2004 to 1.43 million in 2005 with increases of 3% at both the eastern and western resorts.
Mixed conditions at Whistler Blackcomb, with the earliest season opening in 12 years followed by challenging weather in December, led to a 3% decline in skier visits in the 2005 quarter. All of Intrawests Canadian businesses, particularly Whistler Blackcomb are experiencing a decline in destination visits due to the high Canadian dollar exchange rate. Abundant early season snowfall in Colorado enabled Copper and Winter Park to increase their skier visits by 9% during the quarter.
Generally good early season snow conditions enabled most of Intrawests eastern resorts to open earlier than planned, however this positive momentum was disrupted by a strike by 1,500 workers at Tremblant. As a result, skier visits that were running 23% ahead of last year before the strike, ended the 2005 quarter 17% behind. This strike also caused a 3% decline in revenue per skier at the eastern resorts.
The increase in revenue from the non-mountain segment was primarily due to a 9% increase in adventure-travel tour revenue at Abercrombie & Kent from $66.3 million to $72.2 million. A&K saw good growth in tour revenues from most of its major destinations, particularly East Africa, India, and the Orient.
