American Skiing Company announced its financial results for the 2003 fiscal year and fourth quarter ended July 27, 2003. The Company reported that its fiscal 2003 resort operating results were favorably impacted by effective targeted marketing and cost control measures that helped mitigate the combined challenges of the war in Iraq, a soft economy and adverse weather conditions.
“Our management team overcame a number of significant obstacles in fiscal 2003 and we posted a solid improvement in resort financial performance,” said CEO B.J. Fair. “We continue to benefit from ongoing operational improvements and cost containment at all of our resorts. More recently, we have made significant changes to our sales and marketing organization and have already begun realizing some of the benefits from a more coordinated and tactical marketing approach. These changes provide added flexibility to respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer demand and should enhance our financial performance in the coming ski season and beyond.”
Fiscal 2003 Fourth Quarter Results
On a GAAP basis, net loss available to common shareholders for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003 was $39.2 million, or $1.24 per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss of $123.6 million, or $3.90 per basic and diluted share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002. Excluding other items from both periods and results from Heavenly resort which was sold in May 2002, the net loss available to common shareholders for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003 was $37.6 million, compared to a net loss of $39.2 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002.
Total consolidated revenue was $15.9 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, compared with $20.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002. Resort revenue was $13.6 million for the quarter, compared with $14.5 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002. The moderate decline in resort revenues reflects the continued effect of a soft economy on conference business coupled with poor weather in the East that impacted golf and summer business. Real estate revenue from ongoing fractional ownership sales was $2.3 million, versus $5.8 million for the comparable period in fiscal 2002. As previously reported, the decrease in real estate revenue resulted from the impact of continuing disruptions related to the Company's restructuring of its real estate senior credit facilities and weak economic conditions.
The Company's consolidated loss from continuing operations was $29.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, compared with a loss of $117.8 million for the comparable period in fiscal 2002. Excluding other items, the consolidated loss from continuing operations was $27.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003 versus a loss of $30.7 million for the comparable period in fiscal 2002. The loss from continuing resort operations was $24.5 million versus a loss of $48.8 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002. Excluding other items, the loss from continuing resort operations was $22.9 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003 compared to a loss of $25.2 million for the comparable quarter of fiscal 2002. The narrower loss resulted primarily from the Company's cost reduction effort that helped mitigate the impact of lower business volume. The loss from continuing real estate operations was $4.8 million, compared with a loss of $68.9 million, or $5.5 million excluding other items, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002. Other items did not impact real estate operations in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003. The Company has provided reconciliations from GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP financial measures in the tables following this discussion.
Fiscal 2003 Year End Results
On a GAAP basis, the net loss available to common shareholders for the fiscal year ended July 27, 2003 was $82.0 million, or $2.59 per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss of $206.7 million, or $6.54 per basic and diluted share, for fiscal 2002. Excluding other items from both years, and results from Heavenly resort, the net loss available to common shareholders for fiscal 2003 was $77.8 million versus a net loss of $85.4 million for fiscal 2002.
Total consolidated revenue was $264.5 million in fiscal 2003, compared with $272.1 million in fiscal 2002. Resort revenue was $251.6 million in fiscal 2003, compared with $243.8 million for fiscal 2002, primarily reflecting higher skier visits in the east and record skier visits at The Canyons. Real estate revenue was $12.9 million in fiscal 2003 versus $28.3 million in fiscal 2002, reflecting the factors discussed earlier. In addition, real estate revenue in fiscal 2002 included $7.9 million from the sell-out of eastern quartershare inventory.
The Company's consolidated loss from continuing operations for fiscal 2003 was $44.4 million versus $167.6 million for fiscal 2002. Excluding other items from both years, and results from Sugarbush in fiscal 2002, the consolidated loss from continuing operations was $40.2 million in fiscal 2003 compared to $51.7 million in fiscal 2002. The loss from continuing resort operations was $23.3 million for fiscal 2003 compared to a loss of $82.5 million for fiscal 2002. Excluding other items from both years, and results from Sugarbush in fiscal 2002, the loss from continuing resort operations was $18.9 million for fiscal 2003 versus a loss of $30.3 million for fiscal 2002, primarily due to higher business volume and aggressive cost containment efforts. The loss from continuing real estate operations was $21.1 million for fiscal 2003 compared to a loss of $85.1 million for fiscal 2002. Excluding other items from both years, the loss from continuing real estate operations was $21.2 million for fiscal 2003 versus a loss of $21.4 million for fiscal 2002. The Company has provided reconciliations from GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP financial measures in the tables following this discussion.
