Vail Resorts saw a very difficult year with declining sales and net income was cut in half for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2009. However, the ski resort holding company was easily able to stay profitable in spite of serious challenges in the hospitality market brought on by the economic downturn. In addition, the company ended the year with no borrowing on its $400 million revolving credit facility.
Total revenue was $977.0 million compared to $1.15 billion last year, down 15.2%. Net income was $49.0 million in fiscal 2009, down 52.4%, from $102.9 million reported in the prior year.
Vail’s Mountain segment, which includes lift ticket, ski school, and retail revenues, reported a revenue decline for the fiscal year of 10.3% to $614.6 million compared to $685.5 million last year. Lift ticket sales were down 8.4% while ski school sales were down nearly 20% for the fiscal year. Total skier visits across all resorts slipped 5.3% to 5.9 million compared to 6.2 million last year.
Vail management estimated that total destination visitation defined as visits from our out of state and international guests declined by approximately 15% for the 2008 – 2009 ski season while the local business improved by 17% due to increase in number of passes sold and an increase in pass usage during the season. The number of season passes sold for the 2008, 2009 ski season was 12.2% greater than the number of passes sold for the 2007, 2008 ski season.
The Retail/Rental division, which includes Specialty Sports Venture, saw sales decline 12.7% for the fiscal year to $147.4 million compared to $168.8 million last year.
The Mountain segment’s EBITDA declined 25.5% to $164.4 million compared to $220.6 million last year.
Looking ahead Vail is expecting an improvement to top-line sales for the 2009-2010 ski season and cost cutting measure completed in 2009 should boost earnings as well.
