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Pastimes : Alpine Skiing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ~digs who wrote (372)	3/17/2007 6:29:56 PM
From: ~digs	Respond to of 1162

To: ~digs who wrote (372)	6/8/2007 11:22:08 PM
From: ~digs	Respond to of 1162

Vail Resorts' 3Q Profit Rises biz.yahoo.com Vail Resorts Inc. on Friday reported a 15 percent increase in third-quarter earnings as higher lift-ticket sales offset a dip in the number of skiers on its slopes during the challenging winter. The major North American ski operator also reported higher revenue in its lodging and real estate operations. The weather in the Rockies proved unpredictable this past winter with lower-than-average snowfall amounts recorded at all five company resorts, Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz said. Yet heavy snow in metropolitan Denver and along the Front Range thwarted skiers trying to reach the resorts. "Despite these challenges, we were able to continue to drive significantly improved year-over-year resort performance," Katz told analysts during a conference call. The results, which beat Wall Street estimates, prompted Vail Resorts to increase its 2007 guidance and pushed its stock up 3 percent to a 52-week high in afternoon trading. For the quarter ending April 30, Vail reported net income of $78.5 million, or $1.99 per share, up from $68.3 million, or $1.75 per share, a year earlier. Overall revenue totaled $369.5 million, up 8 percent from $341.4 million in the third quarter of 2006. Mountain revenue rose 4.7 percent to $308.7 million; real estate revenue more than doubled to $17.1 million and lodging revenue rose 10.5 percent to $43.6 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast a profit of $1.99 per share on revenue of $360.7 million. In the first nine months of its fiscal year, Vail Resorts reported net income of $95.7 million, or $2.44 a share, compared with net income of $77 million, or $2.01 a share, in the first nine months of 2006. Revenue rose to $844 million, up 18 percent from $714.8 million in the previous nine-month period. Katz was pleased with the nine-month results, which reflected the entire ski season, despite a 1.1 percent decline to 6.2 million skier visits at the five resorts. Skier visits for the season declined 12 percent at Heavenly in California and 4.1 percent at Vail, and rose 1.9 percent at Breckenridge, 7 percent at Keystone and 1.7 percent at Beaver Creek. A skier visit is an industry measure equal to one person buying and using a lift ticket. Katz credited the increase in business to more destination guests who stayed for more than a day. During the nine-month season, snowfall at the four resorts in Colorado was 10 percent less than its historical average, Katz said. At Heavenly, which straddles the Nevada-California border, 46 percent of the year's snow fell in one week in February, and the season's total was 27 percent less than the historical average. Katz said spring sales of season passes for next winter were up 54 percent in a dollar comparison with sales logged at the same time last year. He said much of the increase is due to more people renewing their passes. For the full fiscal 2007, Vail Resorts has forecast net income of $63 million to $68 million. Shares of Vail resorts rose $1.35, or 2.3 percent, to $60.17. In the past year, the price has ranged from $33.58 a share to $60.47 a share. Based on skier visits, Vail Resorts is the largest ski resort operator in the United States with 11 percent of total U.S. skier visits, according to preliminary ski season figures from the National Ski Areas Association. The Broomfield-based company owns and operates Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge ski areas in Colorado, Heavenly in Nevada and California, and Grand Teton Lodge Co. near Jackson, Wyo.