This story will be updated.
Despite a somewhat slow start to the current ski season, Vail Resorts has reported gains over the previous year in its latest earnings report. Still, the company is adjusting down its earnings forecast for this fiscal year.
Speaking on a conference call with a number of industry analysts, Vail Resorts President and CEO Rob Katz and company chief financial officer Michael Barkin provided details of the previous quarter, which runs from November through the end of January.
Katz noted that the company business had experienced some setbacks, primarily in lower-than-expected visitation in the weeks before the Christmas holiday season, some weather-related closures in California resorts near Lake Tahoe and declines in international visitors to Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia.
With those setbacks, the company reported:
- A 17.2 percent increase in total lift revenue and a 27 percent increase in skier visitation from the second quarter of the previous fiscal year. Those results included the fresh acquisitions of the Crested Butte, Okemo Mountain in Vermont, Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire and Stevens Pass in Washington.
- Effective ticket price declined 7.8 percent from the previous year. The company attributed the decline to higher visitation by season pass holders and the addition of the lower-priced Epic Military Pass. That pass is available to active duty military members at $129.
- The company has sold nearly 100,000 of the military passes.
- Lodging revenue increased by 16.1 percent, primarily due to the additions of Crested Butte, Okemo and Mount Sunapee. The average daily rate at lodging properties decreases, primarily due to the addition of those resorts.
- The company announced a 20 percent increase in the quarterly dividend that will be paid to shareholders in April. The increase brings the dividend to $1.76 per share.
In midday trading, Vail Resorts stock was up 7.09 percent, to $216.54 per share.
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Vail Daily Business Editor Scott Miller can be reached at smiller@vaildaily.com or 970-748-2930.