SeaWorld Entertainment reports record revenue in second quarter

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

From the press release:

SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: SEAS), a leading theme park and entertainment company, today reported its financial results for the second quarter and first six months of fiscal year 2021.

Second Quarter 2021 Highlights

• Attendance was 5.8 million guests, an increase of 5.5 million guests from the second quarter of 2020. Compared to the second quarter of 2019, attendance declined by 0.7 million guests or 10.1%.
• Total revenue was a record $439.8 million, an increase of $421.8 million from the second quarter of 2020. Compared to the second quarter of 2019, total revenue increased by $33.8 million or 8.3%.
• Net income was a record $127.8 million, an increase of $258.8 million from the second quarter of 2020. Compared to the second quarter of 2019, net income increased by $75.1 million or 142.7%.
• Adjusted EBITDA was a record $218.8 million, an increase of $272.7 million from the second quarter of 2020. Compared to the second quarter of 2019, Adjusted EBITDA increased by $69.1 million or 46.2%.
• Total revenue per capita increased 14.2% to a record $75.71 from the second quarter of 2020. Admission per capita increased 16.5% to $41.87 while in-park per capita spending increased 11.6% to $33.84 from the second quarter of 2020. Compared to the second quarter of 2019, total revenue per capita increased 20.5%, admission per capita increased 18.8%, while in-park per capita spending increased 22.7%.

First Six Months 2021 Highlights

• Attendance was 8.0 million guests, an increase of 5.4 million guests from the first six months of 2020. Compared to the first six months of 2019, attendance declined by 1.8 million guests or 18.1%.
• Total revenue was $611.7 million, an increase of $440.1 million from the first six months of 2020. Compared to the first six months of 2019, total revenue declined by $14.9 million or 2.4%.
• Net income was a record $82.9 million, an increase of $270.4 million from the first six months of 2020. Compared to the first six months of 2019, net income increased by $67.2 million.
• Adjusted EBITDA was a record $244.0 million, an increase of $328.7 million from the first six months of 2020. Compared to the first six months of 2019, Adjusted EBITDA increased by $77.9 million or 46.9%.
• Total revenue per capita increased 15.1% to a record $76.24 from the first six months of 2020. Admission per capita increased 9.2% to $42.25 while in-park per capita spending increased 23.5% to $33.99 from the first six months of 2020. Compared to the first six months of 2019, total revenue per capita increased 19.3%, admission per capita increased 16.1%, while in-park per capita spending increased 23.5%.

Other Highlights

• As of June 30, 2021, the Company's total available liquidity was $927.8 million, including $615.8 million of cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet and $312.0 million available on its revolving credit facility.
• Cash flow from operations was a record $229.7 million and $248.1 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively. Free Cash Flow^[2] was a record $200.0 million and $203.1 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively.
• As of June 30, 2021, all the Company's parks were open and operating without COVID-19-related capacity limitations.
• In the second quarter of 2021, the Company helped rescue almost 500 animals bringing total rescues over its history to over 39,100.

"I am pleased to report that, despite continuing to operate in a highly challenging and COVID-19 impacted environment, momentum from the first quarter continued into the second quarter and we delivered strong second quarter financial results – including record revenue, net income and Adjusted EBITDA," said Marc Swanson, Chief Executive Officer of SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. "Our strong financial performance through the first half of the year underscores both the resilience of our business and our commitment to emerge from this extraordinary environment an even stronger and more profitable business. During the second quarter we also generated record Free Cash Flow that further bolsters our already strong balance sheet. Our pricing and product strategies, along with the strong consumer demand environment, continued to drive higher realized pricing and strong guest spending resulting in record total revenue per capita in the quarter. Despite the progress we have made, we continue to believe there are significant additional opportunities to improve our execution and continue to drive meaningful growth in both revenue and Adjusted EBITDA."

"We were also pleased to recently receive recognition from USA Today readers for having some of the best parks and attractions in the country. Our SeaWorld Orlando park was voted best amusement park in the United States, our Mako rollercoaster in SeaWorld Orlando was voted best rollercoaster in the United States, Aquatica Orlando was voted best outdoor waterpark in the United States and Celtic Fyre at Busch Gardens Williamsburg was voted best amusement park entertainment in the United States. Several of our other parks and attractions received top ten rankings as well. We are thrilled to receive these awards and proud of the ambassadors in our parks that help deliver amazing guest experiences," continued Swanson.

"Looking ahead, next month we will begin our Halloween events including our daytime, family-oriented SeaWorld Spooktacular event at our SeaWorld parks and our night-time Howl-O-Scream event at all of our Busch Gardens and SeaWorld parks, including for the first time ever at SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego. We are excited about adding this popular event for our thrill-seeking, adult guests in Orlando and San Diego. We are also planning on strategically adding operating days in the second half of the year versus 2019. Looking further out, we are making progress on building Sesame Place in San Diego and look forward to opening that park next year. In addition, SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, the first SeaWorld park outside of the United States, is on track to complete construction by the end of 2022," concluded Swanson.

The Company's second quarter 2021 financial results continued to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While 10 of the Company's 12 parks were open at the beginning of the second quarter, all parks were operating with capacity limitations and/or modified/limited operations (compared to none of its 12 parks open at the beginning of the second quarter in 2020 due to the temporary park closures effective March 16, 2020 in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and in compliance with government restrictions). By the end of the second quarter, all 12 parks were open, all operating without COVID-19 related-capacity limitations (compared to 7 of its 12 parks at the end of the second quarter of 2020, as the Company began the phased reopening of some of its parks with capacity limitations and modified/limited operations, starting in June 2020). On April 1, 2021, the Company in consultation with the State of Virginia, increased capacity at its Busch Gardens Williamsburg park to approximately 13,000 guests based on revisions to the methodology for calculating restricted capacity at theme parks. On May 28, 2021, theme park capacity restrictions in the State of Virginia were removed. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Company's SeaWorld San Diego park was operating under capacity restrictions in compliance with state safety guidelines for zoos. On April 12, 2021, SeaWorld San Diego resumed theme park operations with limited capacity in accordance with the State of California guidelines for theme parks. On June 15, 2021, all capacity restrictions for SeaWorld San Diego were removed in accordance with the State of California guidelines.

Given the disruption the Company experienced last year when it temporarily closed all its parks on March 16, 2020, the Company has provided a comparison of its financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 to the three and six months ended June 30, 2019.

Second Quarter 2021 Results

In the second quarter of 2021, the Company hosted approximately 5.8 million guests, generated record total revenues of $439.8 million, record net income of $127.8 million and record Adjusted EBITDA of $218.8 million. Attendance declined 0.7 million guests when compared to the second quarter of 2019 primarily due to COVID-19 related impacts including capacity limitations and/or modified/limited operations at our parks for some of the quarter. The increase in total revenue of $33.8 million was primarily a result of increases in admission per capita (defined as admissions revenue divided by total attendance) and in-park per capita spending (defined as food, merchandise and other revenue divided by total attendance) partially offset by the decline in attendance. Admission per capita increased primarily due to the realization of higher prices in our admission products resulting from our strategic pricing efforts, along with the net impact of the admissions product mix when compared to the second quarter of 2019. In-park per capita spending improved primarily due to increased guest spending, higher realized prices and fees, an improved product mix, new or enhanced and expanded in-park offerings and a strong consumer demand environment during the quarter compared to 2019. Adjusted EBITDA was positively impacted by an increase in total revenue and a decrease in operating expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses. The decrease in operating expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses is primarily due to a net reduction in labor-related costs, marketing related costs and other operating costs resulting from structural cost savings initiatives and the impact of modified/limited operations due to COVID-19 for most of the quarter when compared to 2019.

Read the entire release on PR Newswire.