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Total revenues of $489.3 million increased 5% over the prior-year quarter, while total attendance increased 0.2 million. The attendance increase over the prior-year quarter was despite the loss of two full operating days at the parks and a planned reduction of 0.2 million in complimentary and free promotional attendance.
Revenue growth for the third quarter reflected growth in attendance and guest spending, as well as sponsorship, licensing and other fees, which increased $7.8 million over the prior-year period to $19.3 million. Total revenue per capita increased 4% to $40.27 in the current quarter from $38.82 in the third quarter of 2007.
Increases in per capita guest spending, which grew $0.82 to $38.67, a 2% increase over the per capita guest spending of $37.85 for the third quarter of 2007, reflected higher rentals, food and beverage, parking, admissions, and retail revenues.
Read the entire press release from PR Newswire via CNN.
FYI, the stock didn't tank on Monday (and Tuesday) because of the report missing expectations. It's a good report, perhaps even a great report. The fear here is what the company has up its sleeve to shore up the balance sheet before it has to redeem the preferred shares next summer and another $170 million in debt to pay back the following year.
"Enough is enough," Shapiro said during the conference call. "The company is ready to fire once the noose of the balance sheet is cut away. Cutting away that constriction is in the best interest of all of our stakeholders. So we are exploring all of our options and that’s all we will say about that today."
This means some form of equity offering that will be massively dilutive to existing shareholders is probably going to happen. It may also mean Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, but that is highly unlikely since he does mention that it's in the best interest of ALL of its stakeholders. Either way, this is great news for Six Flags the company, but maybe not great news for Six Flags the common shareholders.
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