Revenues for the fiscal year are $540.9 million, a $39.9 million or 8%, increase from the $501 million posted during the same period last year. Mountain expense increased $23 million, or 6.2%, to $391.9 million. Lodging revenue for the fiscal year grew $15.9 million, or 8.8%, to $196.4 million. Lodging expense increased $11.5 million, or 6.9%, to $177.5 million. Resort revenue, the combination of mountain and lodging revenue, rose $55.8 million, or 8.2%, to $737.2 million, and resort expense increased 6.4% to $569.4 million, up $34.5 million.

Real estate revenue for the fiscal year grew $27.7 million to $72.8 million. Real estate expense increased $41.5 million, as expected, to $58.3 million due primarily to the timing and mix of real estate projects, as well as the previously announced $15.1 million credit to operating expense in fiscal 2004 associated with the Smith Creek Metropolitan District (SCMD) bond payoff. Total revenue increased $83.4 million, or 11.5%, to $810 million, and total segment operating expense increased $76 million, or 13.8%, to $627.6 million. Income from operations for the fiscal year improved $6.5 million, or 7.9%, to $88.3 million compared to $81.8 million for the same period last year.

"Perhaps most intriguing of all, our real estate division made spectacular progress in fiscal 2005," says Adam Aron, CEO and chairman of Vail Resorts. Aron says with $155 million in for-sale properties, the company is poised to generate significant real estate profits in the immediate future. "We have binding contracts on all 67 condominiums at the Arrabelle at Vail Square, and on all 16 of the Gore Creek Place residences," he says.

He notes that in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005, the company announced plans for the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Vail project, as well as the acquisition of two parcels of land to create a six-acre development parcel in the Lionshead area of Vail.

"The Front Door project in Vail Village also looms large on the horizon," Aron says. "We expect these three projects in Vail to feature as much as 500,000 sf or more of residential development opportunity."