"I am pleased to say that all conditions have been met and we are now moving forward to complete the sale of 87 acres of surplus land near Toronto to the Vaughan Health Campus of Care," says Dick Kinzel, Cedar Fair's chairman, president and CEO. "The sale of this land is another step in our commitment to reduce our debt and strengthen our financial position for the long term."
The sale is slated to close before the end of the third quarter. The proceeds will be used to reduce the company's term debt. The buyer's identity was not disclosed nor were the rest of the transaction terms.
Updated revenue numbers through the end of last week, show total revenues at $452.6 million, a 12% or $62.3 million decline from the same time period the prior year. Executives attribute the decline in revenue to the 11% decrease in attendance as well as a 2% decline in average in-park guest per capita spending.
"The decrease in attendance and revenues is due in part to fewer operating days year to date, and the closing of Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas in late 2008, as well as unusually poor weather conditions at several of our parks during the months of May and June and softness in the regional economies in which we operate," Kinzel says. "We anticipated this would be a challenging year for our operations when compared with our record-breaking results in 2008. Since the July 4th weekend attendance and revenue trends have improved somewhat across the regions in which we operate, although overall results since then still remain slightly behind last year."
Cedar Fair owns or operates 11 amusement parks, six outdoor water parks, one indoor water park and five hotels throughout the US and Canada.
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