26 Oct 2018
Six Flags revenue grows 7 per cent in Q3 2018 despite weather
BY Luke Cloherty
Six Flags’ latest financial figures for Q3 2018 show continued growth across the board, with uplifts in revenue and net income on the same period in 2017, as the firm gets ever-closer to a consecutive ninth year of record financial performance.
Revenue for the quarter increased by US$39m (€34.2m, £30.2m), or 7 per cent, from Q3 2017 to US$620m (€543.9m, £480.5m). The company attributed this growth mainly to a 42 per cent increase in sponsorship, international agreements and accommodations revenue.
Net income for the quarter increased US$3m (€2.6m, £2.3m), or 2 per cent, to compared to Q3 2017, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) also rose 2 per cent to US$307m (€269.3m, £237.9m).
Revenue for the year to date has seen an uplift of 8 per cent to US$1.2bn (€1.1bn, £930m) on the 2017 figures to Q3, while net income grew US$21m (€18.4m, £16.3m), or 12 per cent and adjusted EBITDA increased 6 per cent to US$458m (€401.7m, £355m).
All of this financial growth has occurred despite weather conditions slightly stymying attendance growth, according to Jim Reid-Anderson, chair, president and CEO of Six Flags.
“Although we did not experience the dramatic hurricane events of last year's third quarter, the weather was a net drag on attendance growth during Q3,” he said, speaking during an earnings call.
“Sustained rain on the East Coast, coupled with heat and rain in Texas, did not allow us to gain the expected weather advantage over 2017. In addition, severe flooding at Six Flags Over Texas and Hurricane Harbor, Arlington forced us to temporarily close those parks in late September.
“Without any doubt, this was the worst third quarter weather we had experienced since I came to the company nine seasons ago. The weather had a significant adverse impact, hundreds of thousands of visits worse than both the nine-year average and versus 2017 – hard as that may seem to believe.
“With the addition of Magic Waters in Rockford, Illinois next year, we will have 26 parks in our system, increasing our addressable market and making us more geographically diverse.”
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