SeaWorld in buoyant mood despite inclement weather after strong Q4
by Andy Knaggs | 26 Feb 2020
SeaWorld plans to introduce a number of new rides and attractions in 2020 / Shutterstock
– Serge Rivera
SeaWorld Entertainment says it has bounced back from a disappointing Q3 in 2019, with strong Q4 and overall year figures.
The third quarter of the year was affected by bad weather conditions, including Hurricane Dorian, which alone caused a loss of about 90,000 visits to the company's Florida park. The weather in Q4 was also unfavourable, but SeaWorld was still able to grow its attendance and total revenue per capita during the period, it said.
Attendance in Q4 was up 2.2 per cent on Q4 2018, reaching 4.7 million guests. Over the year, attendance increased by 0.2 per cent to 22.6 million guests.
Total revenue increased by US$18m (€16.6m, £13.9m) in Q4, and US$26m (€23.9m, £20.1m) over the year, reaching US$1.4bn (€1.29bn, £1.08bn). Although there was a net loss in Q4 of US$13.1m (€12.1m, £10.1m), for the entire year, SeaWorld achieved a net income increase of US$89.5m (€82.3m, £69.3m), which is almost double that of 2018.
The company's adjusted earnings for 2019 were US$456.9m (€420m, £354m), an increase of 13.9 per cent on 2018. It has set a target of achieving between US$475m (€437m, £368m) and US$500m (€460m, £387m) in Adjusted EBITDA in 2020.
Commenting on the firm's first financial results since he became CEO late last year, Serge Rivera said a strategic focus on new rides, attractions and events, improved marketing communications and pricing strategies, and cost efficiency initiatives, was behind the results.
He continued: "We continue to believe there are significant additional opportunities to further improve and enhance our execution and drive meaningful growth in revenue, net income and Adjusted EBITDA.
"With respect to 2020, we could not be more excited about our ride, attraction and event line up – it will be our strongest line up ever. We will be introducing one-of-a-kind, record-breaking roller coasters across our five major theme parks and thrilling, record-breaking new slides across our water parks this year."
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SeaWorld Entertainment says it has bounced back from a disappointing Q3 in 2019, with strong Q4 and overall year figures. The third quarter of the year was affected by bad weather conditions, including Hurricane Dorian, which alone caused a loss of about 90,000 visits to the company's Florida park. The weather in Q4 was also unfavourable, but SeaWorld was still able to grow its attendance and total revenue per capita
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