United Parks & Resorts Inc. Q2 FY2021 Earnings Call

Thank you, Matt, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to SeaWorld's second quarter earnings conference call. Today's call is being webcast and recorded. A press release was issued this morning and is available on our Investor Relations website at www.seaworldinvestors.com. Replay information for this call can be found in the press release and will be available on our website following the call. Joining me this morning are Marc Swanson, Chief Executive Officer; and Elizabeth Gulacsy, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. This morning, we will review our second quarter financial results, and then we will open the call to your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities Laws. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those forward-looking statements, including those identified in the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risk factors may be updated from time to time and will be included in our filings with the SEC that are available on our website. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, on the call, we may reference non-GAAP financial measures and other financial metrics such as adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. More information regarding our forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measure is included in our earnings release available on our website and can also be found in our filings with the SEC. Now I'd like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Marc Swanson. Marc?

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to report that despite continuing to operate in a highly challenging and COVID-19 impacted environment, momentum from the first quarter continued into the second quarter, and we delivered strong second quarter financial results, including record revenue, net income and adjusted EBITDA. Our strong financial performance through the first half of the year underscores the resilience of our business and our ambassadors and our commitment to emerge from this extraordinary environment an even stronger and more profitable business. During the second quarter, we also generated record free cash flow that further bolsters our already strong balance sheet. We are particularly pleased to deliver these second quarter financial results, considering we continued to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic during the quarter. All our parks were operating with capacity limitations and/or modified or limited operations at the beginning of the quarter. By the end of the second quarter, all 12 parks were open and operating without COVID-19 related capacity limitations. Our pricing and product strategies, along with the strong consumer demand environment, continued to drive higher realized pricing and strong guest spending, resulting in record total revenue per capita in the quarter. We continued to see success with our strategic pricing initiatives and our quarterly events, including new or expanded food, beverage and entertainment events at some of our parks, as well as several new or reimagined venues we have launched during the past few quarters, which also helped give guests more reasons to spend. On the merchandise side, we have refreshed our retail offerings by adding new products and improving the product mix. These and other initiatives have all contributed to the increase in guest spending. We are encouraged by these successes as our guests have been returning to our parks over the last few months. Looking to July, we continued to generate strong performance versus 2019, with our attendance down approximately 7% and revenue up approximately 13%. We are very proud to have recently received recognition from USA Today readers for having some of the best parks and attractions in the country. SeaWorld Orlando was voted best amusement park in the United States. The Mako roller coaster at SeaWorld Orlando was voted best roller coaster in the United States. Aquatica Orlando was voted best outdoor waterpark in the United States, and Celtic Fyre at Busch Gardens Williamsburg was voted best amusement park entertainment in the United States. Several of our other parks and attractions received Top 10 rankings as well. We are thrilled to receive these awards and proud of the ambassadors in our parks that helped deliver amazing guest experiences. We were on schedule for our build-out of Sesame Place in San Diego, and look forward to opening that park next year. SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, the first SeaWorld park outside of the United States, is also on track to complete construction by the end of 2022. We continue to closely study additional business development opportunities to grow the company, including hotels located on or nearby our existing parks, and other potential international development locations. On the technology front, we have rolled out our new mobile app for the SeaWorld and Aquatica parks, and the remainder of the parks will be online later this year. We did extensive testing and received positive feedback from beta users. Now guests in our SeaWorld and Aquatica parks can use the app to navigate the park, order food, make purchases, or check schedules and wait times. We expect to expand this capability over time and anticipate positive impacts on in-park spending as guests adopt and use the app. Also, we have selected our CRM system provider and are beginning to migrate our data to the new system, which will eventually lead to full CRM capabilities. Once complete, we anticipate that our marketing, analytics and business capabilities will significantly improve, allowing us to better understand and engage with our guests, which we expect to lead to reduced overall marketing cost, increased visitation, and increased overall revenue opportunities. Looking to the next few months, we have an outstanding lineup of fall events. Next month, we will begin our award-winning Halloween events, including our daytime family-oriented SeaWorld Spooktacular event at the SeaWorld parks and our nighttime Howl-O-Scream event at all our Busch Gardens and SeaWorld parks, including for the first time ever SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego. We are excited about having this event for our thrill-seeking adult guests in Orlando and San Diego. There will also be craft beer and cultural festivals at several of our parks. We believe there's something for everyone to enjoy this fall. Our teams have worked hard to operate our parks in an extraordinary environment and better positioned this company through revenue growth and increased profitability. As we have demonstrated in the second quarter, we believe the strategies we have developed and refined over the past few years, along with the actions we have taken throughout the past year, will continue to lead to significantly improved financial results for the company. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Elizabeth to discuss our financial results in more detail. Elizabeth?

Thank you, Marc. And good morning, everyone. As you know, we typically discuss the results for each quarter in comparison to the prior year's quarter. Given the disruption we experienced last year when we temporarily closed all of our parks on March 16, 2020, we believe a comparison of our results to the second quarter of 2019 provides a more meaningful insight on our performance and operating trajectory. As such, like last quarter, I'll provide commentary around our financial results compared to 2019. For those interested, we provide a comparison versus both 2019 and 2020 in our earnings release, and we'll do so as well in our Form 10-Q which we plan to file tomorrow. As Marc mentioned, our second quarter results were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with a return to more normalized operations through the end of the quarter, along with the work we have done in both revenue management and our cost savings initiatives, we reported record total revenue, record net income and record adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. During the quarter we generated record total revenue of $439.8 million, an increase of $33.8 million, or 8.3% when compared to the second quarter of 2019. The increase in revenue is primarily due to an increase in total revenue per capita of 20.5% partially offset by a decline in attendance of 10.1%. When compared to the second quarter of 2019, attendance declined primarily due to COVID-19 related impacts, including capacity limitations and/or modified or limited operations at our parks for some of the second quarter. Attendance was also impacted by a decline from international guest visitation and group events; excluding international and group events, guest attendance would have increased by approximately 3% when compared to the second quarter of 2019. Our pricing and product strategies, along with a strong consumer demand environment, continue to drive higher realized pricing and strong guest spending, resulting in record total revenue per capita in the quarter of $75.71 compared to $62.82 in the second quarter of 2019, an increase of 20.5% driven by improvements in both admission per capita and in-park per capita spending. Admission per capita increased by 18.8% to $41.87, and in-park per capita spending increased by 22.7% to $33.84 in the second quarter of 2021, compared to the second quarter of 2019. The increase in admissions per capita primarily relates to the realization of higher prices in our admissions products, resulting from our strategic pricing efforts, along with a net impact of the admissions product mix when compared to the second quarter of 2019. In-park per capita spending improved primarily due to increased guest spending, higher realized prices and fees, and improved product mix and new, enhanced or expanded in-park offerings. We generated record net income of $127.8 million compared to net income of $52.7 million in the second quarter of 2019. We generated record adjusted EBITDA of $218.8 million, an increase of $69.1 million, or 46.2% when compared to the second quarter of 2019. The improvement in adjusted EBITDA resulted primarily from a combination of increased total revenue and a decrease in both operating expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses, which together offset the decline in attendance that occurred primarily as a result of the impact of COVID-19. The decrease in these expenses primarily related to reduction in labor-related costs, as well as marketing and other operating costs, resulting from structural cost savings initiatives and the impact of modified or limited operations due to COVID-19 for most of the quarter. Looking at our results for the first half of 2021, compared to 2019, total revenue was $611.7 million, a decrease of $14.9 million or 2.4%. Total attendance was 8 million guests, a decrease of 1.8 million guests or 18.1%. Net income for the period was $82.9 million, an improvement of $67.2 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $244 million, an improvement of $77.9 million or 46.9%. Now turning to our balance sheet, our current deferred revenue balance as of the end of the second quarter was $238.7 million, an increase of approximately 46.3% when compared to June of 2019. We continue to be very encouraged with the trends we're seeing in our pass base. Our pass base grew approximately 53% between the first quarter and July of 2021. At the end of July 2021, our pass base was up approximately 14% compared to July of 2019, and is approximately 12% higher than the peak pass base we had in 2019. We are also seeing a higher mix of premium passes in our pass base, as our pass holders continue to recognize the value and benefits of our higher-tiered products. Additionally, we continue to see the impact of our pricing strategies taking hold, with stronger realized prices on our pass sales versus 2019 and 2020. As of June 30, 2021, our total available liquidity was approximately $927.8 million, including $615.8 million of cash and cash equivalents on our balance sheet, and $312 million available on our revolving credit facility. Cash flow from operations was a record $229.7 million in the second quarter, and $248.1 million for the first six months of 2021. Free cash flow was a record $200 million in the second quarter, and $203.1 million for the first six months of 2021. We spent $29.7 million on CapEx in the second quarter of 2021, of which approximately $20.8 million was on core CapEx and approximately $8.9 million was on extension or ROI projects. For 2021, we still plan on spending between approximately $120 million and $150 million on capital expenditures. Lastly, on July 14, 2021, we redeemed $50 million of our 9.5% second priority senior secured notes. Together with our board, we continually evaluate the company's capital structure with an objective of maximizing shareholder value. Now let me turn the call back over to Marc who will share some final thoughts. Marc?

Thank you, Elizabeth. Before we open the call to your questions, I have some closing comments. In the second quarter, we helped rescue over 500 animals and have exceeded 39,100 animal rescues over the company's history. We are one of the world's leading animal rescue organizations, and we are proud of our efforts to protect and save wildlife. We want to thank our employee ambassadors for their continued dedication and effort to welcome guests while operating our parks in accordance with the latest health and safety protocols. As always, we are focused on providing a safe and fun guest experience while continuing to offer innovative special events and creating new events for our guests to enjoy our parks. Despite the progress we have made, we continue to believe there are significant additional opportunities to improve our execution, take advantage of clear growth opportunities and continue to drive meaningful growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We continue to have high confidence in our long-term strategy and in our ability to deliver significantly improved operating and financial results that will lead to meaningfully increased value for stakeholders. Now, let's take your questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. Operator Instructions: To ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone keypad. Our first question will come from Michael Swartz with Truist. Please go ahead.

Yes, hey, good morning everyone. Marc, maybe you want to touch on attendance trends during the quarter. I think when we last spoke in April, we had come out of the first quarter with attendance somewhere around 80% to 82% of 2019 levels. It appears that that improved materially during the quarter. And I think July, you said attendance was down 7% versus 2019. It appears to imply attendance is running over 90% of 2019 levels. So help us understand maybe how that trended during the quarter? And if those numbers aren't correct?

Yes, Michael, I can take that question. As you noted, the trends improved during the quarter. From April to May to June, we were pleased with that and ultimately we ended the quarter down 10%. In July, as we mentioned, we were down about 7%. So we're pleased with the trends we're seeing in the attendance performance.

Okay, great. And I think in the press release, you mentioned that you're adding a number of operating days to the back half of the year relative to 2019. So maybe help us understand just the magnitude of the operating day increase, and are there incremental special events and festivals that you are adding to the back half of the year?

Yes. Most of the operating days are going to be in the back half of the year. It's really around some incremental days for events around Halloween and around Christmas, but also other things that we learned last year, like some of our drive-through experiences. We're going to take advantage of some of those opportunities and drive additional days in the quarter. We are also excited about adding the nighttime Halloween experience Howl-O-Scream to SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego.

Okay, thank you.

Our next question will come from Steven Wieczynski with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys, good morning. Marc, when I ask about the margin opportunity moving forward, you posted about a 1,300 basis point improvement relative to the second quarter of 2019. How should we think about the gives and takes of margin acceleration or pressures moving forward? This is even with a very tight labor market right now. How have you been able to combat labor while at the same time not impacting the guest experience?

Steve, we have a tremendous focus on cost and operating the business in an efficient manner, and we're very committed to that. We'll continue to do that, as you've witnessed. We're also getting a lot of margin expansion from the revenue side. The work we've done on per caps has really shown through over the last several quarters, especially this quarter. We'll continue to grow margin as much as we can while being careful to protect the guest experience. Our goal is to have a good guest experience in our parks. We think the combination of revenue enhancements and cost efficiencies can do good things for our margin, and you saw that here in the second quarter.

To follow up on that, from a labor perspective, is the labor market intensifying for you, staying the same, or getting better?

Labor, like many companies have talked about, continues to be a challenge. We're working hard to control what we can and to attract people to come work in our environment. We think we have a fun environment working at a theme park, and we'll continue to recruit. We have a lot of focus on doing just that going forward.

Maybe one more quick one: you are now generating a significant amount of free cash flow. Can you help us understand your current uses for cash at this point?

Certainly. We're pleased with the cash flow generation; it was a record free cash flow quarter. We've been working through a list of items with our board that we can deploy that cash on: near-term CapEx in our parks, venue refreshments, and some upgrades in areas of the parks. We are also investing in ROI-type items on expenses where we can drive utility and other savings. Beyond that, as Elizabeth mentioned, we paid down some notes in July. We're open to M&A opportunities—hotels and international development are intriguing. If the right thing comes along, we're in a position to evaluate it. We have frequent communication with our board on the best ways to deploy cash, and we'll be opportunistic to maximize shareholder value.

Okay, great. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Our next question will come from James Hardiman with Wedbush Securities. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. Congrats on a great quarter here. Just to follow up on Steve's question, is there any way to quantify the labor piece—dollars of incremental inflation versus where we were in 2019 or versus how you thought heading into 2021?

James, while we are focused on labor, I'm not going to provide a specific number. There is inflation in those costs, as many companies are experiencing this year. Our goal when we have inflationary increases above the norm is to offset as much of that as we can with additional efficiencies and automation efforts in the business, and that's what we're attempting to do.

You talked about how significant a drag group sales and international sales were. Can you tease those two out to the extent you feel comfortable, or at least give an order of magnitude between those two? And was it a similar drag in July, which would suggest ex-those numbers you had some nice growth in July? Lastly, what's the pace of recovery of those two buckets, international and group sales?

In July it was a similar trend: we would have been up about 2% without the international and group impacts. Those will be tailwinds when they return. We don't know exactly when international attendance will return, but it accounted for about 10% of our attendance in 2019, which gives you an order of magnitude. Groups—school groups, church groups and camps—are also not traveling now, and they will return over time. Absent those things, attendance is growing, and those categories will be tailwinds as they recover.

Is groups pacing ahead of international, and is there any way to quantify versus 2019 levels?

International attendance historically is roughly 10% of our attendance, which provides scale. Groups are also down materially. July's numbers give you some sense: down 7% overall, and up low single digits absent international and group. That provides some order of magnitude.

Our next question will come from Brett Andress with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Good morning. When you gave the illustrative targets, your per-cap assumption was about 10% growth above 2019. Here we are through July and you're tracking around 20% above 2019. How has your thinking evolved around those per-cap targets? Is the gap between 10% and 20% just macro factors like higher consumer demand that you expect to roll off, or are you doing anything specifically that would drive upside to the 10% increase you gave in the targets?

Brett, let me unpack that. We recognize we're operating in a strong demand environment. We are also doing a lot of things better than before, and the efforts over the last couple of years are showing through. Our revenue management team is regularly optimizing pricing and products, and that work has benefited our per caps. The in-park product mix—merchandise, upgraded food and beverage menus, new venues—has also been beneficial. We've opened several new in-park venues from an ice cream parlor to a coffee shop to new bar venues, and those have helped per caps. While it's unlikely that per caps will sustain 20% growth indefinitely, we expect to achieve more than simple inflationary increases. The mobile app just rolled out and will expand to more parks; that should help in-park spending. Our CRM system, once rolled out, should allow more targeted marketing and offers to guests, which we expect to increase spending and lower marketing cost. International visitation, when it returns, has historically included higher per-cap spenders. Regarding the illustrative $690 figure you referenced, that illustration was not guidance or a goal; it assumed no attendance growth from 2019. Our expectation is that attendance will grow over time. We aim to outperform that illustration. We're also committed to cost savings and operational efficiencies. We feel good about the business outlook and will revisit our views as the year progresses.

With Delta concerns and media coverage, particularly in Florida as a destination market, have you seen any trend changes on the ground in Orlando in recent days? Any impact on bookings or Discovery Cove visibility?

We are aware of Delta and the media coverage. That said, we do not see an impact to or a change in our attendance trends that we can attribute to the Delta variant at this time.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Marc Swanson, CEO, for any closing remarks.

Thank you, Matthew. On behalf of Elizabeth and the rest of the management team at SeaWorld Entertainment, I want to thank you for joining us this morning. As you heard today, we are confident in our long-term strategy, which we believe will drive improved operating and financial results and long-term value for stakeholders. Thank you and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.