Ski group passes on tax savings to shareholders

40 percent dividend increase comes in wake of President Donald Trump’s overhaul

Weak snow across the West this year is impacting the ski resort industry in many ways, but the largest ski area operator in the country is hardly limping, thanks in part to President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul.

Vail Resorts on Thursday reported a net income bump of $64.6 million for the three months through early March thanks to a one-time tax benefit from the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The recently enacted legislation fueled a 58 percent bump in net income for the company’s fiscal second quarter — the meat of the ski season for the owner of 11 destination ski areas in Colorado, California, British Columbia, Vermont and Australia.

That’s good news for shareholders. The company on Thursday said it would be sharing the tax-cut windfall with investors, announcing a 40 percent increase in its quarterly cash dividend to $1.47 per share.

The company beat analyst expectations with revenue pacing 1.3 percent ahead of the same period last year, despite a 4.9 percent decline in visitation through the season and season-to-date declines in revenue from lodging, ski lessons, dining and retail sales. For the season, the company posted a 1.6 percent increase in lift ticket revenue, thanks largely to more than 750,000 early-

season buyers of the company’s wildly popular Epic Pass, a 14 percent increase in pass sales from the 201617 season.

Still, the lack of earlyseason snow in Colorado and California has pinched Vail Resorts.

In December, Vail Resorts told investors to expect between $646 million and $676 million in resort earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, with net income between $264 million and $300 million. In early January, company chief Rob Katz told analysts that resort earnings would be “modestly below the low end of the guidance.” On Thursday, the company said it was expecting fiscal 2018 resort earnings to fall between $607 million and $627 million.

Whistler Blackcomb, North America’s largest ski area, is helping Vail Resorts offset declines in Colorado and California, with record visitation, according to the company’s earnings report.

Katz told analysts Thursday that his company was planning to invest $150 million this year on capital projects, including $40 million at Whistler Blackcomb, the largest annual investment in the resort’s history.

The company also plans to upgrade snowmaking and renovate restaurants at Utah’s Park City, upgrade chairlifts at California’s Heavenly and Australia’s Perisher and improve Vail’s snowmaking system. For summer, the company will invest in a new zipline at Breckenridge and a bike trail expansions at Vail. Vail Resorts also plans to invest $2 million in its effort to reduce its carbon and trash footprint to zero by 2030.