Vail posts $158M Q4 loss amid COVID

Early closures of Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) ski areas in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic torpedoed the firm’s earnings in fiscal year 2020.

On Thursday, Vail posted a fiscal-year fourth quarter loss of nearly $158 million, compared to a $92.3 million loss during the same period in 2019. The firm attributed those results to the delayed opening of winter resorts in Australia and summer resorts in North America.

Vail recorded $109 million in net income for fiscal year 2020, barely one-third of earnings in 2019.

Vail reported its results after the close of trading Thursday, when the firm’s end of day stock price was $224.23.

Immediately after the bell, the stock price plummeted to $217 in after hours trading before bouncing back a halfhour later.

Vail CEO Rob Katz wrote in a statement that Resort Reported EBITDA “was negatively impacted by the deferral of approximately $118 million of pass product revenue and related deferred costs to fiscal 2021 as a result of pass holder credits offered to 2019/2020 North American pass holders to encourage renewal for the 2020/2021 season.”

Katz also noted efforts made to improve the firm’s finances, including raising $600 million by issuing unsecured senior notes, suspending its dividend to save $70 million per quarter, and cutting its capital plan for calendar year 2020 by roughly $80-85 million.

Vail is not offering guidance for 2021 at this time, according to Katz.