Six Flags Entertainment Corporation Reports 2025 First Quarter Results

About this update from Six Flags Entertainment Corporation

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 08, 2025 --( BUSINESS WIRE )--Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: FUN), the largest regional amusement park operator in North America, today announced its results for the 2025 first quarter ended March 30, 2025, and updated its full year Adjusted EBITDA outlook for 2025. Since legacy Cedar Fair and legacy Six Flags closed the merger transactions (the "Merger") on July 1, 2024, to form the new Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (the "Company" or the "Combined Company"), legacy Cedar Fair has been determined to be the accounting acquirer for financial statement purposes. Accordingly, the reported results presented in this earnings release reflect the financial results for the Combined Company from Jan. 1, 2025, through March 30, 2025 (and for the five-week period ended May 4, 2025), and include only legacy Cedar Fair’s results (before giving effect to the Merger) for the first three months of 2024 (and, except as otherwise indicated, for the five-week period ended May 5, 2024). First quarter results are expected to represent approximately 7% of the Combined Company’s full-year attendance and net revenues, as approximately two-thirds of the parks in the combined portfolio are closed during the period, and most parks in operation are primarily only open on weekends. Consequently, the Company operates at a loss during the first quarter. First Quarter 2025 Results April 2025 Results CEO Commentary "While our start to 2025 was largely shaped by calendar timing shifts, weather variability, and near-term economic uncertainty, these are precisely the types of challenges our merger positioned us to more effectively navigate," said Six Flags CEO Richard Zimmerman. "We remain focused on what we can control – integrating the combined company, optimizing our cost structure, driving demand by enhancing the guest experience across our properties, and laying the foundation for future growth and long-term value creation." Zimmerman continued, "First-quarter results were impacted by the later timing of the Easter and Spring Break holidays and strategic changes in key events such as the Boysenberry Festival at Knott’s Berry Farm, which shifted into the second quarter this year. We expect to recover attendance related to these timing shifts as we expand our operating calendars in the second and third quarters and move into the heart of the summer season." Zimmerman added, "We have a long track record of navigating uncertain macro environments, and we believe we are well positioned to survive and thrive despite external headwinds. As we continue to monitor the evolving economic backdrop, our teams are decisively pulling all available levers to drive profitability, offset cost pressures, and generate free cash flow – from adjusting operating calendars and promotional strategies, to improving expense management and accelerating synergy realization from the merger. We are confident we are taking the right steps to adapt to the environment and advance our priorities to drive long-term profitable growth and enhanced value for shareholders." Financial Results for the First Quarter Operating days – During the first quarter of 2025, operating days totaled 393 days compared with 117 operating days in the first quarter of 2024. Net revenues – For the first quarter ended March 30, 2025, net revenues increased $100 million to $202 million, compared to net revenues of $102 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024, reflecting the impact of a 1.5-million-visit increase in attendance, a $3.43, or 6%, increase in in-park per capita spending, and a $3 million increase in out-of-park revenues. Operating costs and expenses – In the first quarter of 2025, operating costs and expenses totaled $412 million, an increase of $197 million compared to the first quarter of 2024, and included increases in operating expenses (up $143 million), SG&A expenses (up $44 million), and cost of goods sold (up $10 million), which were primarily the result of legacy Six Flags operations during the period. Depreciation and amortization – During the first quarter ended March 30, 2025, depreciation and amortization expense totaled $102 million, an increase of $92 million compared with the three months ended March 31, 2024, which was due to $62 million of depreciation expense attributable to the Merger and the impact of a change in interim depreciation methodology for legacy Cedar Fair. During the first quarter, the Company also recognized an $8 million loss on retirement of fixed assets in the normal course of business, including $5 million of retirements at the legacy Six Flags parks. Operating loss – Following the items above, the operating loss for the three months ended March 30, 2025, totaled $321 million, including $137 million of operating loss from the legacy Six Flags operations during the three-month period. This compares with an operating loss of $126 million for the three months ended March 30, 2024. Net interest expense – For the first quarter, net interest expense totaled $87 million, an increase of $53 million compared to the prior-year first quarter. The increase reflected $47 million of interest incurred on debt acquired in the Merger and incremental revolver borrowings in the first quarter. Taxes – During the three months ended March 30, 2025, the Company recorded a benefit for taxes of $187 million, compared to a benefit for taxes of $32 million for the first quarter of 2024. The higher benefit for income taxes was primarily attributable to discrete non-cash provision to return adjustments related to the Merger-related windup of the legacy Cedar Fair partnership, and the effects of the non-controlling interest distribution, accretion on the Six Flags Over Georgia call option liability, and non-deductible executive compensation. These items were partially offset by lower pre-tax book income relative to the comparable period. Net loss – After the items noted above and income attributable to non-controlling interests, a net loss attributable to the Company for the three months ended March 30, 2025, totaled $220 million, or $2.20 per diluted share of common stock, which compares with a net loss of $133 million, or $2.63 per diluted limited partner unit, attributable to the Company, for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The first quarter net loss included $134 million of net loss related to legacy Six Flags operations during the three-month period. Adjusted EBITDA – Management believes Adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful measure of park-level operating results. For the three months ended March 30, 2025, Adjusted EBITDA loss totaled $171 million, a $74 million higher loss compared to the first quarter of 2024. See the attached table for a reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA. April Update Based on preliminary operating results, net revenues for the five-week period ended May 4, 2025, totaled approximately $192 million, which included $97 million in net revenues contributed by the legacy Six Flags operations added in the Merger and $95 million in net revenues contributed by the legacy Cedar Fair operations during the period. Balance Sheet and Liquidity Highlights As of March 30, 2025, the Company reported the following: Deferred revenues of $374 million, compared with $233 million of deferred revenues on March 31, 2024. Total liquidity of $241 million, including cash on hand and available borrowings under the Company’s revolving credit facility. Net debt (3) of $5.21 billion, calculated as total debt of $5.27 billion (before debt issuance costs and acquisition fair value layers) less cash and cash equivalents of $62 million. 2025 Outlook "Based on our conviction in the underlying strength of our brands, our resilient business model, and our long-term strategy, we are maintaining our full year Adjusted EBITDA (1) guidance range for 2025," said Zimmerman. "We are confident in our operating plan built around an optimized cost structure, while targeting the second and third quarters to aggressively drive growth through our compelling capital program. "Our operating plan anticipated some consumer caution given heightened macroeconomic uncertainty. Accordingly, we have been taking proactive steps to mitigate these impacts – including refinements to our operating calendars, targeted cost reductions, and more aggressive yield management on tickets and in-park products. These measures are designed to improve profitability while ensuring we are positioned to attract guests heading into our peak season," concluded Zimmerman. Six Flags Investor Day Six Flags management will be delivering an Investor Day presentation beginning at 9:00 AM EDT on Tuesday May 20, 2025. A live webcast of the presentation can be accessed on the Company’s investors website at https://investors.sixflags.com under the tabs Investor Information / Events & Presentations. A webcast replay of the Investor Day presentation will be made available on the Company’s investors website shortly after completion of the live event. Conference Call As previously announced, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation will host a conference call with analysts starting at 10 a.m. ET today, May 8, 2025, to discuss its recent financial results. Participants on the call will include Six Flags President and CEO Richard Zimmerman and Executive Vice President and CFO Brian Witherow. Investors and all other interested parties can access a live, listen-only audio webcast of the call on the Six Flags Investors website at https://investors.sixflags.com under the tabs Investor Information / Events & Presentations. Those unable to listen to the live webcast can access a recorded version of the call on the Six Flags Investors website at https://investors.sixflags.com under Investor Information / Events and Presentations, shortly after the live call’s conclusion. A digital recording of the conference call will be available for replay by phone starting at approximately 1 p.m. ET on Thursday May 8, 2025, until 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday May 15, 2025. To access the phone replay in North America please dial (800) 770-2030; from international locations please dial +1 (609) 800-9909, followed by Conference ID 3720518 . About Six Flags Entertainment Corporation Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE: FUN) is North America’s largest regional amusement-resort operator with 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties across 17 states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Focused on its purpose of making people happy, Six Flags provides fun, immersive and memorable experiences to millions of guests every year with world-class coasters, themed rides, thrilling water parks, resorts and a portfolio of beloved intellectual property such as Looney Tunes®, DC Comics® and PEANUTS®. Footnotes: Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this news release that are not historical in nature are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements as to our expectations, beliefs, goals and strategies regarding the future. Words such as "anticipate," "believe," "create," "expect," "future," "guidance," "intend," "plan," "potential," "seek," "synergies," "target," "will," "would," similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words identify forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. These forward-looking statements may involve current plans, estimates, expectations and ambitions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct, that our growth and operational strategies will achieve the target results. Important risks and uncertainties that may cause such a difference and could adversely affect attendance at our parks, our future financial performance, and/or our growth strategies, and could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations or otherwise to fluctuate or decrease, include, but are not limited to: failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the Merger, including difficulty in integrating the businesses of legacy Six Flags and legacy Cedar Fair; failure to realize the expected amount and timing of cost savings and operating synergies related to the Merger; general economic, political and market conditions; the impacts of pandemics or other public health crises, including the effects of government responses on people and economies; adverse weather conditions; competition for consumer leisure time and spending or other changes in consumer behavior or sentiment for discretionary spending; unanticipated construction delays or increases in construction or supply costs; changes in capital investment plans and projects; anticipated tax treatment, unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, revenues, expenses, earnings, synergies, economic performance, indebtedness, financial condition, losses, future prospects, business and management strategies for the management, expansion and growth of the Combined Company’s operations; legislative, regulatory and economic developments and changes in laws, regulations, and policies affecting the Combined Company; acts of terrorism or outbreak of war, hostilities, civil unrest, and other political or security disturbances; and other risks and uncertainties we discuss under the heading "Risk Factors" within our Annual Report on Form 10-K and in the other filings we make from time to time with the Security and Exchange Commission. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document and are based on information currently and reasonably known to us. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events, information or circumstances that arise after publication of this new release. This news release and prior releases are available under the News tab at https://investors.sixflags.com (financial tables follow)   View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250508925158/en/ Contacts Investor Contact: Michael Russell, 419.627.2233 Media Contact: Gary Rhodes, 704.249.6119 h ttps://investors.sixflags.com

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