FUN Q4 2024 Earnings

Call Details

• Call Title: Six Flags Entertainment Q4 2024 Earnings Call
• Date: February 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM UTC
• Management Team:
  • Richard Zimmerman (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Brian Witherow (Chief Financial Officer)
  • Michael Russell (Corporate Director of Investor Relations)

Call Summary

Financial Performance

• Consolidated fourth quarter net revenues were $687M on 10.7M visits, which included $324M and 5.0M visits from Legacy Six Flags operations.
• Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA increased $120M to $209M compared to the prior-year quarter, and modified EBITDA margin improved 650 basis points to 30.4%.
• In-park per capita spending in Q4 was $61.60, representing an increase of 3% versus Legacy Cedar Fair Q4 last year, driven primarily by Legacy Six Flags inclusion and higher food, extra-charge product, and merchandise spend.
• Operating costs and expenses in Q4 totaled $523M, comprised of $376M operating expenses, $89M SG&A, and $58M cost of goods sold, with cost of goods sold up 170 basis points as a percentage of FMG revenue largely due to Legacy Six Flags mix.
• Adjusted EBITDA per guest at Legacy Cedar Fair parks improved by 10% in Q4, reflecting cost savings execution and improved cost per guest metrics.
• Full-year 2024 transactions at Legacy Cedar Fair parks were more than 40M, up 1.8M transactions compared to 2023, and average transactions per guest for the full year increased 2% at those parks.

Guidance

• The company is targeting adjusted EBITDA of $1.08B to $1.12B for 2025 as an initial step function of growth for the combined portfolio.
• Guidance assumes a generally normal weather pattern, no meaningful macroeconomic downturn, and FX that does not materially worsen beyond current outlooks, which management quantified as an assumed $7M to $8M incremental FX EBITDA headwind for 2025.
• The 2025 plan incorporates $70M of planned gross cost savings from the merger with a disclosed breakdown of approximately $20M from org streamlining, $30M from vendor rationalization/scale, and $20M from systems/process/portfolio right-sizing.
• 2025 operating days are planned at 5,852, which is essentially flat to 2024 combined operating days (5,851) with a shift of some days from Q4 into Q2/Q3 to capture higher-value operating windows.
• 2025 CapEx cash spend is expected to be $475M to $500M, reflecting both deferred investments and new demand-driving attractions at major parks.
• 2025 modeling assumptions included depreciation and amortization of approximately $450M and annualized cash interest of $305M to $315M and annualized cash tax payments of $105M to $115M.