United Parks & Resorts Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 7, 2024

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the United Parks and Resorts Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Matthew Stroud, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to United Parks and Resorts' Q2 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.unitedpartsinvestors.com. Replay information for this call can be found in the press release and will be available on our website following the call.

Speaker 1

Joining me this morning are Mark Swanson, Chief Executive Officer and Jim Forrester, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. This morning, we will review our Q2 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 certain 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 ks and the 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 that are available on our website.

Speaker 1

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 would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Mark Swanson. Mark?

Speaker 2

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We are pleased to report another quarter of strong financial results. We grew attendance and revenue during the quarter despite not seeing any material improvement in weather during the quarter compared to prior year. We also achieved a record level for in park per capita spending, which is a testament to the continued success of our strategies and investment in this area.

Speaker 2

We are also happy to have been able to repurchase approximately 6,300,000 shares since the end of March through August 5 or nearly 10% of our outstanding shares at what we believe were depressed and highly attractive prices, underscoring our significant free cash flow generation and our commitment to thoughtfully and opportunistically return excess capital to shareholders. Looking forward, we continue to be encouraged by the booking trends at our Discovery Cove property. Along with our group bookings, which continue to run well ahead of 2023. International visitation, while still compared to 2019, was again up for the quarter compared to prior year. We're very excited about our remaining summer events, including Ann's Brew and Barbeque at SeaWorld Orlando, Summer Spectacular at SeaWorld San Diego Urban and Barbecue at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Deer Fest Brews and Barbecue at Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Red, White and Barbecue at SeaWorld San Antonio over the next few weeks.

Speaker 2

Later in September, we will start our popular Halloween events, which will be followed by our Christmas events. These special events have continued to grow in popularity and expect this year's events to be among the best ever. For the full year 2024, we continue to expect to deliver new records in revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We have high confidence in our ability to continue to deliver operational and financial improvements that will result in meaningful increases in revenue, adjusted EBITDA and shareholder value. I want to thank all of our ambassadors for their hard work and dedicated efforts these past few months as we wrap up the summer season and head into our popular Halloween and Christmas events for the balance of the year.

Speaker 2

Now let me give a brief update on some other items. Let me comment on our debt repricing activity last week. Last week, we launched an opportunistic debt repricing on the back of strong credit markets and tightening credit spreads. The repricing was going well and it was scheduled to price on Monday of this week. Needless to say, given the market volatility on Monday, we decided to pause the repricing and we'll come back to market when conditions normalize.

Speaker 2

During the Q2, we repurchased 4,100,000 shares for an aggregate total of approximately $213,400,000 Subsequent to June 30, 2024 through August 5, 2024, we purchased approximately 2,200,000 shares for an aggregate total of approximately $116,100,000 The Board and company strongly believe our shares are materially undervalued. We have significant confidence in our business, our prospects and the value of our assets. In any reasonable way you look at it, we feel we are materially undervalued and that there is significant upside opportunity in our current share price. Our balance sheet continues to be strong. Our June 30, 2024 net leverage ratio is 2.76x, and we had approximately $605,000,000 of total liquidity, including approximately $232,000,000 of cash on the balance sheet in advance of us starting our summer season, where we generate a majority of our cash flow.

Speaker 2

This strong balance sheet gives us flexibility to continue to invest in and grow our business and to opportunistically allocate capital with the goal to maximize long term value for shareholders. When we continue we continue to progress with our cost and efficiency related work and we expect approximately $50,000,000 of realized savings in 2024. We're actively working to build a new list of cost efficiency initiatives and still have areas we have not meaningfully impacted as much as we'd like, including things like utilities, insurance related items and other areas. As you all know, cost management and discipline is a key focus of our management team, and we have demonstrated our ability to deliver on cost efficiencies. On the digital transformation front, we continue to make investments in and build out our CRM capabilities and our mobile app.

Speaker 2

On CRM, we created a pilot program projected to generate incremental revenue and support existing marketing and email strategies, while proving out a better, more holistic approach to customer engagement among other things. We expect the CRM will be a component of our growth strategy over time. In regards to the mobile app, we continue to make progress on functionality, adoption, usage and financial impact. The app is being used by an increasing number of guests in our parks to improve their in park experience. The app has now been downloaded more than 10,700,000 times, up from 9,400,000 at the end of Q1.

Speaker 2

Total revenue generated on the app continues to grow and we are now seeing an approximate 30 2% increase in average transaction value for food and beverage purchases made through the app compared to point of sale orders. Mobile ordering is operating at more of our targeted restaurants. We are excited about the potential of the app and its ability to improve the in park guest experience, drive increases in revenue and decreases in cost. On the international front, we have discussions on several new international projects and expect to have more news to share in the coming quarters. On the hotel front, we continue to have discussions with various potential partners on a variety of structures.

Speaker 2

And as we have discussed previously, we are very excited about the opportunity to monetize a portion of our substantial and valuable unused land holdings and have hotels integrated into our properties. As a reminder, we are very focused on achieving a minimum ROI for our capital projects. I'm very excited about the significant investments we are making and the many initiatives we have underway across our business that we expect will improve the guest experience, allow us to generate more revenue and make us a more efficient and profitable enterprise. We are building an even stronger and more resilient business that we expect will deliver improved operational and financial results and meaningful increases in shareholder value. With that, Jim will discuss our financial results in more detail.

Speaker 1

Jim? Thank you, Mark. During the Q2, we generated total revenue of $497,600,000 an increase of $1,600,000 or 0.3 percent when compared to the Q2 of 2023. The increase in total revenue was primarily a result of an increase in attendance, partially offset by a decline in total revenue per capita. Attendance for the Q2 of 2024 increased by approximately 47,000 guests or 0.8% when compared to the prior year quarter.

Speaker 1

The increase in attendance was primarily due to increased demand. Total revenue per capita decreased a modest 0.4%. Admission per capita decreased 2.9% and end part capital spending increased 2.5%. Admission per capita increased primarily due to lower pricing on certain promotional admission products and the net impact of the admissions product and part mix when compared to the prior year quarter. In part per capita spending defined as food, merchandise and other revenue divided by total attendance improved primarily due to pricing initiatives when compared to the Q2 of 2023.

Speaker 1

Operating expenses decreased $5,500,000 or 2.8 percent when compared to the Q2 of 2023. The decrease in operating expenses is primarily due to decreased non cash self insurance reserve adjustments, a decrease in non cash asset write offs and a decrease in non recurring contractual liabilities and legal costs resulting from the previously disclosed temporary COVID-nineteen park closures when compared to the Q2 of 2023. Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased $4,400,000 or 6.4% compared to the Q2 of 2023. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses is primarily due to an $8,600,000 decrease in third party consulting costs, including approximately $8,300,000 of non recurring costs for strategic initiatives when compared to the Q2 of 2023. We generated net income of $91,100,000 for the Q2 compared to net income of $87,100,000 in the Q2 of 2023.

Speaker 1

We generated adjusted EBITDA of $218,200,000 a decrease of $6,100,000 when compared to the Q2 of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA declined due to an increase in expense used to calculate adjusted EBITDA, which was in part due to items related to timing and certain expenditures that we do not intend to repeat. Looking at our results for the first half of twenty twenty four compared to 2023, total record revenue was $795,000,000 an increase of $5,600,000 or 0.7%. Total attendance was 9,600,000 guests, an increase of 119,000 guests or 1.3%. Net income for the period was $79,900,000 an increase of $9,300,000 and adjusted EBITDA was $297,300,000 an increase of $600,000 or 0.2%.

Speaker 1

Now turning to our balance sheet. Our June 30, 2024 net total leverage ratio was 2.76 times and we have approximately $605,000,000 of total available liquidity, including $232,000,000 of cash on the balance sheet. The strong balance sheet gives us flexibility to continue to invest in and grow our business and to opportunistically allocate capital with the goal to maximize long term value for shareholders. Under our $500,000,000 repurchase authorization from the Board, during the Q2, we repurchased 4,100,000 shares for an aggregate total of approximately $213,400,000 Subsequent to June 30, 2024 through August 5, 2024, we purchased approximately 2,200,000 shares for an aggregate total of $160,100,000 As Mark said, we believe our shares are materially undervalued. Our deferred revenue balances of the end of June was $230,500,000 an increase of approximately 3.5% when compared to June of 2023.

Speaker 1

As a reminder, our deferred revenue balance contains a number of products to include ticketing, vacation packages, annual and seasonal passes and ancillary products. We also continue to still see many pass holders who have been with us for at least a year who transition to month to month payments at the completion of their initial pass commitment. This month to month revenue does not show up as deferred revenue. Our pass base improved from the end of the second quarter. Through July 2024, our pass base including all pass products was down 2% compared to July 2023, but up 26% when compared to July of 2019.

Speaker 1

We are pleased that we are seeing mid single to low double digit price increases depending on our past products compared to the prior year. We're about to launch what we feel is our best past benefits program ever for 2025, which we expect will drive additional increases in past sales and a strong past base for the remainder of this year and next year. We spent $79,500,000 on CapEx in the Q2 of 2024. For 2024, we expect spend approximately $170,000,000 to $180,000,000 on core CapEx and approximately $55,000,000 to $70,000,000 on CapEx on expansion and our ROI projects. Now let me turn the call back over to Mark, who will share some final thoughts.

Speaker 1

Mark?

Speaker 2

Thank you,

Speaker 1

Jim. Before we open the call

Speaker 2

to your questions, I have some closing comments. In the Q2 of 2024, we came to the aid of 215 animals in need. Over our history, we have helped over 41,000 animals, including bottlenose dolphins, manatees, sea lions, seals, sea turtles, sharks, birds and more. I'm really proud of the team's hard work and their continued dedication to these important rescue efforts. We're certainly excited about the remainder of 2024 with the exciting events we have coming with Halloween and Christmas.

Speaker 2

I want to thank our ambassadors for their efforts during this busy summer season and their preparation for our upcoming fall and winter events, which are guest favorites. We continue to believe there are significant additional opportunities to improve our execution, take advantage of clear growth opportunities and continue to drive meaningful long term growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We continue to have high confidence in our long term strategy and our ability to deliver significantly improved operating and financial results that we expect will lead to meaningful increased value for stakeholders. Now let's take your questions.

Operator

The first question comes from Steve Wieczynski of Stifel. Go ahead please.

Speaker 3

Yes. Hey guys. Good morning. So, Mark, I want to first ask about the pressure that you guys kind of saw in the admissions per caps. And wondering if you can give us a little bit more color around some of the maybe the pricing decisions around lowering pricing on certain what you call certain addition And I guess we've heard some of your competitors in that Orlando market talk about their customers maybe becoming a little bit more price conscientious.

Speaker 3

So just wondering how you're thinking about pricing your daily tickets. I guess given Jim noted that you still feel like your past product can and probably should get pricing increases in that mid single digit range?

Speaker 2

Yes. Hey, Steve, I can take that question. So look, as we've said in the past and I'll say again, we're focused on driving total revenue, right? And we're confident we can grow per caps over time with all the initiatives we have going on, our new events, new attractions, our dynamic pricing, CRM, things like that. And look, we've what we've said, like, look, we're going to we may use offers at times and in kind of this current environment, we did use some in the quarter.

Speaker 2

And then also you have the mix or the impact of park and product mix and those things can ebb and flow quarter to quarter, right? So I think overall, we again feel confident over time we can grow per caps, but we're going to defer to driving more total revenue and that's what we did in the 2nd quarter and some of those offers that at times may be at odds with per capita little bit helped us achieve that growth.

Speaker 4

Okay, got

Speaker 2

you. Yes, I'm sorry, let me just add because you kind of alluded to it. The other thing I'd point out is we do have a strong value proposition. I think to the extent you kind of commented about maybe people being more value conscious. I think we have a tremendous value proposition, especially with our season pass products.

Speaker 2

You can come to a park for a full year and when you start to calculate the cost of per visit when you bypass, it's a great value and especially when we're adding new things. So I think that will continue to be something that we showcase as well. And I think it also points out kind of the resiliency of the business that even in times that maybe people are looking for value, we provide that and it's a resilient business.

Speaker 3

Okay, got you. Thanks, Mark. And then, second question, Mark, if we think about the second half of the year, obviously, you're still kind of holding on to the record EBITDA comment. And that would mean you'd probably you need to produce, I guess, what is it, about 4 $30,000,000 of EBITDA in the second half of the year to exceed that 20 22 record. So with weather being unpredictable, I guess it's not giving you guys a lot of wiggle room if something does go wrong.

Speaker 3

So I guess, I'm just wondering if you kind of look at if we look at kind of current consensus right now, I think it's sitting around $434,000,000 for the second half of the year. So what is consensus essentially getting wrong? Or dollars for the second half of the year is really going to be plausible? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, I think, Steve, the way to think about it is, we have a lot of focus on the things that are in the second half of the year. And one of those would be driving more demand with our events like Halloween, Christmas, the new rides that open like here in Orlando and in Tampa. And then our pricing and per cap initiatives as well and then our cost initiatives. So getting contributions from volume, from per cap, from cost efficiencies, I think when we kind of step back layer all those things into kind of how we think about the back half of the year, those are the things we're pointing to.

Speaker 2

So it's a lot of efforts on things we are doing to drive that. Now not to get too cute or anything, but I mean obviously anything over $1 over the prior record EBITDA would be a new record. But certainly, so we're focused on getting to something higher than what we achieved in 2022. And we'll continue to focus on that and that is what we'll work towards obviously. And we'll be able to update you guys in November on if we feel like we're still pacing towards that.

Speaker 2

But I think a lot of efforts around our initiatives, our events, our per caps, our cost

Speaker 3

Okay, great. Thanks, Mark. Really appreciate it.

Speaker 2

Sure.

Operator

Our next question comes from Ben Chaikin of Mizuho. Go ahead please.

Speaker 5

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a follow-up on the per cap one, I believe last quarter you mentioned that April per caps were up on the admission side and then obviously down slightly for 2Q. Could you just help us with any cadence through the year? And then if there's any color on early July trends, that'd be helpful as well.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes. Hey, Ben, I can help you on that. So, look, I'll focus on the quarter. Like you said, they were very slightly positive in April. So you can read into that that they would have been impacted from that point forward.

Speaker 2

And again, we're focused on driving total revenue. And so there's going to be times that we run promotions that are at odds with per caps, but we feel good about the volume or the revenue that's associated with that. And it's going to vary again from quarter to quarter. But I think over time, we still are confident we can grow the PerCap's with all the initiatives, the new attractions, the CRM, the mobile app, new things in our parks. So we'll continue to focus on that.

Speaker 2

What I can tell you just preliminary July is that the per caps were up very low single digits.

Speaker 5

Great. That's very helpful. And then on CapEx, you gave us number for the year, 170 to 180 in core and then 55 to 70 on expansion. Is that a good way to think about the business on a go forward basis, including stuff like a hotel or would that change those numbers at all?

Speaker 1

Yes, Binit, this is Jim. I think as we look at what we spent last year, what we were spending this year, we continue to right size our amount of capital spend. I would say that we continue to make sure that we're in that 225 to 250 range this year and then continue to find ways to spend less capital and be more efficient with that. That does not include any hotel expansion in those numbers.

Speaker 4

Okay.

Speaker 5

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Operator

The next question comes from James Hardiman of Citi. Go ahead please.

Speaker 4

Hey, good morning. So Mark, you mentioned maybe better per caps in July. I figured I'd ask. Anything else you can tell us about July? Obviously, the Q2 attendance was up a little bit, per caps were down a little bit.

Speaker 4

Now per caps up in July, is total revenue up in July as well?

Speaker 2

What I would point out to you in July is there's a if you look at July of this year versus July of last year, there's 2 less weekend days in July of this year versus July of last year. So as you can imagine, that certainly has an impact on the reported numbers when you're just looking at 1 month like that. So that would be a drag on revenue. And so I think overall, you can assume revenue would be down. But one of the ways we look at it though is on a day to day basis, which is kind of lining up light days, which adjust for that calendar shift, right?

Speaker 2

And when you do that, the attendance was up a little over 2% or so in July, which is I think an indication that on a like for like basis or day to day basis, attendance increased there.

Speaker 4

Got it. That's really helpful. And then maybe speak to the state of Orlando. You've got Universal who put out some pretty weak numbers and Disney with some cautionary comments. Obviously, that's just the portion of your business.

Speaker 4

But are you seeing any of that weakness in the Orlando market? You talked about some mix effects. I didn't know if Orlando underperformance was maybe one of the factors impacting mix. But anything you could tell us there? And is the local business maybe offsetting some of that destination business?

Speaker 2

Yes. So I can take that, James. So look, I think that one of the things I would start with is just the resiliency of the business, right? So, I think we've proven over a pretty long history here of when there are perhaps people looking for other alternatives or coming back on things. Our business has remained resilient past recessions.

Speaker 2

And so, we like the opportunity to continue to be a great value proposition to people in the market for wanting to have fun. And we know people are reluctant to want to cut activities with their family and friends. And I think we offer a strong value proposition for that. I'd say specifically to Orlando, on a year to date basis, we are pleased with our Orlando parks. And so, I won't comment any more beyond that, obviously, for competitive reasons.

Speaker 2

But I think we're pleased with our Orlando performance, and we like the resiliency of the business here.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thanks. If I may, what's the mix comment when you talk about mix hurting per caps? Can you be a little bit more specific on that?

Speaker 2

Well, I was saying in general, James, so each quarter you're going to have the potential of mix from either the type of product that somebody is using. So if there's more of a multi day product or more promotional products, that can be a negative to the per cap rate. And then on the park mix, if you have water parks doing better, for example, they traditionally have a lower per cap than a bigger a non waterpark. So there's mix impacts that can impact the quarter as well.

Speaker 4

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Thomas Yee of Morgan Stanley. Go ahead please.

Speaker 6

Thanks so much. Maybe just to ask James' question a little bit of a different way. I mean, can you help put a finer point on the consumer health picture and how that's evolved over the last quarter or 2? And any indication on the consumer behavior at the low end versus the high end? Think historically, you've spoken to Orlando attendance being like 65% of coming in from like a driving distance and then 80% to 90% at your other more local parks.

Speaker 6

Is that still holding true generally?

Speaker 2

Yes. What I would say, Thomas, is I'll just reiterate, on a year to date basis, we're pleased with the attendance performance in Orlando, right? So obviously, we get a good portion of our attendance from people who drive to our parks and from the state of Florida, that type of thing. So I think, again, it's a resilient business during maybe what we see the news. We know there are things are a little tougher out there obviously.

Speaker 2

So I think it shows the resilience of our business. Specifically, I think your other question on the health of the consumer was I look at a couple of things. One would be our in park per caps and they were up in the quarter. They're up again in July. So, I think that's one indicator people are our strategies on in park are working.

Speaker 2

Jim mentioned the past pricing getting the increases on that is a positive. And then certainly our group revenue bookings are trending ahead of 23 and then our Discovery Cove bookings over not only 24, but in the 20 $25,000,000 we're pleased with as well. So I take all those things together. I mean, you could even look at our deferred revenue being positive. If you take all those things together, I think at least in our parks, we're still getting spending and I think it points to the what we offer, which is a compelling value proposition and the resiliency of the business.

Speaker 6

Okay. That's helpful. And maybe just the last one for me. Any help on thinking through the new attraction timing? I think last year you saw some delays on launches.

Speaker 6

I noticed Penguin Track opened in July and you talked about Halloween and Christmas and some more opportunities in the back half of the year. Is the capacity that's coming online greater than the launches that we saw last year? Is that kind of supportive of an opportunity on the attendance front?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, I think what I would point out is our parks rarely operate at full capacity, right. So there's room for more people to come to our parks. And so I think that will remain. And so our goal is to certainly drive as many people for the most parts as we can to our parks and especially our events, so whether that's Halloween or Christmas or the opening of the new ride.

Speaker 2

So like the ride in Orlando, Penguin Track, it's a really well done ride. And what I like about it and back to my maybe comment about our business model, it's differentiated in the sense that it's one of the few places you can go and ride a ride. And then when you're off that ride, you're getting up close with penguins. So it incorporates not only a ride, but then our animal experiences as well. And I think that's obviously somewhat a unique thing to us relative to some of the others in the industry.

Speaker 2

And I like that product differentiation and we're pleased with that ride.

Speaker 6

Is it safe to say that just on a new attraction launch perspective that it's been more normalized relative to last year, I guess, just given the delays that we had seen last year?

Speaker 2

Look, I mean, all things equal, we would generally want to open things earlier than July. So, I would not necessarily consider this year more that much more normal. I mean, that ride we would have preferred to open earlier and there were some things that popped up that kept it from opening as early as we'd like. But ideally, we would have opened that ride closer to Memorial Day or early June or something like that. So we lost almost a month or so of not having that ride.

Speaker 2

We'll we have it for the rest of the year and we'll lap next year with that ride in June. So, ideally, we're focused on trying to get things open before the key parts of the season, which would be either for spring break or Memorial Day depending on the park.

Speaker 6

Okay, understood. Thank you so much.

Operator

Our next question comes from Matthew Boss of JPMorgan. Go ahead please.

Speaker 7

Hey, this is John on for Matt. Mark, maybe can you elaborate on some of the changes you're seeing from international traffic? What did you embed in the back half of the year and how you view the multiyear recapture opportunity there?

Speaker 2

Yes. Sure, John. So as I said in my prepared remarks, international attendance is still down to 2019. It was up slightly for the quarter versus 2023. So we still have, I think, a pretty substantial opportunity to recapture international.

Speaker 2

We're trying to do things on our end, but obviously there's macro factors and I'm sure other reasons as well, things we can probably do better also. But I don't know when that will come back, but it used to be back in 2019 roughly about 10% of our tenants overall, so a little more than 2,000,000 people. We are not we are still, I don't know, probably 40 ish percent shy of that, between, I don't know, 35% and 40% depending on kind of the quarter and how it ebbs and flows throughout the year. Between like 35%, 40%, 45%, still down to 19% depending on the quarter.

Speaker 7

Okay, great. Thank you. And then just one more on the cost side. Can you speak I know you reiterated the $50,000,000 this year, but longer term, can you speak to kind of the efficiency opportunities you have and how best to think about the multiyear cost profile here relative to top line growth?

Speaker 2

Well, yes. So I'll give you just a high level comment and then if Jim wants to add anything, he can. I think we've talked about this before. We view this in the business in somewhat simple way. If we can grow our tenants a little bit each year, if we can grow our costs or I'm sorry, grow our perchamps a little bit each year and then manage our costs to a reasonable level, we that equation will generally result in EBITDA expansion.

Speaker 2

So, there is a lot of focus on costs. It's something we spend quite a bit of time on, as you can imagine. And I think we've proven over time that we can deliver on efficiencies. And we have new things that we work to identify and new things that we'll continue to identify into the future. So we have a lot of focus on that, something we take very seriously.

Speaker 1

Yes. The only thing I'd just add, Mark, is we had provided the $50,000,000 of cost savings in $24,000,000 in our illustration at the beginning of the year. I think we continue to remain pleased in our progress on meeting that commitment and that we also have good plans in our 2025 planning cycle to achieve the balance in the coming year.

Speaker 7

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Chris Woronka of Deutsche Bank. Go ahead please.

Speaker 3

Hey, good morning guys. So as we think about the kind of universal, the Epic opening next year, Mark, do you guys have any plans to is the marketing going to ramp up or change much ahead of that? I mean, is there going to be any kind of, I guess, I'd call it counter programming to try to reach folks as they consider their Orlando plans?

Speaker 2

Yes, of course, we would have things. So, we have a new attraction coming to our SeaWorld Orlando next year that I'm really excited about. And we'll have other obviously initiatives. One of our things, we do, I think a good job with our events and we brought back Bands Brew and Barbecue this year, which was an event we had done in the past and bringing it back this year. We've done some things even for Halloween this year.

Speaker 2

We're adding what I think is a really cool 5 ks run that starts at midnight on Friday 13th. So I think those are the type of things that are other reasons that make our events exciting and reasons to come visit. So yes, we will absolutely have things. We have obviously been focused on just like any other year, we're focused on growing the business. The thing I would just remind everyone is, we've been in Orlando for since the early 1970s.

Speaker 2

So and we've added 2 parks of our own Aquatica and Discovery Cove since that time. And we have as the market is growing as the market has grown since the 1970s with Disney and Universal and other parks coming on board, we've continued to participate in EBITDA growth, right. So we like the opportunity to when more people come to the market that we have an opportunity to compel those folks to come visit our park as well. I'm sure I think it's going to be a great park and I'm sure there's going to be days where they're very crowded and we might feel it a little bit, but I think we like the opportunity to participate in more people coming into the market. We'll have our attractions, we'll have our events, we'll have our strategies around that as well.

Speaker 2

Also, it's a differentiated product, as I mentioned previously. So coming to SeaWorld is different than going universal. I mean, we have animals, we have different events and things like that. So that is another thing that sets us apart. And then certainly our value proposition, I think we feel good about our value proposition and the opportunities to people can take advantage of that.

Speaker 2

And then, as I mentioned previously, we get a lot of our attendance in Florida from people who can drive in. So, taking all those things together, we're excited about being in Orlando and we're going to continue to do our part to attract people.

Speaker 3

Yes. Thanks, Mark. Appreciate all the perspective there. And then the follow-up is on 25 past product lineup. You kind of previewed it earlier, but and I know that the details might be limited.

Speaker 3

But are you is there going

Speaker 5

to be any kind of

Speaker 3

change in strategy relating to ancillary attachment in the way you might be able to do that through the past or any other changes that might be notable on strategy?

Speaker 2

I think overall, I mean, we will continue to offer a great suite of benefits to our pass holders. And again, we're going to target reasons for them to buy a pass. So that strategy is not going to change. I think we're always looking for new ways to engage our pass holders, new ways we can drive them to come more often and to secure their commitment. So there will be some things we do and we'll announce that.

Speaker 2

Jim alluded to, we feel we're going to have some of the best benefits we've had, right? So details will be forthcoming, but I think the strategy of really securing people's commitment earlier, securing their commitment for the year is will continue to be a strategy. And in fairness, people buy passes to our parks throughout the year. So we're always kind of selling passes. But obviously, when we launch something new for 2025, we're going to try to make sure people have a compelling reason to buy that product.

Speaker 3

Okay, very good. Thanks, Mark.

Operator

Sure. The next question comes from Lizzie Dove of Goldman Sachs. Go ahead please.

Speaker 8

Hi there, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Going back to the kind of park mix comment that was kind of made. I am curious, we all see the foot traffic data and it's interesting because the Orlando parks kind of attendance growth is holding up nicely, but there's been some weakness this year, like year to date in terms of the Busch Gardens parks. Curious if there's anything you can kind of share there in terms of trends between the different parks and the different brands?

Speaker 2

Yes. Thanks, Louis. I mean, I don't want to get into too much for competitive reasons, but I think you kind of echoed my comments that we're pleased with the Orlando performance on attendance here year to date. So you can kind of read into that. Certainly, we have opportunities at all our parks and certainly Busch Gardens Tampa would be one of them.

Speaker 2

It's a great park. It's got a lot of great rides and animal attractions. I think we need to do a better job of making people aware of what that park has to offer. It's a wonderful park with the rides and the animals. So we'll continue to work on that.

Speaker 2

I think that's a big opportunity for us.

Speaker 8

Got it. Thank you. And then also as we kind of look to 2025, as I think it was Chris just mentioned Epic launching. I guess, what is your kind of base case here? Like are you assuming that there's this rising tide, maybe you get some kind of pricing power with a pricing umbrella?

Speaker 8

Or I guess said a different way, Orlando is a big part of your base, maybe 40% of the EBITDA, if I were to kind of guess. Do you think EBITDA growth is achievable on the business as a whole in 2025?

Speaker 2

Yes. We would expect to grow the business in 2025. Again, I would go back to we've been here a long time in the market, like I said. We've participated in the EBITDA growth of the market and the EBITDA at the SeaWorld Park has grown over time. So our expectation is we will continue to grow, right?

Speaker 2

So that's what we're planning for. Again, more people you would think would come to Orlando next year with that Epic opening. And again, I'm sure there's going to be days where they're very crowded and we might feel it a little bit, but I think we also have the opportunity to pick off people. I mean, if there's a lot of people in town, not everybody the park can only hold so much, right? So is going to be opportunity for us to pick off people that are in town like we have done historically in this market.

Speaker 2

On a just geography basis, we are closer to Epic than some of the other competitors. So we're not terribly far from that park. I think again that I would view that as a positive. So we welcome people to the market. I think our value proposition, our product differentiation are going to be good reasons to still want to come and visit SeaWorld.

Speaker 2

And like I said, we're going to have our own attraction, our own new things to do in this park, which I think once we get those announced and talked about, people will see it's going to be an exciting year.

Speaker 8

Great. Thanks so much.

Operator

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

Speaker 2

Yes. Thank you, Cindy. On behalf of Jim and the rest of the management team at United Parks and Resorts, 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 to stakeholders. Thank you and we look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

Operator

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

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Earnings Conference Call
United Parks & Resorts Q2 2024
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