Cedar Fair 4th quarter & 2006 financial info

[Browntggrr]

http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases...mp;story_id=117

[jzarley]

I love the headline...if you nearly double the size of your company in a single day, you better have a record EBITDA with the new properties added in

Interesting...although pretty on track considering their earlier guidance.

The real information to pay attention to here is the same park comps from the previous year. (The combined numbers with the Paramount properties don't tell you a whole lot since there's no good source for comparison...we'll have to wait until Q3 next year for that.) And, in the comp numbers revenue, income, and attendance all decreased, whereas operating costs increased. Luckily, the per guest spending continues to rise which helps offset those negative trends somewhat.

[CoastersRZ]

It will be interesting to hear what they say in the conference call. It was also interesting to note that they expect to meet or exceed the cost saving synergies from the Paramount Park purchase.

[jzarley]

I'll also be interested to hear their results so far at trying to raise the per capita spending at the former Paramount Parks. (Although, they were somewhat limited in how much they could affect that during the 2006 season...2007 will give a much better picture)

Increasing the former Paramount properies' per cap spending $3-4 to match that of CF core parks was also a major component of ROI (in addition to the cost savings synergies...)

[CoastersRZ]

Well, in the previous conference call, they stated that the higher prices that management had instituted at the beginning of the year led to higher per caps at the Paramount Parks. They expressed that they were pleased with this increased per cap spending. It will be interesting to see where they go with prices at the former Paramount Parks.