Exhibit 99.1
SIX FLAGS NEWS
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FOR: SIX FLAGS, INC.
CONTACT: Jim Dannhauser, Chief Financial Officer
122 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10168
(212) 599-4693
KCSA Joseph A. Mansi/ Erika Levy
CONTACTS: (212) 896-1205/ (212) 896-1208
jmansi@kcsa.com / elevy@kcsa.com
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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SIX FLAGS REPORTS INTERIM PERFORMANCE
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NEW YORK, July 15, 2004 - Six Flags, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: PKS) commented
today on the year to date attendance and revenue performance of its parks.
Year to date through Wednesday, June 30, park level revenues trailed
the prior year by approximately 0.9%. System-wide attendance was 12.77 million,
compared to 13.31 million on a same park basis for June 2003, a decrease of
4.1%. Park-level per capita spending was up 3.3% for the period. Consequently,
results for the six months ended June 30, 2004 are now expected to reflect
revenues of approximately $400-402 million, down approximately $3-5 million from
the 2003 period. Reflecting planned operating expense increases intended to
enhance the guest experience, EBITDA (Modified) for the first six months of 2004
is now expected to be approximately $30 million, down approximately $11.8
million from the 2003 six month levels, and Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be
approximately $11.5 million, down approximately $14 million from performance in
the six months ended June 30, 2003. (1), (2)
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(1) A discussion of EBITDA (Modified) and Adjusted EBITDA, together with the
required reconciliation of these amounts, appears at the end of this press
release.
(2) All amounts reflect the inclusion of the results of the Dallas, Atlanta and
San Francisco operations due to the application of FASB Interpretation No. 46
and the exclusion of the results of the Cleveland and European operations sold
earlier this year.
(more)
11501 Northeast Expressway o Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73131
Tel: 405-475-2500 o Fax: 405-475-2555
122 East 42nd Street o 49th Floor o New York, New York 10168
Tel: 212-599-4690 o Fax: 212-949-6203
SIX FLAGS REPORTS INTERIM RESULTS
JULY 15, 2004
PAGE 2
Commenting on the year to date results, Kieran E. Burke, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of the Company, noted, "While our performance in the
initial part of our season has been uneven, we were generally tracking slightly
ahead of prior year through mid June. However, we experienced a sharp decline in
the last two weeks of June. In addition, we were negatively affected by the
later Memorial Day holiday which resulted in significantly fewer operating days
in the 2004 period. Further, while weather in the Northeast was significantly
better than last year, our parks in Chicago, Atlanta and Texas experienced
significant periods of adverse weather at various times during May and June
which hurt their performance. The attendance shortfalls we have experienced have
been offset somewhat by very strong per capita spending growth through June 30."
Mr. Burke further noted that, "We have seen improved performance
since the end of June, with performance since June 30 reflecting attendance in
line with prior year, a per capita spending increase of 0.8% and a revenue
increase of 0.5% in the period from July 1 through July 13.
We expect to benefit from additional operating days in the last week
of August and the first week of September due to the later occurrence this year
of the Labor Day holiday.
With a substantial portion of our season remaining (over 50% of our
budgeted attendance yet to go), if this more recent trend continues, we expect
to be able to achieve full year growth over prior year revenues notwithstanding
the strength of the latter part of last year. We expect to remain in compliance
with all covenants in our credit agreements and continue to have substantial
liquidity and no near-term debt maturities.
We will report our second quarter numbers in early August and will
provide a more conclusive outlook at that time."
Six Flags, Inc. is the world's largest regional theme park company.
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SIX FLAGS REPORTS INTERIM RESULTS
JULY 15, 2004
PAGE 3
EBITDA (Modified) is defined as net loss, before discontinued
operations, income tax benefit, other expense, early repurchase of debt
(formerly extraordinary loss), minority interest in loss, interest expense, net,
amortization, depreciation and non-cash compensation. Adjusted EBITDA is defined
as EBITDA (Modified) minus the interest of third parties in EBITDA of the four
parks that are less than wholly owned. The Company believes that EBITDA
(Modified) and Adjusted EBITDA (collectively, the "EBITDA-Based Measures")
provide useful information to investors regarding the Company's operating
performance and its capacity to incur and service debt and fund capital
expenditures. The Company believes that the EBITDA-Based Measures are used by
many investors, equity analysts and rating agencies as a measure of performance.
Adjusted EBITDA is approximately equal to "Consolidated Cash Flow" as defined in
the indentures relating to the Company's senior notes. Neither of the
EBITDA-Based Measures is defined by GAAP and neither should be considered in
isolation or as an alternative to net income (loss), net cash provided by (used
in) operating, investing and financing activities or other financial data
prepared in accordance with GAAP or as an indicator of our operating
performance.
The following table sets forth a reconciliation of our net loss to
EBITDA (Modified) and Adjusted EBITDA for the first six months of 2003.
Six Months Ended
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June 30, 2003
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(in thousands)
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Net loss $ (122,374)
Discontinued operations 9,585
Income tax (benefit) (65,541)
Other expense 346
Early repurchase of debt (formerly extraordinary loss) 27,592
Minority interest in loss 13,401
Interest expense, net 107,649
Amortization 526
Depreciation 70,524
Non-cash compensation (primarily selling, general and administrative) 51
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EBITDA (Modified) 41,759
Third party interest in EBITDA of certain parks (a) (16,201)
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Adjusted EBITDA $ 25,558
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(a) Represents interest of third parties in EBITDA of Six Flags Over Georgia,
Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags White Water Atlanta and Six Flags Marine World.
SIX FLAGS REPORTS INTERIM RESULTS
JULY 15, 2004
PAGE 4
The Company currently is in the process of preparing its second
quarter 2004 financial statements and has not at this time completed its
determination of certain non-operating amounts, including its income tax benefit
and other expense for that period. This information would be required to provide
an estimate of the Company's net loss for the first six months of 2004. Because
the net loss information is not available, the Company has set forth in the
following table a reconciliation of the expected loss from operations to the
expected EBITDA (Modified) and the expected Adjusted EBITDA. Since the
EBITDA-Based Measures are calculated before income taxes and other expense, the
absence of estimates with respect to these items does not affect the expected
EBITDA-Based Measures presented. Expected interest expense, net for the six
months is approximately $101,000,000 and expected early repurchase of debt
(formerly extraordinary loss) is approximately $31,375,000.
Six Months Ended
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June 30, 2004
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(in thousands)
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Loss from operations $ (44,000)
Amortization 700
Depreciation 73,000
Non-cash compensation (primarily selling, general and administrative) 300
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EBITDA (Modified) 30,000
Third party interest in EBITDA of certain parks (18,500)
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Adjusted EBITDA $ 11,500
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The information contained in this news release, other than historical
information, consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements.
Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors, including
factors impacting attendance, such as local conditions, events, disturbances and
terrorist activities, risks of accidents occurring at the Company's parks,
adverse weather conditions, general economic conditions, consumer spending
patterns, and other factors (including information that arises in connection
with the completion of the Company's second quarter financial statements) could
cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations.
Reference is made to a more complete discussion of forward-looking statements
and applicable risks contained under the captions "Special Note on
Forward-Looking Statements" and "Business - Risk Factors" in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, which is
available free of charge on the Company's website (www.sixflags.com).
This release and prior releases are available on the Company's web
site (www.sixflags.com) and KCSA Public Relations web site at www.kcsa.com.