United Parks & Resorts - Q2 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, and welcome to the United Parks & Resorts Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by 0. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Matthew Stroud, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Matthew Stroud (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to United Parks & Resorts Second Quarter 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.unitedparksinvestors.com. Replay information for this call can be found in the press release and will be available on our website following the call. Joining me this morning are Marc Swanson, Chief Executive Officer, and Jim Forrester, Interim Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. This morning, we will review our second quarter 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-K 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 SEC that are available on our website. 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, 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, Marc Swanson. Marc?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

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. We are also happy to have been able to repurchase approximately 6.3 million shares since the end of March through August fifth, 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 down compared to 2019, was again up for the quarter compared to prior year. We're very excited about our remaining summer events, including Bands, Brew and Barbecue at SeaWorld Orlando, Summer Spectacular at SeaWorld San Diego, Bourbon and Barbecue at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Bier Fest, Brews and Barbecue at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and Red, White and Barbecue at SeaWorld San Antonio over the next few weeks. 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. 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 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. During the second quarter, we repurchased 4.1 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $213.4 million. Subsequent to June 30th, 2024, through August 5th, 2024, we purchased approximately 2.2 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $116.1 million. 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.

On our June thirtieth, 2024 net leverage ratio is 2.76 times, and we had approximately $605 million of total liquidity, including approximately $232 million of cash on the balance sheet in advance of us starting our summer season, where we generate a majority of our cash flow. 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. We continue to progress with our cost and efficiency-related work, and we expect approximately $50 million of realized savings in 2024.

We are 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. 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 10.7 million times, up from 9.4 million at the end of Q1. Total revenue generated on the app continues to grow, and we are now seeing an approximate 32% 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. 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, 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. Jim?

James Forrester (Interim CFO and Treasurer)

Thank you, Marc. During the second quarter, we generated total revenue of $497.6 million, an increase of $1.6 million, or 0.3%, when compared to the second quarter 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 second quarter of 2024 increased by approximately 47,000 guests, or 0.8% when compared to the prior year quarter. 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 in-park per capita spending increased 2.5%.

Admission per capita decreased primarily due to lower pricing on certain promotional admission products and the net impact of the admissions, product, and park mix when compared to the prior year quarter. In-park per capita spending, defined as food, merchandise, and other revenue divided by total attendance, improved primarily due to pricing initiatives when compared to the second quarter of 2023. Operating expenses decreased $5.5 million, or 2.8%, when compared to the second quarter 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-19 park closures when compared to the second quarter of 2023.

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased $4.4 million, or 6.4% compared to the second quarter of 2023. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expenses is primarily due to an $8.6 million decrease in third-party consulting costs, including approximately $8.3 million of non-recurring costs for strategic initiatives when compared to the second quarter of 2023. We generated net income of $91.1 million for the second quarter, compared to net income of $87.1 million in the second quarter of 2023. We generated Adjusted EBITDA of $218.2 million, a decrease of $6.1 million when compared to the second quarter 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 2024 compared to 2023, total record revenue was $795 million, an increase of $5.6 million or 0.7%. Total attendance was 9.6 million guests, an increase of 119,000 guests, or 1.3%. Net income for the period was $79.9 million, an increase of $9.3 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $297.3 million, an increase of $0.6 million or 0.2%. Now turning to our balance sheet.

Our June 30, 2024 net total leverage ratio is 2.76 times, and we have approximately $605 million of total available liquidity, including $232 million 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 million repurchase authorization from the board, during the second quarter, we repurchased 4.1 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $213.4 million. Subsequent to June 30, 2024 through August 5, 2024, we purchased approximately 2.2 million shares for an aggregate total of approximately $116.1 million.

As Marc said, we believe our shares are materially undervalued. Our deferred revenue balance as of the end of June was $230.5 million, an increase of approximately 3.5% when compared to June 2023. 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 2019. We are pleased that we are seeing mid-single to low double-digit price increases depending on our pass products compared to the prior year. We're about to launch what we feel is our best pass benefits program ever for 2025, which we expect will drive additional increases in pass sales and a strong pass base for the remainder of this year and next year. We spent $79.5 million on CapEx in the second quarter of 2024. For 2024, we expect to spend approximately $170 million-$180 million on core CapEx and approximately $55 million-$70 million on CapEx on expansion and our ROI projects.

Now, let me turn the call back over to Marc, who will share some final thoughts. Marc?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Thank you, Jim. Before we open the call to your questions, I have some closing comments. In the second quarter 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, 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. 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 (participant)

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press Star, then One on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press Star then Two. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question.

At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question comes from Steven Wieczynski of Stifel. Go ahead, please.

Steven Wieczynski (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

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

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah. 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, you know, all the initiatives we have going on, our new events, new attractions, our dynamic pricing, CRM, things like that. And look, what we've said, like, look, we're gonna. We may use offers at times, and in kind of this current environment, we did use some in the quarter. And then also, you know, you have the mix or the impact of, you know, park and product mix and those things, you know, 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 second quarter. And some of those offers that at times may be at odds with per cap a little bit helped us achieve that growth.

Steven Wieczynski (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Okay, gotcha.

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, I'm sorry, let me just add, because you kind of alluded to it. You know, 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. You know, you can come to a park for a full year, and when you start to calculate the cost of per visit when you buy a pass, it's a great value, and especially when we're adding new things. So I think that'll continue to be something that we showcase as well.

I think it also points out kind of the resiliency of the business that and even in times that maybe people are looking for value, we provide that, and it's a resilient business.

Steven Wieczynski (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Okay, gotcha. Thanks, Marc. And then, second question. You know, Marc, if we think about the second half of the year, you know, obviously you're still kind of holding on to the, you know, the record EBITDA comment. And that would, you know, mean you'd probably, you know, you need to produce, I guess, you know, what is it? About $430 million of EBITDA in the second half of the year to, you know, to exceed that, that 2022 record. So with weather being unpredictable, you know, guess it's not giving you guys a lot of wiggle room if something, you know, does go wrong.

So I guess, yeah, 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 million for the second half of the year. You know, so what is, you know, what is consensus essentially getting wrong? Or, you know, where do you get that comfort from that, that you know, kind of getting north of that $430 million for the second half of the year is, is really gonna be, you know, plausible? Thanks.

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, 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 opened, like here in Orlando and in Tampa, and then our pricing and per cap initiatives as well, and then our cost initiatives. So, you know, getting contributions from volume, from per cap, from cost efficiencies, I think when we kind of step back and 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.

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

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

Steven Wieczynski (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Sure.

Operator (participant)

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

Ben Chaiken (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just to, just to 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, that'd be helpful as well. Thank you.

Marc Swanson (CEO)

... Yeah. Hey, Ben, I can help you on that. So, look, I'll focus on the quarter. You know, like you said, they were very slightly positive in April, so, you know, you can read into that that they would've been, you know, impacted from that point forward. And again, we're focused on driving total revenue, and so there's gonna be times that we run promotions that are at odds with per caps, but are, you know, we feel good about the volume or the revenue, you know, that's associated with that.

It's gonna vary, again, from quarter to quarter, but I think over time, we still are confident we can grow the per caps with all the initiatives, the new attractions, the CRMs, the mobile app, new things in our parks. So we'll continue to focus on that. What I can tell you, just preliminary, you know, July, is that the per caps were up very low single digits, so.

Ben Chaiken (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Great. That's super helpful. And then on CapEx, you gave us the number for the year, $170-$180 in core, and then $55-$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?

James Forrester (Interim CFO and Treasurer)

Yeah, Ben, it's Jim. I think, you know, as we look at what we spent last year, what we are spending this year, we continue to rightsize our amount of capital spend. I would say that we continue to make sure that we're in that $225-$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.

Ben Chaiken (Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst)

Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Operator (participant)

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

James Hardiman (Managing Director and Leisure and Travel Analyst)

Hey, good morning. So Marc, you mentioned maybe better per caps in July. I figured I'd ask, anything else you can tell us about July? Obviously, you know, the second quarter, attendance was up a little bit, per caps were down a little bit. Now, per caps up in July. Is total revenue up in July as well?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

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 two 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 one month like that. So, that would be, you know, 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 like days, which adjusts for that calendar shift, right?

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

James Hardiman (Managing Director and Leisure and Travel Analyst)

Got it. That's really helpful. And then, you know, maybe speak to the state of Orlando. You know, you've got Universal, who put out some pretty weak numbers and Disney with some cautionary comments. Obviously, that's just a portion of your business. But are you seeing any of that weakness in the Orlando market? You talked about some mix effects. I didn't know if, you know, 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?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah. 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, you know, perhaps people looking for other alternatives or cutting back on things, our business has remained resilient through, you know, past recessions. 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, you know, people are reluctant to wanna cut activities with their family and friends, and I think we offer a strong value proposition for that.

I'd say specifically to Orlando, you know, on a year-to-date basis, we are pleased with our Orlando parks. And so, I won't comment anymore beyond that, obviously, for competitive reasons, but, you know, I think we're pleased with our Orlando performance, and we like the resiliency of the business here.

James Hardiman (Managing Director and Leisure and Travel Analyst)

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

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

James Hardiman (Managing Director and Leisure and Travel Analyst)

Got it. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

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

Thomas Yeh (Equity Research Analyst)

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, what I would say, Thomas, is I'll just reiterate, you know, on a year-to-date basis, we're pleased with the attendance performance in Orlando, right? So, you know, and obviously, we get, you know, a good portion of our attendance from people who drive to our parks and are from the state of Florida, that type of thing. So I think, again, it's a resilient business during maybe what-- You know, we see the news. We know, there are things are a little tougher out there, obviously, so I think it shows the resilience of our business. You know, specifically, I think your other question on the health of the consumer was, you know, I look at a couple things.

One would be our in-park per caps, and you know, they were up in the quarter. They're up again in July. So, you know, I think that's one indicator people are, you know. Our strategies on in-park are working. Jim mentioned the pass, you know, pricing and, you know, getting the increases on that is a positive. And then certainly our group revenue bookings, you know, are trending ahead of 2023, and then our Discovery Cove bookings, you know, over, you know, not only 2024, but into 2020, you know, into 2025, you know, are, we're pleased with as well. So there, I take all those things together.

I mean, you could even look at our deferred revenue being positive. You know, 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 what we offer, which is a compelling value proposition and the resiliency of the business.

Thomas Yeh (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, that's helpful. And maybe just then the last one from me, any help on thinking through the new attraction timing? I think last year you saw some delays on launches. I noticed Penguin Trek 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?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, what I would point out is, you know, 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 that will remain. And so our goal is to certainly drive, you know, as many people, for the most part, as we can, to our parks and, you know, especially our events, so whether that's Halloween or Christmas or the opening of the new ride. So like the ride in Orlando, Penguin Trek, 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 for us, relative to some of the others in the industry. And, you know, I like that product differentiation, and you know, we're pleased with that ride.

Thomas Yeh (Equity Research Analyst)

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Look, I mean, all things equal, we would generally wanna open things earlier than July, so I would not necessarily consider this year, you know, more, you know, that much more normal. I mean, you know, 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, you know, closer to Memorial Day or early June or something like that. So, you know, we lost, you know, almost a month or so of not having that ride. We'll have it for the rest of the year, and, you know, we'll lap, you know, next year with that ride in June.

So, you know, ideally, we're focused on trying to get things open, you know, before, you know, the key parts of the season, which would be, you know, either for spring break or, you know, Memorial Day, depending on the park.

Thomas Yeh (Equity Research Analyst)

Okay, understood. Thank you so much.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Matthew Boss of J.P. Morgan. Go ahead, please.

John Staszak (Securities Analyst)

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, sure, John. So, you know, as I said in my prepared remarks, international attendance is, is still down to 2019. It was up slightly for the, for the quarter, versus 2023. So we still have, you know, I think a pretty substantial opportunity to recapture international. You know, we're, we're trying to do things on our end, but, but obviously, there, there's macro factors, and I'm sure other reasons as well, things we can probably do better also. But, you know, so I don't know when that'll come back, but, but, you know, it used to be back in 2019, roughly about 10% of our attendance overall, so a little more than 2 million people.

You know, we are, we are not, you know, we are still, I don't know, probably 40-ish% shy of that, you know, between, I don't know, 35 and 40, depending on kind of the quarter and how it ebbs and flows throughout the year. Yeah, yeah, between like 35, 40, 45%, still down to 19, depending on the quarter.

John Staszak (Securities Analyst)

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Well, yeah. So I'll give you just a high-level comment, and then if Jim wants to add anything, he can. Look, I think we've talked about this before. We view this business in a somewhat simple way. If we can grow our attendance a little bit each year, if we can grow our costs, or I'm sorry, grow our per caps a little bit each year, and then manage our costs to a reasonable level, you know, we you know that equation will generally result in EBITDA expansion. 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, you know, we have new things that we work to identify and new things that we'll, you know, I'm sure continue to identify into the future. So we have a lot of focus on that, something we take very seriously.

James Forrester (Interim CFO and Treasurer)

Yeah, the only thing I'd just add, Marc, is we had provided the $50 million of cost savings in 2024 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.

John Staszak (Securities Analyst)

Great. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

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

Chris Woronka (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Hey, good morning, guys. So as we think about the kind of Universal, the Epic opening next year, Marc, do you guys have any plans to... Is the marketing gonna ramp up or change much ahead of that? I mean, is there gonna be any kind of, like I said, call it counterprogramming, to you know, to try to reach folks as they consider their Orlando plans?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, of course, we would have things. So, you know, 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. You know, 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. We're adding a what I think is a really cool 5K run that starts at midnight on Friday the 13th.

So I think those are the type of things that are, you know, other reasons that make our events exciting and reasons to come visit. So yeah, we will absolutely have things. We have, obviously, been focused on, you know, just like any other year, we're focused on growing the business. The thing I would, you know, just remind everyone is, you know, we've been in Orlando since, you know, the early 1970s, so and we've added two parks of our own, Aquatica and Discovery Cove, since that time. And we have, you know, as the market's growing, you know, 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 Epic's gonna be a great park, and I'm sure there's gonna 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. Also, you know, it's a differentiated product, as I mentioned previously. So coming to SeaWorld is different than going Universal. I mean, it 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. And then, as I mentioned previously, you know, we get a lot of our attendance in Florida from people who can drive in. So, you know, taking all those things together, we're excited about being in Orlando and, you know, we're gonna continue to do our part to attract people.

Chris Woronka (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Yeah. Thanks, Marc. Appreciate all the, all the perspective there. And then the follow-up is on 2025 pass product lineup. You kind of previewed it earlier, but and I know that the details might be limited, but are you—is there going to be any kind of change in strategy relating to ancillary attachment in the way you might be able to do that through the pass or any other changes that might be, you know, notable on strategy?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

I think overall, I mean, we will continue to offer a great suite of benefits to our pass holders. And you know, 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. Jim alluded to, you know, we feel we're gonna have some of the best benefits we've had, right?

So, details will be forthcoming, but I think the strategy of, you know, really securing people's commitment, securing their commitment for the year is, will continue to be a strategy. And, you know, in fairness, you know, 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, you know, we're gonna try to make sure people have a compelling reason to buy that product.

Chris Woronka (Managing Director and Senior Analyst)

Okay, very good. Thanks, Marc.

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Sure.

Operator (participant)

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

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, you know, 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, you know, the different parks and the different brands?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, thanks, thanks, Lizzie. 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 year to date. So you can, you know, you can kind of read into that. You know, certainly, we have opportunities at all our parks, and certainly Busch Gardens, Tampa would be one of them. You know, 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. I think that's a big opportunity for us.

Lizzie Dove (VP and Equity Research Analyst)

Got it. Thank you. And then also, as we kind of look to 2025, you know, 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? Or I, I guess, said a different way, you know, 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?

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, we would expect to grow the business in 2025. Again, I would go back to, you know, we've been here a long time in the market. Like I said, we've participated in the EBITDA growth of the market and, you know, the EBITDA, the SeaWorld Park has grown over time. So our expectation is we'll continue to grow, right? 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, you know, 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, the, you know, not everybody, you know, the park can only hold so much, right? So there's gonna be an opportunity for us to pick off people that are in town like we have done historically in this market. You know, 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. And like I said, we're gonna have our own, our own attraction, our own new things to do in this park, which, you know, I think once we get those announced and talked about, people will see it's, it's gonna be an exciting year.

Lizzie Dove (VP and Equity Research Analyst)

Great. Thanks so much.

Operator (participant)

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

Marc Swanson (CEO)

Yeah, thank you, Cindy. On behalf of Jim and the rest of the management team at United Parks & Resorts, we 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 (participant)

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