Vail Resorts Inc., owner of ski resorts in Colorado, Wyoming, California and Nevada, said its fiscal first-quarter net loss widened as costs rose for real estate development and stock options.
The company had a net loss for the quarter ended Oct. 31 of $34.3 million, or 93 cents a share, compared with $31.5 million, or 89 cents, a year earlier, according to a filing with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission. Total revenue fell about 13 percent to $85.4 million.
The operator of resorts in Vail, Beaver Creek and Breckenridge, Colorado, said it had $1.7 million in added costs to change its accounting method for stock options. The seasonally weak period before ski resorts open in November was responsible for part of the drop in revenue, the Vail, Colorado- based company said in the filing.
“The costs of running the real estate business were greater as we worked on construction projects for 2007 and 2008, which are expected to be lucrative for us in the future,” said Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron in an interview.
Record snowfall in Vail along with the early opening in Breckenridge of a new chair lift that is the highest in North America kicked off the 2005-2006 ski season, Aron said. The company boosted single-day lift tickets by as much as 7.4 percent to $73 at its Heavenly Valley resort in Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border, Vail said.
Vail Resorts shares rose 36 cents, or 1 percent, to $37.62 as of 1:27 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has gained 68 percent this year.
