Viad Corp Reports 2024 First Quarter Results

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Viad Corp Reports 2024 First Quarter Results

5/2/2024
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Viad Corp (NYSE: VVI), a leading global provider of extraordinary experiences, including attractions, hospitality, exhibition management services, and experiential marketing, today reported results for the 2024 first quarter.

Steve Moster, Viad’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We delivered solid first quarter results that were in line with our expectations. Pursuit's 14% revenue growth during the seasonally slower quarter was driven by strong attractions performance, including an impressive launch of our new FlyOver Chicago attraction. GES continues to deliver strong profitable growth, with a 70 basis point year-over-year improvement in its Adjusted EBITDA margin.”

Moster continued, "With accelerating business activity ahead and signs of robust demand for our extraordinary experiences at both Pursuit and GES, our favorable full year outlook remains unchanged. We continue to expect year-over-year consolidated adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 16% to 30% in 2024 with strong free cash flow.”

Financial Highlights
Viad

In addition to the commentary below, further information regarding our financial results, trends, and outlook are available in a supplemental earnings presentation, which can be accessed on the “Investors” section of our website, and in the financial tables accompanying this press release.
First Quarter Results

Revenue of $273.5 million increased $12.7 million (4.9%) from the 2023 first quarter.

Pursuit revenue of $37.2 million increased $4.6 million (14.0%) year-over-year primarily due to growth at our year-round attractions, with particularly strong demand for Sky Lagoon in Iceland and the opening of FlyOver Chicago on March 1.
GES revenue of $236.3 million increased $8.1 million (3.6%) year-over-year primarily due to continued underlying growth that more than offset a $4 million decline due to the timing of major non-annual shows.

Net loss attributable to Viad of $25.1 million increased $4.2 million from the 2023 first quarter primarily due to higher non-operational items and income tax expense.

Adjusted net loss* of $21.7 million improved $0.3 million primarily due to stronger consolidated Adjusted EBITDA and lower interest expense, partially offset by higher depreciation expense.

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA* of $4.3 million increased $0.9 million from the 2023 first quarter.

Pursuit adjusted EBITDA* of negative $11.1 million declined by $0.8 million year-over-year primarily reflecting increased operating costs to support higher business volume.
GES adjusted EBITDA of $18.9 million increased $2.2 million year-over-year primarily due to higher revenue and improved margin.

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet Highlights

Our cash flow from operations was an outflow of $7.5 million for the first quarter.
Our capital expenditures for the first quarter totaled $20.7 million, comprising $16.4 million for Pursuit (inclusive of about $8 million for growth projects) and $4.3 million for GES.
Our debt proceeds (net) totaled $26.3 million for the first quarter.
Our total liquidity was $137.2 million at March 31, 2024, comprising cash and cash equivalents of $48.8 million and $88.4 million of capacity available on our revolving credit facility.
Our debt was $488.4 million, and our net leverage ratio was 2.7 at the end of the first quarter.

2024 Outlook

Our guidance for Viad consolidated, Pursuit, and GES is as follows:
Viad

About Viad
Viad (NYSE: VVI) is a leading global provider of extraordinary experiences, including attractions, hospitality, exhibition management services, and experiential marketing through two businesses: Pursuit and GES. Our business strategy focuses on delivering extraordinary experiences for our teams, clients and guests, and significant and sustainable growth and above-market returns for our shareholders. Viad is an S&P SmallCap 600 company.

Pursuit is a global attractions and hospitality company that owns and operates a collection of inspiring and unforgettable experiences in iconic destinations. Pursuit’s elevated hospitality experiences enable visitors to discover and connect with world-class attractions, distinctive lodges, and engaging tours in stunning national parks and renowned global travel locations, in addition to experiencing our collection of Flyover Attractions in the vibrant cities of Vancouver, Reykjavik, Las Vegas, and Chicago.

GES is a global exhibition management and experiential marketing company offering a comprehensive range of services to the world’s leading event organizers and brands through two reportable segments, GES Exhibitions and Spiro. GES Exhibitions is a global exhibition and trade show management business that partners with leading exhibition and conference organizers as a full-service provider of strategic and logistics solutions to manage the complexity of their shows with teams throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Spiro is a global experiential marketing agency that partners with leading brands around the world to manage and elevate their experiential marketing activities, bonding brand and customer.

For more information, visit www.viad.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains a number of forward-looking statements. Words, and variations of words, such as “will,” “may,” “expect,” “would,” “could,” “might,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “deliver,” “seek,” “aim,” “potential,” “target,” “outlook,” and similar expressions are intended to identify our forward-looking statements. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions, or goals also are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and are subject to a host of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following:

general economic uncertainty in key global markets and a worsening of global economic conditions;
travel industry disruptions;
the impact of our overall level of indebtedness, as well as our financial covenants, on our operational and financial flexibility;
seasonality of our businesses;
unanticipated delays and cost overruns of our capital projects, and our ability to achieve established financial and strategic goals for such projects;
the importance of key members of our account teams to our business relationships;
our ability to manage our business and continue our growth if we lose any of our key personnel;
the competitive nature of the industries in which we operate;
our dependence on large exhibition event clients;
adverse effects of show rotation on our periodic results and operating margins;
transportation disruptions and increases in transportation costs;
natural disasters, weather conditions, accidents, and other catastrophic events;
our exposure to labor cost increases and work stoppages related to unionized employees;
our multi-employer pension plan funding obligations;
our ability to successfully integrate and achieve established financial and strategic goals from acquisitions;
our exposure to cybersecurity attacks and threats;
our exposure to currency exchange rate fluctuations;
liabilities relating to prior and discontinued operations;
sufficiency and cost of insurance coverage; and
compliance with laws governing the storage, collection, handling, and transfer of personal data and our exposure to legal claims and fines for data breaches or improper handling of such data.

For a more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our business or financial results, please see Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. We disclaim and do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement in this press release except as required by applicable law or regulation.

Forward-Looking Non-GAAP Measures

The company has not quantitatively reconciled its guidance for adjusted EBITDA to its respective most comparable GAAP financial measure because certain reconciling items that impact this metric, including provision for income taxes, interest expense, restructuring or impairment charges, transaction-related costs, and attraction start-up costs have not occurred, are out of the company’s control, or cannot be reasonably predicted. Accordingly, reconciliations to the nearest GAAP financial measure are not available without unreasonable effort. Please note that the unavailable reconciling items could significantly impact the company’s results as reported under GAAP.

For more information go to https://www.viad.com/investors/investor-news/news-details/2024/Viad-Corp-Reports-2024-First-Quarter-Results/default.aspx.

Contact:
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