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Denver PostIntrawest's real estate sales top revenue from
ski resorts Tuesday, September 10, 2002 - Real
estate sales in fiscal 2002 provided more revenue to Intrawest Corp. than
ski resorts did, a first for the continent's leading resort developer.
The British Columbia-based resort developer logged a 6.8 percent
increase in revenue, reaching $986 million in fiscal 2002, ended June 30,
compared with $922.8 million in fiscal 2001. Of that, resort operations
contributed $485.1 million, and real estate sales - a total of 1,290 units
sold in fiscal 2002 - provided $487.7 million. That's a 1.4 percent
decline in resort revenue - another historical first for Intrawest - and a
17.5 percent jump in real estate revenue. "Clearly their resort business is not growing to the extent that their
real estate business is," said Glen Reid, who watches Intrawest for Bear
Stearns & Co. "But that's not too surprising." Intrawest, which owns Copper Mountain and is close to finalizing a
contract to operate Denver- owned Winter Park ski area, is very careful in
its real estate operations, Reid said. It sells at least half of
everything it builds before breaking ground and targets buyers who have
set aside spending money and are less swayed by the sluggish economy, Reid
said. Intrawest's net income fell from $60.5 million in 2001 to $58.5 million
this year. Earnings per share for fiscal 2002 were $1.33, down from $1.45
in 2001. Intrawest's network of 10 mountain resorts hosted 6.2 million skier
visits in 2001-2002, down from 6.3 million in 2000-2001. But the company's
share of North America's total skier visits climbed from 9.3 percent in
2000-2001 to 9.9 percent in 2001-2002. The company's revenue per skier visit fell from $54.32 in 2000-2001 to
$53.36 last season. "Our team essentially proved that we could do it and, again, we have
proved to others and ourselves the consistency and predictability of the
business," said Joe Houssian, Intrawest president and chief executive
officer. |