News Six Flags Financials
- Thread starter Phoggy
- Start date
It sounds like the next new coaster for Cedar Point is planned for 2028.
AmyUD06
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Fixed your quote to reflect the only thing that can be definitively inferred from Mr. McClure's statement.
Six Flags is attempting to refinance the Company’s 5.375% Senior Notes due April 15, 2027 and 5.500% Senior Notes due April 15, 2027 (collectively, the “2027 Notes”) and to pay accrued and unpaid interest on the 2027 Notes, if any, to, but not including, the redemption date, and to pay fees and expenses in connection with the Offering and the Redemptions.
"Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is selling $1 billion of junk dollar bonds as the US park operator seeks to refinance debt maturing next year.
Initial pricing on the six-year notes are pointing to a interest rate close to 9%, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. are leading the deal, which is expected to close Thursday, the person added."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...1-billion-in-junk-debt?embedded-checkout=true
https://investors.sixflags.com/news...es-and-Redemptions-of-2027-Notes/default.aspx
"Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is selling $1 billion of junk dollar bonds as the US park operator seeks to refinance debt maturing next year.
Initial pricing on the six-year notes are pointing to a interest rate close to 9%, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. are leading the deal, which is expected to close Thursday, the person added."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...1-billion-in-junk-debt?embedded-checkout=true
https://investors.sixflags.com/news...es-and-Redemptions-of-2027-Notes/default.aspx
For anyone else who struggled to understand what any of this means, here’s a good video that breaks it all down in simpler terms. Sounds like the chain will be even worse off with paying for new attractions and experiences in the near future. Yet another big yikes from Six Flags.
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
Step 1: have balance of notes payable in full
Step 2: write check to Six Flags for that amount
Step 3: hope they use that cash to pay off their notes payable and not buy shares back, declare a massive dividend, or give executives very large bonuses.
Chapter 11 would allow another company (e.g. UP) to come in an propose a reorganization to the court. UP or another major company would make the case that regional parks can't financially survive on their own and need to consolidate further. This would not be a customer friendly result if it occurred.
If they were to sell a big park I have no choice but to think that KD might fit that narrative sadly.
AmyUD06
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I'm curious to hear your rationale here, aside from the fact that it is the park you are most familiar with.
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I frankly don’t know what counts as a big park, but including Rapterra, KD has been borderline neglected with only 3 coasters opening in the last 10 years. I guess they’ve invested a lot in jungle x, and retheming Pantherian, but outside of that. I can’t help but wonder if kd is on the possible sell off list
I think this is a common misconception. KD and Carowinds are actually pretty equal if you compare their investments from 2008 until now, and who knows what investment Carowinds would have gotten without the tax incentives.
Carowinds:
2009: Flying Cobras (relocation)
2010: Intimidator
2012: Windseeker
2015: Fury 325
2019: Copperhead Strike
2025: Snoopy's Racing Railway
Kings Dominion:
2008: Dominator (relocation)
2010: Intimidator 305
2012: Windseeker
2018: Twisted Timbers
2022: Tumbili
2025: Rapterra
It's been 7 years since a major thrill coaster at Carowinds. KD went 8 years between i305 and Twisted Timbers, but has gotten much more investment than Carowinds in the 2020s IMO.
They also just closed one of the two major parks nearby that they were competing with. Obviously they have no say in BGW, but the parks opened two weeks apart 51 years ago and have coexisted since. I haven’t been to BGW yet (absolutely planning to change that this year), but while it clearly seems to be the better of the two parks, they each have offerings that just can’t be compared to anything at the other.
Not to mention, KD was the testing ground for a lot of the new culinary offerings that are much higher quality than the prior offerings, that have since made their way chainwide. They were also the first park in the chain to start leaning into the thematic immersion and that has also started to spread to other legacy Cedar Fair parks (and hopefully SF). And it seems they’re trying to get some more entertainment offerings as well—Let’s Get Wild being a great example of that. So I’d argue that KD has been doing better than other parks in a lot of regards, some of it just isn’t as obvious like rides are.
They're pretty close as it pertains to Coasters itself, but when it comes to investment, it's clear Carowinds had started becoming the preferred park in the early 2010s since its Intimidator investment did far more for the park than Kings Dominion's.
2014 - Harmony Hall and park infrastructure improvements to prep for Fury325
2015 - Fury325, Slingshot, New Front Entrance, New Toll Plaza, New Parking Lot
2016 - Rethemed Waterpark, New Wavepool, Slide Complex
2017 - 5 new rides in a new County Fair area of the park.
2018 - Rethemed Camp Snoopy that massively improved the area for families.
2019 - Copperhead Strike, Blue Ridge Junction, and Onsite Hotel.
As for the 2020s, it's clear the large investment made in 2019 right before the pandemic had delayed a lot of the continued rapid expansion planned for the park. The park really didn't see anything till 2023's Aeronautica landing, which added 6 new attractions and a fully re-themed area,
2021 - Matt Racer slide
2023 - Aeronautica Landing
2025 - Camp Snoopy 2.0, Carolina Harbor Bar.
It's also a common misconception that tax incentives are a driving motivator for Carowinds' investment. It may have led to Fury being more grand in scale than without tax incentives, but the incentives provided are nothing significant enough to warrant what CF had invested into the property. It has more to do with the region's growth.
Displaying this is also the ride surveys we've seen from the parks. Carowinds' surveys contained exclusively coasters and high-thrill flats, whereas KD's surveys contain accessory offerings already added to Carowinds in the past decade.
Yes, KD very much became an experimental park when it came to entertainment from about 2019 (with Grand Carnivale) to Let’s Get Wild in 2022 being the last big experiment before major budget cuts would plague the department. COVID definitely ruined any momentum; I do feel that if the pandemic hadn’t happened, the park would have a lot more going on right now.
This was, far and away, the most encouraging earnings call I have ever listened to for this company.
A good amount of time was dedicated to the admittance that SFEC betrayed the trust of their customers over the past season. Even the CFO relented that the weather didn't impact Q4 nearly as much as consumer pushback over the cancellation/downscaling of winter events. Absolute breath of fresh air. It sounds like we'll have decisions on which winter events are returning before the parks open back up in March.
I am a John Reilly stan. This guy gets it. I felt spoken to as a guest rather than just a potential investor during this call. An exceptional balance was struck between telling investors what they wanted to hear and letting them know that guest experience is going to be prioritized with related expenditures. No stock guidance was issued which implies 6F wants to remain flexible in this area.
In his 2 months as CEO, John has visited 14 parks and solicited direct feedback from workers on the ground. It was emphasized that each property has its own identity and a lot more decision making power will be awarded at localized levels going forward. They're taking a good long look at efficiency and throughput with the belief that satisfied guests will be more willing to spend and return.
A portal has also been established where local workers can make direct suggestions to the executive teams. 300 such suggestions have already been made, with the maintenance teams in particular being cited for equipment purchase requests (the importance of having multiple trains ready at all times was also mentioned during this segment).
It may not seem like it from an immediate numeric standpoint, but today's call made me trust that Six Flags is very much pointed in the right direction. I believe this is the first time I've ever said this on these forums: I would feel confident purchasing shares of FUN at this time.
A good amount of time was dedicated to the admittance that SFEC betrayed the trust of their customers over the past season. Even the CFO relented that the weather didn't impact Q4 nearly as much as consumer pushback over the cancellation/downscaling of winter events. Absolute breath of fresh air. It sounds like we'll have decisions on which winter events are returning before the parks open back up in March.
I am a John Reilly stan. This guy gets it. I felt spoken to as a guest rather than just a potential investor during this call. An exceptional balance was struck between telling investors what they wanted to hear and letting them know that guest experience is going to be prioritized with related expenditures. No stock guidance was issued which implies 6F wants to remain flexible in this area.
In his 2 months as CEO, John has visited 14 parks and solicited direct feedback from workers on the ground. It was emphasized that each property has its own identity and a lot more decision making power will be awarded at localized levels going forward. They're taking a good long look at efficiency and throughput with the belief that satisfied guests will be more willing to spend and return.
A portal has also been established where local workers can make direct suggestions to the executive teams. 300 such suggestions have already been made, with the maintenance teams in particular being cited for equipment purchase requests (the importance of having multiple trains ready at all times was also mentioned during this segment).
It may not seem like it from an immediate numeric standpoint, but today's call made me trust that Six Flags is very much pointed in the right direction. I believe this is the first time I've ever said this on these forums: I would feel confident purchasing shares of FUN at this time.
That all sounds incredibly promising. Especially appreciate the transparency and honesty. Any smart investor should understand that prioritizing the guest experience over short-term stock price increases should translate into greater long-term growth.
Some highlights:
Reilly on importance of employee input:
Reilly on creating trust:
CFO on Winterfest/HITP cancellations:
Reilly when asked about the fine line between cost efficiency and impairing the guest experience:
Full transcript:
Reilly on importance of employee input:
Reilly on creating trust:
CFO on Winterfest/HITP cancellations:
Reilly when asked about the fine line between cost efficiency and impairing the guest experience:
Full transcript: