Apr 23, 2014
Executives
Nancy Krejsa – SVP, IR and Corporate Communications Jim Reid-Anderson – Chairman, President and CEO John Duffey – CFO
Analysts
Barton Crockett – FBR Capital Markets Afua Ahwoi – Goldman Sachs Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities James Hardiman – Longbow Research Ian Zaffino – Oppenheimer Scott Hamann – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Operator
Good morning, and welcome to the Six Flags' First Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Keyla and I will be your conference operator for today.
All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks there will be a question and answer session.
(Operator Instructions). Thank you.
I would now turn the call over to Nancy Krejsa, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for Six Flags. Please go ahead.
Nancy Krejsa
Good morning, and thank you for joining our call. With me today are Jim Reid-Anderson, Chairman, President and CEO of Six Flags; and John Duffey, our Chief Financial Officer.
We will begin the call with prepared comments and then open call for any questions. Our comments include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws.
These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements. In addition on the call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures.
Investors can find the detailed discussion of business risks and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures in the Company's Annual Reports, quarterly reports or other forms filed or furnished with the SEC. At this time I’ll turn the call over to Jim for his prepared comments.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Thank you Nancy and good morning everyone. I am encouraged by our early performance indicators which bodes very well for the main operating season.
Specifically, I would highlight the 7% growth in our guest spending per cap which reinforces that both our ticket pricing and in-park revenue strategies are working. I continue to believe that we have many years of revenue growth opportunities ahead of us driven primarily by our pricing initiatives.
In addition, I am pleased that our Active Pass Base has grown 25%. I know that this is a new term for you, but it represents at any point in time the combined total active Season Pass holders and guests on our membership plan.
As you know, for the last year, we have increasingly emphasized membership plants. These are similar Season Passes that they allow our customers to make multiple visits to our parks.
However, there are two important differences. First, members pay on a monthly basis as opposed to upfront which makes passes more affordable and second, membership plans renew automatically after one year which creates a nice recurring revenue and cash flow stream for the company.
For this reason, members are even more valuable than season pass holders and we are pleased with the uptake on membership plans by our guests. The nice growth in the active pass space and our continued success in raising per cap makes us feel optimistic about the outlook for the 2014 season and beyond.
We really feel that our strategy is right on track and it all starts with delighting our guests ensuring they have fun at Six Flags, receive great value for their money and are eager to visit our parks again and again. You will recall that we finished 2013 with record high guest satisfaction ratings and it really gives me great pleasure to share that our scores were up again in the first quarter.
In addition, a recently published independent survey recognized Six Flags as the leader in guest satisfaction amongst all regional theme parks and the close second to Disney across all theme parks. Another key component of our strategy is innovation which really is part of our DNA.
We take great pride in our industry-leading innovation and it has been an area where we are firing on all cylinders. For us, innovation takes many forms.
For example, I just spoke about our guest satisfaction score. Our market research team surveys more than 1 million guests a year providing park management with instant and valuable feedback on a daily basis in a format that allows us to respond and react, often within hours to that feedback.
In addition, we routinely perform a myriad of incremental surveys of both guests and others who have never visited our park on a variety of special topics. We use this independent feedback in our decision-making process as we look to expand and update our offering.
Another area in which we have taken huge stride is our information technology. In 2011, 2012, and 2013, our IT team was named to the Information Week’s Top 500 Companies and in 2014, we will recognize as being among the lead 100.
We earned this recognition because of our IT innovation. For example, we recently introduced a biometric entry system to see the pass holders.
This system eliminates a separate buying and processing step for our guests providing them extra time to enjoy the park. Biometric system also allows us to electronically load customized coupons on the guest’s Season Pass cards and eliminates many steps to reissue passes for future seasons.
In the area of park operations, we were the first to introduce an all-season dining pass. It was extremely successful, well received by our guests and very profitable.
We are continuing to see excellent growth in this offering and are making further enhancements to the program in 2014. We are also the first regional theme park to introduce a membership plan for our guests.
As noted earlier, we believe this program will enhance our renewal rate and provide even more stability to our revenue and cash flow. Of course, a key component of our innovation is how we deploy our capital.
We invest 9% of revenue each year and introduced something new in every single park. And just like we did for the 2013 season, we are introducing several new world record-breaking rides in 2014.
Zumanjaro is the tallest drop ride in the world and is located at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. The ride hoists riders 415 feet in the sky and rockets them back down to earth at a heart standing 90 miles an hour.
Zumanjaro by the way is attached to Kingda Ka, the tallest and fastest coaster in the world. Not only did we innovate with the best drop ride in the world, but we also leveraged our cost base efficiently by using an existing structure.
The world record-setting New England Sky Screamer swing ride will become the tallest attraction and newest landmark at Six Flags New England. 400-foot aerial adventure, the lift gets 40 stories into the air and spin them at speeds of 40 miles an hour while the board riders – breathtaking views of the Connecticut River and the New England Skyline as they are spinning round and round.
Goliath, located at Six Flags Great America near Chicago is annihilating all other wooden coaster records by shattering not one, not two but three world records and becoming the most extreme wooden coaster on the planet. This behemoth coaster bodes the title of the World’s Fastest Wooden Roller Coaster and also lays claim the world’s tallest and steepest drop on a wooden coaster, taking riders up a mammoth 165-foor lift hill then plunging them down a record-setting 180-foot 85 degree drop.
Guests at Six Flags Mexico in Mexico City will experience a thrilling transformation of one of the park’s iconic roller coaster Medusa, which is being re-engineered into a state-of-the-art hybrid coaster. The combination of a plastic wooden structure with a new steel track provides a smoother, faster and more thrilling ride that includes an incredible 117-foot drop, four over bank turns and a world record-breaking three whole inversions.
I cannot wait to experience these phenomenal rides and also cool off at Six Flags over Georgia outside of Atlanta where we are unveiling the largest capital expansion in the park’s 46 year history. The reintroduction of a massive tropically themed water park inside the theme park and that includes an 800,000 gallon way pool and the world’s first ever blended slides.
In addition to these amazing attractions, we got something new at all of our other parks from water side to smaller rides and shows to completely renovated sections of our park. I know I say this every year, but I do really believe that 2014 is the best line up of new rides and attractions in our company’s history.
This is important because our guests like you and me they love to experience something new and different. And we know our new attractions pull guests into our parks.
Our innovation strategy is definitely working. In summary, we are very well positioned as we head into the heart of our operating season.
We have successfully executed price increases across our parks. Our active base of guest passes is up and our team is ready to rock and roll.
And talking about all rock and rollers, John, would you like to share a few more details on our first quarter financials?
John Duffey
Sure, thanks, Jim. I also cannot wait to rock and roll on our new rides.
My comments will be fairly brief as this was a quite quarter and we have no year-to-date financials to discuss. Attendance for the quarter declined by 434,000 as we discussed on our last earnings call, we anticipated a 300,000 decline in attendance in the quarter as a result of the shift of the Easter holiday and related school spring break at some of our parks into the second quarter this year.
Unfortunately, in addition, we saw some very unfavorable weather at our two Texas parks during their spring breaks in early March which accounted for the remainder of the decline. The decline in attendance was partially offset by a very strong increase in guest per capita spending in the quarter which strengths in both admissions and in-park spending.
First quarter guest spending per capita increased $3.03 or 7.4%. Our innovation and our ongoing focus on improving guest satisfaction has allowed us to continue to execute our pricing strategy.
The best indicator of our success in this area is our admission forecast which increased $2.21 or 9.7% in the quarter. Our focus on innovated in-park product offering drove a $0.82 or 4.5% increase in in-park forecast.
As a result of the decline in attendance, total revenue in the quarter decreased $14 million or 15.8% with ticket and in-park revenues down 16.4% and 20.4% respectively. We continue to be very pleased with our Season Pass and membership strategy.
In the past we have referenced deferred revenue as a good proxy for the success. And you may have noted in the press release financial tables that deferred revenue declined by 7% as compared to the same period last year.
The decline is primarily due to two factors. First, people tend to purchase Season Passes just before their initial visit to the park, so the spring break shift transferred some demand into the second quarter.
Second, we have successfully converted guests from Season Passes to membership plans. Since membership plans are initially for one year and then convert to a monthly commitment after the first yea, they tend to have a lower amount of deferred income toward the end of the first year and beyond than the traditional Season Pass.
Jim mentioned our Active Pass Base which we started tracking last year and believe it’s a better indicator of future revenue growth. This metric looks at the total combined, active Season Passes and memberships outstanding at any point in time and as of March 31 of this year, our Active Pass Base is up 25% over March 31 of last year.
Moving to the cost side, Cash operating and SG&A expenses decreased $6 million or 5.3% this decrease was primarily due to operating and marketing cost associated with the later spring beak as well as our ongoing focus on managing costs. Due to the strong cost management, adjusted EBITDA declined only $4.9 million in the quarter despite a $13 million revenue decline associated with the shift in Easter.
With the Easter and spring break shift, a year-to-date comparison at the end of the second quarter will be a better indicator of performance. Free cash flow in the quarter was negative $117 million.
We always see an outflow of cash from operations in the first quarter as most of our parks are closed and we are spending on new capital projects. In addition, we paid our $45 million in dividends and repurchased $5 million of shares in the quarter.
As it relates to our capital structure, reported net debt as of March 31, was $1.377 billion as compared to $1.231 billion at December 31 2013, an increase of $146 million. With the planned new capital introductions which will be launched in the second quarter, our focus on pricing and continued strength and Season Pass and memberships and our relentless focus on managing costs, I think we are very well positioned for 2014 season.
So now I’d like to turn the call back over to Jim.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Thank you, very much, John. As I mentioned at the beginning of our call, the strategy is intact and our team is energized and laser-focused on executing our business plan for 2014 and beyond.
As a reminder, as we approach of our goal of achieving $500 million of modified EBITDA, we intend to introduce a new aspirational financial target. In addition to the innovation that I mentioned earlier, we will be introducing holiday in the park at Magic Mountain for the first time this year.
Holiday in the park is a magical time where we transform our warm weather park into a magical winter wonderland with millions of lights and other holiday festivities. We believe this will be a huge success to Six Flags’ Magic Mountain.
We are also expanding our grand nights for high school seniors who are locked in our park for the night with their friends. This program has been successful at several of our parks and we believe we can further build on this event.
Last, I would like to touch on our most recent business development announcement. Given the strength of the Six Flags brand and the attractiveness of our industry, our international expansion strategy is an excellent long-term growth opportunity for the company.
Our initial project is with an excellent partner in an excellent location and we are progressing with other discussions, develop similar arrangements with parties in other markets outside of North America. We will not invest any capital, but we will be actively involved in the design, development and ongoing operations of parks and we will receive ongoing fees for our work and intellectual property.
To ensure we continue supporting our base business appropriately, while also adequately supporting our international growth strategy, we have realigned our organizational structure. John Odum who has 40 years of experience in the industry and previously managed our East Coast Park operations has been named Senior Vice President of International Operations.
John will manage Le Ronde in Montreal and Six Flags Mexico in Mexico City and will also manage park design, development and operations for all parks outside the United States. Tom Ivan who had previously managed the West Coast Park for Six Flags is now Senior Vice President of all U.S.
Park Operations. Tom also has 40 years of experience in the industry.
We are extremely excited about this new growth opportunity for the company. I do believe that Six Flags us unique and that our brand is incredibly strong worldwide.
We have the chance to strategically drive ongoing and expanding revenue and cash growth with modest incremental investments. Even with the excitement of our international opportunities, our focus remains on the basics, delighting our guests, leading the industry and innovation, implementing efficiencies in our operations, investing in our people and building shareholder value by consistently growing the business and returning excess cash to shareholders through a stable and increasing dividend and share repurchases.
We are in a great place to achieve that goal short, medium, and long-term. Keyla, at this point, could you please open up the line for any questions?
Operator
Yes. (Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Barton Crockett with FBR Capital Markets.
Barton Crockett – FBR Capital Markets
Thank you for taking the question. I was very interested in the per cap growth metric that you reported.
And I guess, I was wondering how reliable of a gauge that is of the underlying trend given all the kind of things that could be skewing it at this point, including the change in accounting for. The change in mix for your Active Pass Base unit, does that affect it at all and just the seasonality, the fact that this first quarter is less than 10% of the year and was skewed by Easter?
Does any of that have an impact on this number or is it a real kind of solid indicator of the underlying trend?
Jim Reid-Anderson
We believe it’s a solid indicator of the underlying trend, Barton, for several reasons. While this is a small quarter, you are right, seasonally, 5% of our attendance, the reality is that we’ve outlined for all of our investors that we have gone through a multi-year strategy around pricing and we’ve probably taken the most aggressive increases in pricing on both our main gate.
And also with regard to Season Pass in the last few months. And we’ve seen that that has been successful it’s held.
So I think that the fact that ticket pricing is up and that we’ve been very careful and smart about the way we price in-park, we think that’s solid. Although, you are actually right, it’s the smallest quarter.
John Duffey
I agree with Jim, I think it’s a good indicator. And you think about memberships, we began selling memberships in February of 2013.
So, we are just now seeing those memberships renewing that on a month-to-month basis. So there was very little impact per cap associated with the memberships.
Secondly, in terms of mix Season Passes versus one-day ticket, there was a very – a slight difference in the mix, so very little impact associated with that as well.
Barton Crockett – FBR Capital Markets
Okay. And then the new metric, the Active Pass Base, in last year I think you guys said that your Season Pass was 48% of attendance.
Can you give us a similar percentage now for this new metric?
Jim Reid-Anderson
We are not going to disclose, as you know, we disclose Season Pass at the end of each year. But given the change with deferred revenue everything else, we wanted people to understand, but the mix has changed.
But we have more and more members and therefore looking at active base, is a better way of looking at the trends for the future. I would say to you that the mix is not dissimilar to last year.
So that Season Pass mix is not dissimilar, so that's not skewing the number. What we are truly seeing is an increase in our overall membership and Season Pass base versus where we were at last year.
And there are unique guests, so it’s not, you know that there is duplication there. These are unique guests and we’ve seen that increase.
Barton Crockett – FBR Capital Markets
Okay, that's great, and then one last question on the international opportunity for parks. How many parks are built around the world outside North America per year or per decade that you think could be potentially licensing opportunities for Six Flags?
Jim Reid-Anderson
I think there are a number of parks that are built, we are not talking about hundreds, but there are a number built every year and I think that number is going to increase and I’ll tell you why, there is a growing middle-class, you know this Barton, a growing middle-class across the world and when you look at Asia, especially the Middle East, now there is more disposable income. And people want to share that sort of magical experience of visiting at Six Flags or a theme park and so I believe that this number will grow over time.
I know the number of polls that we get, the number of very strong parties that we are talking to who would like to build parks with us. It’s really up to us to decide who want to do this with and where and we are going to be very cautious about that, because if you take the wrong steps with the wrong partners, it can be more trouble than it’s worth.
So we are focused on it, we have announced our first park. Over time, we will announce more and we think this will be a great opportunity for us and the reason we can do this is that we do have a global brand and that people who come here to see the brand, they know what it and they want to take it home with them.
Barton Crockett – FBR Capital Markets
Great, thank you.
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Afua Ahwoi with Goldman Sachs.
Afua Ahwoi – Goldman Sachs
Hey, thank you. Couple questions from me.
First, on the – this new Active Pass that you gave us 25%, I know you said you have been tracking for about a year now. So maybe can you give us – is there any color you can give us on how that looks sequentially, so, in maybe fourth quarter of last year and third quarter?
And then also, maybe remind us how to go-forward I'm assuming the membership may affect how we look at a deferred income number. So, maybe can you remind us on the accounting of that, how it flows through, so that – especially since deferred revenue as you said, over time may not be as helpful as an indicator as it used to be a forward trend?
And then just finally, on the international parks, I know, given that you may be – you will be rolling out more of these. To the extent you can share, what are the economics?
How do they look like? How does each deal structure come about?
Is it a development fee or what percent of revenues you should take as a license and to the extent you can share? Thanks.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Yes, let me start with the third one and then we will go to the first two. Ahwoi, you know, we don’t give any guidance.
I know you would like to know the details, but with regard to international, for a number of reasons we are not going to give guidance, because we are actively in discussions and it doesn’t make sense to say here is what we are going to make. But what I can say is what we said before that, we are in a position where we will not put any capital in, but we will generate revenue and the revenue will come from a few sources including licensing our IP, overseeing park management and also being in a position to help develop and build the park wherever it is.
So, we are in a very good place and it starts immediately. As soon as we sign deals, we generate revenues.
Now there are some cost associated with this, but overall, it’s a very good long-term business opportunity that is ongoing and built over time. So that’s really as far as we are going to go, I know you’d love more detail but we won’t get it.
With regard to the active base, which was your first question, it’s going to be a similar answer, but you really said, give us color on what it looks like. Now remember this is – as you said the first year, so it’s difficult to say this is exactly how the trends will always look.
But I think they will be similar. The membership portion was generally be in a position where we will see a build we think because we are so active on this front whereas with regard to Season Passes, that build during the year and then falls off at the end of the year.
So if you look at a traditional baseline for this, Season Pass is what always increase during the year and then disappear at year end because they no longer exists. With memberships we’ll always have an active base, because we’ll have people who stay with us and then we will build on that over time.
John Duffey
Yes and let me just touch on the accounting for the memberships. So, when a guest purchases a membership, it’s very similar to – it becomes very similar to a traditional Season Pass.
We would at that time book deferred revenue for the entire amount and the difference between a membership and the traditional season pass is we would also book a receivable for the remaining amount of money that the individual owes. But we would recognize that revenue similar to a season pass.
We recognize it based on a historical trend of visits. The only difference is that a season pass so all of the revenue will be recognized by the end of the year typically.
And with the membership since it’s a 12 year contract, there may be a portion that would fall into the succeeding year. When the membership converts to a month-to-month after in year – in month 13, then we would recognize that revenue that you are paying on a month-to-month basis in that month.
Afua Ahwoi – Goldman Sachs
Okay. Thank you.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Thanks, Afua.
Operator
Your next question is from the line of Tim Conder with Wells Fargo Securities.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Thank you. Staying on the hot topic of the day, the Active Pass statistic, if I am thinking about this right, realistically it's just another form of the Season Pass.
You've got the broad Season Pass and then you got active membership and then what we’ll call the traditional Season Passes. So, I guess on that and Jim, you had mentioned also within what you were talking about, you are seeing, I guess, the growth in the membership part is coming from a incrementally new customer and not just switching from the Season Passes to that or what type of mix over season switch versus an incremental customer?
Jim Reid-Anderson
We think it’s both actually, Tim. We believe that they are new customers we sign up and we believe there are many Season Pass holders we switch across as well.
So, it’s actually both.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
I mean, is it more what you are seeing here in the first year? Is it more that crossing over?
Or is it an incremental customer, I guess is the question because at the end of the day that the 25% stat is a great increase. But, it seems hopefully – to be honest with you.
So we are just trying to get a better understanding of the drivers there within that overarching bucket.
Jim Reid-Anderson
It is a big increase Tim, you are absolutely right. But you got to remember at the first quarter at any point in time, your lowest level historically of Season Passes that people have signed up for.
So, I think it’s definitely both. We’ve definitely got incremental people who have signed up and we’ve got Season Pass holders who have gone with the traditional Season Passes.
If you think about it this way, we would start selling new Season Passes in the fall and we’ve historically done that. Now what we’ve got, we still got that going on to people have signed up Season Passes in the fall and then as they come into spring, they are doing the same thing.
And on top of that, we’ve got people who have just said, I want to be a member of Six Flags and I want to be in a position when my pass automatically renews. So, with what we’ve done here, I truly believe we’ve generated, not only incremental revenue but incremental pass holders.
So it’s a combination of both, but I cannot breakout the split to you.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Okay, well again, the business approach here with the membership that gives a much smoother revenue consistency over time. So it's a great – manage you can transition over great and hopefully by that Easter payments you are driving incremental volume here?
Okay.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Tim, you are right, you are right and the reason that that's important is if you think about over times as John mentioned, once you get past that 12 months, then it’s monthly revenue recognition. So it does over a period of time, the more you convert, it smoothes your revenue out.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Okay and then, Jim, on the capital expenditures you talked about roughly the 9% of revenues as CapEx. Two questions, I guess, on that.
Number one is, as you start to get the fee income related to the international parks, will – should we think about that 9% of CapEx as your – still your total revenues or exclusive of that fee income? And then, also you’ve started to allude to at our conference this past fall that maybe 9% potentially could start to come down a little.
Just any update on that and then and again, just color how you are going to define it going forward?
Jim Reid-Anderson
I think that’s very good question, Tim. And here is what I say, certainly, for the next couple of years, we are going to be at the 9% level and we would include any incremental revenue from the international side in that.
Over time, as that grows, then clearly we would be in a position to be able to reduce the overall percentage of total revenue bit-by-bit. And that was part of our thinking all along with regard to how we would treat it.
So, I am not going to give you a number and say we are going to go from 9% to whatever, but over a period of time, we will reduce that a little bit. We still want to be in a position where we invest capital.
I think we are at the lowest overall at our 9% across the industry we are very efficient and we got top ratings in innovation. So, we can be – we can continue to be efficient and we’ll look at it over the next few years.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Okay, and then lastly, how are you internally thinking about comparables, because obviously in the second quarter last year, there was a weather impact on many of your parks. And in the third quarter, unfortunately you had the accident in Texas and that is one of your larger parks and that impacted there too.
So, is it fair to say that you somewhat had easy comparables in the second and third quarters of this year?
John Duffey
Yes, Tim, as everyone knows, we did have some horrendous weather in the second quarter of last year. And so, obviously, our hope is that we don’t see that weather this year.
So we are looking at hopefully seeing some nice increases with some good weather. What I would also say that always that we are closely watching a lot of the school systems, because they are adding days on to the end of the year in June, to make up for the Snow Day.
So that’s one area that we are watching closely.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Okay, great. Thank you, gentlemen.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of James Hardiman with Longbow Research.
James Hardiman – Longbow Research
Hi good morning. Couple from me.
I don't want to harp too much on the first quarter attendance, given the size of the quarter. But, I might as well, while we are here.
Can you just remind us – sort of walk us through the operating calendar, which parks were opened when in the first quarter? And then you touched on the negative weather that you saw in Texas, can you maybe touch on some of the other weather trends?
I am assuming Magic Mountain was open for most of the quarter. I think that Atlanta Park was maybe weekends in March or something like that.
Walk us through that and maybe the weather impacts there.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Yes, basically we had five parks open. The year-round parks which are, there are three of those.
It’s LA, San Francisco and Mexico City. And then we had the two parks in Texas that opened up at the beginning of March at San Antonio and Dallas.
And Atlanta was open towards the end of the quarter. So that’s why unfortunately, we did see normal weather in the California markets which – it was a great indication of the fact that even with pricing increases there, we saw nice attendance.
Unfortunately with only five parks opened having adverse weather in two of those parks Dallas and San Antonio obviously impacted attendance. And most of them – unfortunately most of that weather was on the weekends and just remember that in those – both those Texas parks, their spring break is the beginning of March.
So that did not shift at all.
James Hardiman – Longbow Research
Okay, very helpful.
Jim Reid-Anderson
The other thing that’s important which you started to talk about there James is that, in essence we last half our days because of this, because of the weather and I think that in addition, you’ve got that Easter shift which had a huge effect. So, we look at it very simplistically.
You’ve got this effect that take place, we got hit a little bit with weather, but we fundamentally believe that over the course of the season, these things tend to even out and that’s been proven year-in year-out. If you look at the weather effects we’ve had in the last two or three years we’ve had some begun, but every year we’ve hit new highs.
And our goal is to do that again this year even if the first quarter was softer for a number of reasons.
James Hardiman – Longbow Research
Great, and then if I look at the attendance, when I tease out the 300,000 visitor calendar shift, I get to in attendance decline of about 8%. It sounds like a lot of that is weather, obviously, it's difficult for us to quantify what that impact was.
But when I look at the per capita increases, admissions and in-park, are you guys seeing that any of the pricing increases may have affected attendance in a negative way, or do we think it's all weather that drove that decline?
Jim Reid-Anderson
Our view is that, when you look at where the decline took place, it was in Texas as the attendance decline and it was all weather, that's what we are seeing. And as John described, many of the price increases that we took, we actually started taking them in the fall last year and we had a very strong breakfast, very strong holiday in the park with these same price increases in.
So, our belief is truly, James, that it’s a weather issue.
James Hardiman – Longbow Research
Great and then just last question, if I think about this Easter shift, should we be thinking about this as a net neutral to your business, or is it possible that a later Easter when more of your parks are presumably open and up and running is potentially a net positive for you guys for the year? How should I think about that?
Jim Reid-Anderson
We are not going to give you guidance on what the number would be. I wouldn’t make any assumptions one way or the other, James.
James Hardiman – Longbow Research
Okay, fair enough. Thanks, guys.
Operator
Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Your next question is from the line of Ian Zaffino with Oppenheimer.
Ian Zaffino – Oppenheimer
Hi, thank you very much. The question beyond that biometric, I guess tracking or verification that you are doing, can you help us understand, I guess maybe two years ago there was sort of no tracking of any of your customers.
So you really had no idea who was who. What portion is it sort of now?
Where do you think is going to get to? And do you have with the CRM systems behind that to support an effort like this because I know you mentioned couponing, but what could be the potential for this opportunity?
John Duffey
Well, as we – as Jim mentioned, that we are very pleased with the biometric system that we have put in place at all of our parks and the – I’ll start with the biometric it’s basically a finger scan, it’s not a fingerprint, but it’s a finger scan that basically allows us to – for the most part process Season Passes when they enter the gate instead of coming through the gate and having to go to a separate area to cross the Season Pass. So, from what we’ve seen so far, it’s extremely efficient and our guests are extremely pleased with what they are seeing and not have to wait in two lines.
As it relates to – from an efficiency standpoint, our hope is that, we will obviously see some lower cost associated with that as we have fewer people assigned to those processing efforts. But, long-term, the goal is to be able to get everything put on to the Season Pass, we now have the coupons on those Season Passes and over time, be able to track a lot of the spending data as people are in the park.
And I think that will provide us a lot of good indications in terms of how people spend money and where we can have the best program for Season Pass.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Ian I want to clarify, because you said that, historically two years ago, maybe we didn’t had any idea. The truth is that the company has always had tremendous information and perhaps the right way to characterize it is that we may not have been using that information appropriately.
So, I described earlier that we carried out research for our guest satisfaction surveys over 1 million people, 1 million guests and then we do hundreds of thousands more specific surveys when we need to. And with our Season Pass processing system and the improvement in the biometric, we now have access to millions of people and our goal is very simple.
It is to put our guests in a position where the whole process is much easier for them that should put us in a position where we can sell even more effectively. And so we use the example of coupons and it’s much simplistic as of now literally the coupons are all on their Season Pass basically and they are able to process sales directly through that and we can track it.
So we are actually in a position now with what we have that we can track tremendous amounts of information and it’s simply going to be getting better and better. When you ask the question about Season Pass, it’s basically a 100% of our guests.
We are in the position where can we can track in a fair amount of detail. So, the whole goal ultimately is to be able to be in a position to use it to drive more revenue for the company and really there is very little that we are missing.
We are updating as we go along or improving software, we are making the changes here and there, but we have what we need to be able to successfully do this. And we have incredibly strong marketing organization, not only at a corporate level but in the park that that supports this and supports our pricing initiatives.
And you heard already we’ve been recognized hundred for information week from an IT perspective. So I have to tell you, Ian, this is an area I feel incredibly positive about.
Ian Zaffino – Oppenheimer
Yes, I mean, I just look at this sort of as the added benefit of almost like a loyalty program or a loyalty card. And if you look across the industry whether it's quick service restaurants or is it retailers, the introduction of these loyalty cards have had a pretty big impact on businesses.
But just a final question and I know this has sort of been asked already, but I want to ask it may be in a different way is, on the international expansion, it looks like we got one deal. But I think you guys have been talking about it for – I don't know, four years or so where the opportunity has been, you’ve been getting these opportunities for four years now.
Are we going to see an acceleration in the number of international deals? Can we expect sort of one a year, one every six months, or is it just sort of like going to be every couple years or so?
Just any type of color on sort of the pace of these deals would be helpful.
John Duffey
Yes, Ian it’s very hard to be able to predict. It’s like M&A, right, you can’t actually predict specifically when deals are going to be signed.
So I would be, it would be wrong of me to say this is when a deal will be signed. What I can tell you, you referred to four years ago, but Six Flags is really in a completely different place to where it was four years ago.
We were coming out of bankruptcy then. We talk about the opportunities, but I think the primary goal of this team was to make sure that the base business is functioning the way we wanted it to.
And I think we’ve proven over the last few years that we’ve done that. The company is firing on all cylinders.
And I think the differentiator here is that the brand is incredibly strong. We’ve been carefully betting a number of opportunities and we are at the point now where we – as you know executed one and we are positioned to be able to do more.
But I would genuinely cannot tell you when, because things as you know can go wrong in these processes and we want to be at the point where we are certain before we promise.
Ian Zaffino – Oppenheimer
Okay, thank you very much.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Thank you, Ian.
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Scott Hamann with KeyBanc Capital Markets
Scott Hamann – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Yes, thanks. Good morning.
Just a couple quick ones, I apologize if I missed this, but did you quantify what percent of your revenue is coming from the APB program now and where you expect that to be? And then secondly, on the cash balance sequentially down pretty significantly, is there – I mean, how should we think about what's going on there?
Thanks.
John Duffey
In terms of the amount of – that’s coming from the Active Pass Base?
Scott Hamann – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Yes, yes, John.
John Duffey
Yes, and we don’t disclose the breakout of revenue from Season Pass on memberships versus one-day tickets. So, but – and what we saw was a mix in the quarter in terms of attendance.
It was fairly similar to what we saw in last year. I don’t know if that answers your question.
Scott Hamann – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Yes, so it just should be similar to what you’ve been reporting as kind of Season Pass historically?
Jim Reid-Anderson
It’s very similar. That’s correct, Scott.
Scott Hamann – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Okay.
Jim Reid-Anderson
And just, what was your second question again?
Scott Hamann – KeyBanc Capital Markets
On the cash balance from the end of the year to end of the quarter?
Jim Reid-Anderson
Right, try it, John.
John Duffey
Typically, the first quarter is the lowest amount of cash. If you look historically, you’ll see that's true and that’s due to the fact that obviously it’s our lightest quarter from a performance standpoint, but we also have a lot of our capital being put in place.
So there is lot of spending around our capital. Our goal is what we talked about before is that to use as much of our cash as possible to both dividends and share repurchases and not have a lot of cash sitting on hand.
So, you’ll see that the cash balance was low at the end of the first quarter because, typically that’s our low point at the year for cash. But also because of the fact that we were fairly aggressive over the last 12 months on our share repurchase program.
Scott Hamann – KeyBanc Capital Markets
Sounds good, thanks.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Thanks, Scott.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question is a follow-up from the line of Barton Crockett with FBR Capital Markets.
Barton Crockett – FBR Capital Markets
Okay, thanks for taking the follow-up. I was curious about the excess land which you guys have flagged in your – I think last earnings report.
What’s your current thinking about the possibility of selling that, getting some money for that for some foreseeable time horizon, have you started any process to monetize that? And can you also give us some thoughts about the materiality of the land value there?
I mean is it something that if you sold it could be a sea change in your leverage or just a nice but modest blip?
John Duffey
Yes, I know, as we look at the excess land and we said that the – we view this as land that is not needed to expand any of our parks. So, in the right markets we’d like to monetize that.
I think we have seen some increase in the markets and again that’s really the three areas that we have excess land are New Jersey Park, St. Louis and our Maryland Park.
So we are continuing discussions with real estate developers to get this – gauge any interest on being able to monetize that land we will continue to do that. We just want to make sure that we get a good price for that land.
I would say it’s in terms of a sea change around our debt, I think the answer to that would be no.
Jim Reid-Anderson
I think, your description was nice, but modest is more accurate.
Barton Crockett – FBR Capital Markets
Great, thank you.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Thanks very much Barton.
Operator
Your next question is a follow-up from the line of Tim Conder with Wells Fargo Securities.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Thank you. Just one other related to the leverage.
I would think any proceeds you get from the land you would use most likely to go to share repo as my understanding is that would be free outside of your other covenant buckets. Is that true?
John Duffey
That’s correct.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Okay and then…
Jim Reid-Anderson
And that would be our approach Tim, I mean, as John have outlined earlier, any excess cash dividend, share repurchases.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Okay and in relation to the leverage, just to reiterate, your goal to stay in that three to four times, could you potentially at some point in the future, especially as you start to get additional revenue coming in from the fee side, could you look to maybe re-lever a little bit and then look to return some additional capital to shareholders?
John Duffey
Yes, I think what we said Tim, is that, we are very happy with where our leverage is today. But similar to what we did little over a year ago, where our leverage had gotten down to basically less than two times, with the favorable debt markets, we took advantage of those and took on some additional leverage.
We are not opposed to doing that if our leverage continues to decline with EBITDA growth.
Tim Conder – Wells Fargo Securities
Great, thank you.
Jim Reid-Anderson
Thanks, Tim.
Operator
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time.
Are there any closing remarks?
Jim Reid-Anderson
There are Keyla. As always, thank you all for joining our call today.
I do hope that you can take the time to visit our beautiful parks this season to experience all that we have to offer. You can rest assured that our team is focused on delighting our guests and creating incremental shareholder value in the years ahead.
Take care. Keyla, that completes our call.
Operator
Thank you. This does conclude today’s call.
You may now disconnect.