SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.

Good morning, and welcome to the SeaWorld Q4 2021 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal Conference Specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Matthew Stroud, of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to SeaWorld's fourth quarter and fiscal 2021 earnings conference call. Today's call is being webcast and recorded. A press release was issued this morning and is available on our Investor Relations website at www.seaworldinvestors.com. Replay information for this call can be found in the press release and will be available on our website following the call. Joining me this morning are Mark Swanson, Chief Executive Officer, and Elizabeth Galaxi, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. This morning, we will review our fourth quarter and fiscal 2021 financial results, and then we will open up the call to your questions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those forward-looking statements. including those identified in the risk factors section of our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risk factors may be updated from time to time and will be included in our filings with the SEC that are available on our website. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. In addition, on the call we may reference non-GAAP financial measures and other financial metrics such as adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. More information regarding our forward-looking statements and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measure is included in our earnings release, available on our website, and can also be found in our filings with the SEC. Now, I would like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Mark Swanson. Mark?

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We are pleased to report another quarter of record financial results and record financial results for the fiscal year. In the fourth quarter in fiscal 2021, we delivered record revenue, record net income, and record adjusted EBITDA. We are especially pleased to deliver these record results while continuing to operate in an environment with significant and unprecedented headwinds related to COVID-19. These results are a testament to the tireless work of our incredible team the demonstrated resiliency of our business model, and the continued successful implementation of our proven business plan and strategies. Our fourth quarter and fiscal year financial performance would have been even better if not for limited international guest attendance and reduced group-related attendance related to the impacts of COVID-19. While we have made good progress on our plans, as we look to the future, We continue to be highly confident that we can deliver even more operational and financial improvements that we expect will lead to meaningful increases in shareholder value. In particular, we believe our forward ride, attraction, and park enhancement investment plans are the most robust they have ever been and currently reflect the cadence, focus areas, and strategies we have been working towards. We are extremely excited about the new rides we have opened and plan to open this year and the new additions, upgrades, and improvements we've made to our parks. We encourage you all to visit our parks with your family and friends very soon and often this year. We continue to improve our commercial functionality with investments in talent and capabilities in revenue management and marketing and have opportunity to continue to improve in these areas. We also continue to identify, track, and execute on additional cost reduction and efficiency opportunities that we expect to continue to help offset inflationary pressures and lead to structurally improved profitability. With respect to our digital capabilities, including our mobile app and CRM implementations, we are encouraged by the early results and are in the very early innings of realizing the full potential of these initiatives. I would also say that we believe we are behind our competitors in some of these areas, which gives us even greater confidence in the potential we have yet to realize. And we continue to make progress on our inorganic growth initiatives related to hotels, new parks, and international expansion, and expect to have more to share later in the year. We are also pleased to have ended 2021 in a particularly strong financial position as a result of the proactive and decisive decisions made over the last couple of years, as well as our record financial performance in 2021. Our available liquidity, including cash on our balance sheet and capacity on our revolving credit facility, was over $800 million, and our total leverage was less than 2.50 times. Our strong financial position provides us significant flexibility to invest in our business, fund high growth ROI initiatives, consider strategic opportunities, and or return capital to our shareholders. In 2021, we are proud to have received numerous industry honors and recognitions, including SeaWorld Orlando voted as number one for nation's best amusement park by USA Today readers. Aquatica Orlando voted as number one for nation's best outdoor water park by USA Today readers. And Busch Gardens Williamsburg named world's most beautiful theme park for the 31st year in a row by the National Amusement Park Historical Association. In addition, two of our other water parks, Water Country USA, and Adventure Island Tampa were voted in the top 10 of the nation's best outdoor water parks by USA Today readers. The Mako Roller Coaster at SeaWorld Orlando was ranked as the number one for best roller coaster, and the Celtic Fire Dance Show at Busch Gardens Williamsburg was voted as number one for best amusement park entertainment, each by USA Today readers. We also launched new iOS and Android mobile apps for all our parks in 2021 and completed what we believe to be the most significant transformation of our in-park venues as many were redesigned, refreshed, or added across our parks in 2021. We are very excited for 2022 as we believe we have the most exciting lineup of new rides, attractions, events, and upgrades we have ever had in our history with something new and meaningful in every one of our parks, including, according to USA Today, four of the nine most anticipated roller coasters of 2022 opening across our parks this year. We recently opened the Icebreaker roller coaster at SeaWorld Orlando, a quadruple launch coaster featuring four airtime-filled launches, both backwards and forwards, culminating in a reverse launch up a 93-foot vertical spike, leading to the steepest beyond vertical drop in Florida. The Iron Gwaji roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, what we believe could be the best roller coaster in the world, and it's certainly got quite a bit of hype already, opens for past members on February 13th and will open to the general public on March 11th. This will be the tallest hybrid coaster in North America and the world's fastest and steepest hybrid coaster with the world's tallest drop. Riders will claim more than 200 feet before plunging into a beyond vertical drop, reaching speeds of 76 miles per hour and experiencing a dozen airtime moments. In addition, the Emperor roller coaster at SeaWorld San Diego will open to past members on March 2nd and to the general public on March 12th. This will be the tallest, fastest, longest, and first floorless dive coaster on the West Coast. After climbing more than 150 feet, riders will dangle at a 90-degree angle before plunging into a 143-foot vertical drop that will accelerate riders to more than 60 miles per hour. And the Pantheon roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg will open to past members on March 4th and to the general public on March 25th. Pantheon will be the world's fastest multi-launch coaster, will accelerate riders to a speed of 73 miles per hour, and will include a 180-foot drop at 95 degrees, four launches, two inversions, and 15 airtime moments. All four of these coasters are among the nine most anticipated coasters of 2022, according to USA Today. Also at SeaWorld San Antonio, the Tidal Surge Screaming Swing, the world's tallest and fastest screaming swing, will open Saturday to select season pass holders and on March 5th to all guests. Later this spring, we will open the Big Birds Tour Bus at Sesame Place, Philadelphia, the Reef Plunge Waterslide at Aquatica Orlando, the Rapids Racer and Wahoo Remix Waterslides at Adventure Island Tampa, the Aquazoid Amp Waterslide at Water Country USA, and the Riptide Race Waterslide at Aquatica San Antonio. Overall, we are very excited about this new lineup at our parks. In addition to these attractions, we are also very excited that our newest parks, Sesame Place San Diego will open March 26th. This will be the first Sesame Place theme park on the West Coast and only the second in the United States. This will be the first new theme park we have opened since 2013. On the technology front, we are pleased to have completed the rollout of our mobile app across our parks. These mobile apps feature interactive maps, ride wait times, and e-commerce capabilities that allow for in-park purchases and are now being used by guests in our parks to improve their visit. We plan to continue to add features to the app and enable in-app purchases across more in-park venues over the next several quarters, which we expect to contribute to enhanced guest satisfaction, incremental revenue opportunities, and cost efficiencies. Turning to our past base, at the end of January 2022, our past base was up approximately 27% compared to January of 2021 and is approximately 19% higher than January of 2020, which was the previous January record. This is especially encouraging as the peak past selling seasons of spring and summer are still ahead of us. We are also seeing a higher mix of premium passes in our pass space compared to prior year as our pass holders continue to recognize the value and benefits of our higher tiered products. Finally, like many other companies, the current labor market continues to present staffing and wage challenges, which we are working to manage through, including expanding our use of international workers at our parks something we didn't take advantage of as much as our competitors may have in the past. We continue to work on cost reduction and efficiency opportunities, including continuing to eliminate unnecessary and redundant costs, optimizing our staffing and spend levels, and investing in and leveraging technology. Our teams continue to make extraordinary efforts to operate our parks despite the challenging environment we face this year. and better position this company for revenue growth and increased profitability. As we have demonstrated in the fourth quarter and throughout 2021, we believe the strategies we have developed and refined over the past few years, along with the actions we have taken since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, will continue to lead to significantly improved financial results for the company. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Elizabeth. to discuss our financial results in more detail. Elizabeth?