New information regarding Kent Buescher, owner of Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in Winter Haven, Florida, has been released to the public in regards to his decision this week to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Documents filed in the legal proceedings this week revealed that Buescher has amassed a debt totaling at least $112 million. (more…)

Cedar Fair L. P. lowered its 2006 earnings forecast due to falling attendance and other factors.

Cedar Fair has announced that they have lowered their full-year revenue expectation of between $835 million to $855 million to their new estimation of $815 to 835 million. This estimate includes the newly acquired Paramount Park operations.

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Six Flags, Inc. has announced their second quarter results. The total revenue per capita increased 15 percent and the total revenue for the quarter declined 1%. Six Flags states the increase in revenue per capita reflects the newly implemented
strategy to rebuild the parks’ brand and price integrity. Six Flags
states that guest satisfaction ratings have reached a five-year high
during the quarter. In addition, Six Flags states attendance was affected by decreased season pass attendance and the closure of Six Flags New Orleans, as well as adverse weather. (more…)

Six Flags Inc. has reported that it was close to violating the terms of its $1.03 billion in loans and is now negotiating with its lenders to loosen these terms through the fourth quarter of 2007.

According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Six Flags is looking to change the restrictions on the amount of debt it can have corresponding to the cash flow it generates and also reduce the minimum amount of cash flow it must generate in proportion to interest expense. The company has also asked for its lenders to waive some of the second-quarter financial requirements of its loans.

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Six Flags has announced it will hold a second quarter teleconference for analysts and investors at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, August 2, 2006. Once again, participants will include President and CEO Mark Shapiro and CFO Jeff Speed.

The teleconference will be available as a listen-only Web cast on http://investors.sixflags.com/. For listeners who cannot make it to the live Web cast, the teleconference will be archived by Six Flags for one year. A playback will be released approximately one hour after the live event, until midnight on August 9.

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On news that the park chain is considering selling properties, fears that it may not meet its debt obligations, and lowered expectations on earnings and revenue, Six Flags’ stock tumbled to $5.55, a drop of over 25 percent. the greatest drop since July 16, 2004. (more…)

Citing decreased attendance and rising costs, Six Flags announced today that the company is "exploring strategic options" for six parks: Six Flags Darien Lake; Six Flags Splashtown in Houston; Six Flags Elitch Gardens in Denver; Wild Waves and Enchanted Village near Seattle; Six Flags Waterworld in Concord, CA; and Six Flags Magic Mountain. These options include selling the parks themselves, dismantling certain rides, and selling the land and expose the properties to redevelopment. (more…)

Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN), a publicly traded partnership, today announced its intention, subject to market conditions, to raise up to $250 million in a public offering of its limited partnership interests.

The Partnership intends to use the proceeds of the offering to repay a portion of the term loan debt that it expects to incur to finance the previously announced acquisition of the Paramount Parks from CBS Corporation.  The Partnership believes the offering, if completed, will allow it to reduce its overall leverage and achieve an economical total cost of capital.  The Partnership anticipates that the offering will be completed within the next six months.

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The first five months of this year have produced about the same financial results as the first five months of 2005 for Cedar Fair. In a report released today, the company announced that revenue for January through May remains the same as the revenue for the same period last year. (more…)

Even with higher revenue, Six Flags still saw a bigger loss in the last quarter of 2005 than in the last quarter of 2004. In the company’s fouth-quarter financial report, Six Flags says it lost $144.5 million in the end of 2005 compared to a loss of $115 million in the same period of 2004. Although revenue jumped from $105.4 million to $111.8 million, the loss was attributed to a 12 percent increase in operating costs and other expenses. (more…)