Analyzing Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc.

FMGT 1116 Project 1: Interpreting and Analyzing Financial Statements

“Analyzing Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc.”

Rahul Das Biswas

100217405

19/10/14

Part 1A- A Little Bit about Whistler Blackcomb

        The company that I will be analyzing in this report is Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. Whistler Blackcomb is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and is  North America’s premier four-season mountain resort. The company consists of four season mountain resort businesses, of which Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. owns a 75% interest in each of Whistler Mountain Resort Limited Partnership and Blackcomb Skiing Enterprises Limited Partnership. Whistler Blackcomb was the site of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and is located in the Resort city of Whistler, British Columbia which is roughly 125 kilometers from Vancouver, British Columbia, up in the Coastal Mountain region.

The two side by sided mountains (Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain) are connected by the world record-breaking PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola, which combined offer over 200 marked runs. Over the span of these 200 marked runs, there is 8000 acres of terrain, 14 alpine bowls, and three glaciers. Being North America’s premier four-season mountain resort, Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain receive combined on average over 1180 cm of snow annually, thus offering one of the longest ski/ snowboarding seasons in North America. On top of this, during the summer Whistler Blackcomb offer activities/ tourist attractions such as hiking and biking trails, sightseeing on the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola, as well as the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.

Whistler Blackcomb is in the resort industry. As mentioned above, they are open year-round and offer various activities for people of all ages throughout the year. Within this industry, they offer tourist attractions such as luxurious resorts, skiing and snowboarding opportunities, as well as a world class Whistler Village. Being North America’s premier four-season mountain resort, Whistler Blackcomb has had to generate corporate partners that not only benefit them, but also help to fund their resorts. Some of these major corporate partners include Telus, Coca-Cola, Kokanee, GMC, Monster Energy, Nintendo, Smirnoff, Nestle, The Globe and Mail, Samsung, GoPro, and Arc’teryx. Although these are only the major corporate partners, Whistler Blackcomb is partnered with many other companies that are well known as well.

Being a resort type company, there a few select products that Whistler Blackcomb offers. Included in these products are the obvious ski and snowboard lifts. This product, or service if you’d prefer, provides the transportation of ski/ snowboarders to and from the base of both Whistler Mountain and Blackcomb Mountain to various peaks. As well as this, the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola offers as a sightseeing product/ service for those who travel to Whistler Blackcomb during the summer or who do not ski or snowboard. Some other products/ services that Whistler Blackcomb offers include their transportation service to and from Vancouver and nearby cities, as well as various luxurious resorts and spas in the Whistler municipality.

        Whistler Blackcomb is in the entertainment/ service market and are in the tourism industry. They are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “WB”, and with the help of individual investors as well as corporate partnerships, they have been able to retain the name of North America’s premier four-season mountain resort.

Part 1B- Company News

        Two major new items that affected Whistler Blackcomb in 2013 were British Columbia’s introduction of BC Family Day, as well as Whistler and Sun Peaks signing a reciprocal season’s pass agreement. Both of these two changes made major news headlines for Whistler and had significant impacts on the company’s operations and financial results.

        First, let’s take a look at how British Columbia’s introduction of BC Family Day had an impact on Whistler Blackcomb. In February of 2013, British Columbia had its first official “BC Family Day.” According to Dave Brownlie, the current President and CEO of Whistler Blackcomb, from Friday February 8th, 2013 to Monday February, 11th, 2012, Whistler Blackcomb “managed to draw the kind of daily visit numbers we see over our busiest time periods like U.S. Presidents’ Week and Christmas holidays.” During this family holiday, Whistler Blackcomb welcomed 85, 000 skiers and snowboarders. What this meant for Whistler was that they had a huge success. Originally, BC Family Day was planned to be the third week of February, however, with the movement of it to the second week of February, “Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA), Whistler Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler, and other tourism-based businesses successfully promoted BC Family Day.” In doing so, Whistler was able to attract the types of crowds that they would usually attract during larger, longer holidays. Since this holiday was a family holiday, Whistler offered promotions which included a 72-Hour Sale featuring up to 50% off lodging, with a bonus of two free Fresh Tracks mountain top breakfast tickets. Being labelled the Top Family Resort by CNN.com, and having the title of Best Canadian Family Resort by both SKI Magazine and Canadian Living Magazine, Whistler was further able to gain attraction during this family centered holiday. The impact that this holiday had on company operations was that company operations became huge for that weekend. As a typical vacationers weekend, Whistler Blackcomb was packed, and accordingly, made a huge financial success. With having numbers like they do during Christmas, not only did Whistler re-portray their family friendly image, but they also solidified their financial position.