Peak Resorts Inc., the Wildwood-based owner and operator of ski resorts, posted a fiscal first-quarter loss of $7.1 million, narrower than the $8.2 million it lost in the prior year's quarter as it saw lower interest expenses.
The company's interest expense fell 37 percent in the recent quarter, to $2.7 million.
Peak Resorts' Hidden Valley Ski Resort in Wildwood
For its fiscal 2016 first quarter ended July 31, Peak Resorts reported revenue of $5.4 million, down 3 percent from the first quarter of fiscal 2015.
“Total revenue and resort operating expenses both declined slightly in the first quarter," Peak Resorts CFO Stephen Mueller said Thursday in a statement. "Through July 31, higher revenue from the zipline rider attraction at the Attitash (Bartlett, New Hampshire) resort did not offset lower food and beverage revenue related to the termination of a restaurant lease at our Big Boulder (Lake Harmony, Pennsylvania) resort in March 2015."
Last month, the company announced that it had received commitments to fully subscribe its $52 million EB-5 capital raise, from foreign investors. It's part of a $66 million infrastructure improvement plan, called the Mount Snow West Lake Water Project, at its Mount Snow ski resort in West Dover, Vermont.
Peak Resorts President and CEO Timothy Boyd said in a statement Thursday that $50.8 million of that was in escrow as of Sept. 4. "In addition, the construction work that began this summer on the West Lake project component is proceeding well," Boyd said.
He said the company continues to expect approval of the first I-526 Immigrant Petition in the near future, which would allow the release of the escrow funds. The petition is filed by EB-5 investors to demonstrate the foreign entrepreneurs are eligible under the immigration program.
Peak Resorts Inc. (Nasdaq: SKIS), which completed its initial public stock offering in December, operates 13 ski resorts primarily in the Northeast and Midwest, 12 of which are company owned.