Viad Corp Reports Results for the 2022 Fourth Quarter and Full Year

• Pursuit delivered record revenue and GES outperformed expectations in 2022
• Delivered strong 2022 results through strategic focus on scaling Pursuit and improving GES’ profitability
• Growth expected to continue in 2023 with fewer COVID restrictions on international travel and acceleration of new Pursuit experiences

Viad Corp (NYSE: VVI), a leading provider of experiential leisure travel and live events and marketing experiences, today reported results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue increased by $64.5 million for the quarter and $620.0 million for the full year driven by the continued recovery of live event activity and leisure travel.
• Net loss attributable to Viad for the fourth quarter improved by $16.8 million primarily as a result of a gain on the sale of a non-core business. Full year net income attributable to Viad increased by $115.9 million primarily due to higher revenue.
• Consolidated adjusted EBITDA* improved by $1.8 million for the quarter and $114.8 million for the full year, in-line with our prior guidance.

* Refer to Table Two of this press release for a discussion and reconciliation of this non-GAAP financial measure to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

**Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Viad for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022 reflects the correction of an error identified during our year-end close and review procedures related to the remeasurement of a finance lease obligation as of September 30, 2022. Additional details regarding this error can be found in a Form 8-K filed by the Company on February 9, 2023.

Steve Moster, Viad’s president and chief executive officer, commented, “We experienced very strong recovery across our businesses this year. Revenue more than doubled year-over-year and consolidated adjusted EBITDA reached $116.1 million. GES significantly outperformed our expectations as live event activity returned faster than we anticipated. Pursuit posted record revenue and added two new iconic experiences to its collection.”

Moster continued, “Our actions to scale Pursuit, transform GES Exhibitions’ cost structure, and strengthen Spiro’s capabilities are positioning us for strong future earnings potential. I am proud of our performance in 2022 and excited about the road ahead.”

Pursuit Results

* Refer to Table Two of this press release for a discussion and reconciliation of this non-GAAP financial measure to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

**New Experiences comprises the following attractions and hotel properties that were opened or acquired after January 1, 2021: Sky Lagoon (opened May 2021), Golden Skybridge (acquired March 2021 and opened June 2021), FlyOver Las Vegas (opened September 2021), Glacier Raft Company (acquired April 2022), and Forest Park Hotel (opened August 2022).

Fourth Quarter

• Revenue increased $10.8 million (46%) from the 2021 fourth quarter.
  • Same-store revenue from experiences that were owned and open prior to 2021 increased $5.9 million primarily due to stronger visitation at our year-round Canadian experiences, which were impacted in 2021 by border restrictions.
  • Revenue from new experiences opened or acquired from 2021 forward increased $4.8 million, reflecting the continued ramping of Sky Lagoon and FlyOver Las Vegas as well as the addition of Forest Park Alpine Hotel.
• Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $1.4 million from the 2021 fourth quarter primarily due to higher expenses during the seasonally slow quarter, partially offset by the increase in revenue.

Regarding Pursuit’s results, Moster commented, “Full year revenue increased 60 percent from 2021 and reached record levels due to our Refresh, Build, Buy growth strategy. We are making significant progress scaling Pursuit through investing in new experiences and elevating our existing collection. Pursuit posted solid year-over-year growth in 2022 driven by improved international tourism to Canada and Iceland, continued strong results from our U.S. hotels, and incremental performance from our new experiences.”

Moster continued, “Our new experiences continue to build awareness and ramp with favorable contributions to both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. At FlyOver Las Vegas, our marketing and ticket distribution networking efforts are taking hold and resulted in a 21 percent sequential quarter increase in visitation. Sky Lagoon remained a strong performer and delivered a 61 percent increase in visitation from the 2021 fourth quarter. I look forward to seeing our iconic, unforgettable, and inspiring new experiences reach their full earnings potential.”

GES Results

* Refer to Table Two of this press release for a discussion and reconciliation of this non-GAAP financial measure to its most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

Fourth Quarter

• Revenue increased $53.7 million (34%) from the 2021 fourth quarter primarily driven by increased live event activity at both GES Exhibitions and Spiro.
• Adjusted EBITDA increased by $3.1 million from the 2021 fourth quarter primarily due to higher revenue, offset in part by higher costs to support increased business activity.

Regarding GES’ overall results, Moster commented, “GES delivered significant year-over-year growth in 2022 as live event activity improved at an accelerated pace. Same-show revenues for events produced by our U.S. exhibitions team grew from 67 percent of 2019 pre-pandemic levels in the 2021 fourth quarter to about 90 percent by the 2022 second quarter and remained at that level through the rest of the year. Spiro saw similar improvements in spending from corporate clients compared to 2019 pre-pandemic levels, and we are building our strong client roster with new business wins.”

Moster continued, “I am pleased with the transformational cost structure changes we implemented at GES that enabled us to maintain strong profitability as live events returned. We ended the year at a steady cost run rate for GES Exhibitions to continue servicing a more normalized level of event activity. We remain focused on building Spiro into a world-class, integrated marketing solutions agency through investing in creative talent and expanding our capabilities beyond the trade show floor to fuel growth. GES is well-positioned to return to generating meaningful positive free cash flow.”

Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Highlights

We ended the year with total liquidity of $146.4 million, comprising cash and cash equivalents of $59.7 million and $86.7 million of capacity available on our revolving credit facility ($100 million total facility size, less $13.3 million in letters of credit). Our debt totaled $481.8 million, including $395 million outstanding on our Term Loan B, financing lease obligations of approximately $65 million (which primarily comprises real estate leases at Pursuit), and approximately $22 million in other debt.

Our 2022 fourth quarter cash flow from operations was an outflow of approximately $33 million, our capital expenditures totaled approximately $12 million, and we paid approximately $2 million in cash dividends on our convertible preferred equity. Our net debt payments during the quarter were approximately $4 million.

On December 15, we completed the sale of the assets of ON Services, a US-based audio-visual services business that operated as part of GES, for cash proceeds of approximately $30 million. This transaction enhances our balance sheet and builds on the strategic transformational changes that we have implemented at GES over the past few years by further simplifying GES’ operating model.

Our 2022 full year cash flow from operations was an inflow of approximately $72 million, our capital expenditures totaled approximately $67 million. We acquired Glacier Raft Company for approximately $25 million and sold ON Services for approximately $30 million. We paid approximately $8 million in cash dividends on our convertible preferred equity and our net debt proceeds during the year were approximately $4 million.

Moster commented, “We remain focused on disciplined capital management, driving strong free cash flow at GES and investing in high-return growth opportunities at Pursuit. I am thrilled with the progress we have made to scale Pursuit with smart investments in extraordinary experiences through our Refresh, Build, Buy growth strategy. This year, we added a high-quality attraction experience to our Glacier Park Collection, opened a remarkable new hotel in downtown Jasper, and continued to make headway with other exciting growth investments, including FlyOver Chicago and a new mountain coaster at our Golden Skybridge attraction.”

2023 Outlook

Regarding Viad’s outlook, Moster commented, “We expect continued growth in 2023 and are sharply focused on maximizing performance from our existing businesses. Pursuit will have meaningful tailwinds from the lifting of COVID restrictions that restrained international visitation during much of 2021 and the continued acceleration of our new experiences. GES will see some headwinds from negative show rotation in the third quarter, which we expect to mostly offset with stronger first quarter performance and new wins at Spiro.”

Moster concluded, “We are experiencing strong advance bookings at Pursuit and healthy demand from GES Exhibitions and Spiro clients for 2023 with no signs of a slowdown in our industries at this point. That said, with an uncertain macro backdrop, we will make prudent decisions with respect to cost structure and capital investments to advance our strategic goals while also protecting our balance sheet.”

Our guidance for Pursuit is as follows:

Our guidance for GES is as follows:

Conference Call Details

Management will host a conference call to review fourth quarter and full year 2022 results on Thursday, February 9, 2023, at 5 p.m. (Eastern Time).

To join the live conference call, please register at least 10 minutes before the start of the call using the following link: https://conferencingportals.com/event/KFfVIwkJ. After registering, an email confirmation will be sent that includes dial-in information as well as unique codes for entry into the live call. Registration will be open throughout the call.

A live audio webcast of the call will also be available in listen-only mode through the "Investors" section of our website. A replay of the webcast will be available on our website shortly after the call and, for a limited time, by calling (800) 770-2030 or (647) 362-9199 and entering the conference ID 90039.

Additionally, we will post a supplemental presentation, containing highlights of our results, trends and outlook, on the “Investors” section of our website prior to the conference call. We will refer to this presentation during the call.

About Viad

Viad (NYSE: VVI), is a leading global provider of extraordinary experiences, including hospitality and leisure activities, experiential marketing, and live events through two businesses: Pursuit and GES. Our business strategy focuses on delivering extraordinary experiences for our teams, clients and guests, and significant and sustainable growth and above-market returns for our shareholders. Viad is an S&P SmallCap 600 company.

Pursuit is a collection of inspiring and unforgettable travel experiences in Alaska, Montana, the Canadian Rockies, Vancouver, Reykjavik, and Las Vegas, as well as new experiences planned in Chicago and Toronto. Pursuit’s collection includes attractions, lodges and hotels, and sightseeing tours that connect guests with iconic places.

GES is a global, full-service live events company offering a comprehensive range of services to the world's leading brands and event organizers through two reportable segments, Spiro and GES Exhibitions. Spiro is an experiential marketing agency that partners with leading brands around the world to manage and elevate their global experiential marketing activities. GES Exhibitions is a global exhibition services company that partners with leading exhibition and conference organizers as a full-service provider of strategic and logistics solutions to manage the complexity of their shows with teams throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

For more information, visit www.viad.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains a number of forward-looking statements. Words, and variations of words, such as “will,” “may,” “expect,” “would,” “could,” “might,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “deliver,” “seek,” “aim,” “potential,” “target,” “outlook,” and similar expressions are intended to identify our forward-looking statements. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions, or goals also are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts and are subject to a host of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in our forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following:

• general economic uncertainty in key global markets and a worsening of global economic conditions;
• travel industry disruptions;
• seasonality of our businesses;
• the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition, liquidity, and cash flow;
• our ability to anticipate and adjust for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our businesses;
• unanticipated delays and cost overruns of our capital projects, and our ability to achieve established financial and strategic goals for such projects;
• our exposure to labor shortages, turnover, and labor cost increases;
• the importance of key members of our account teams to our business relationships;
• our ability to manage our business and continue our growth if we lose any of our key personnel;
• the competitive nature of the industries in which we operate;
• our dependence on large exhibition event clients;
• adverse effects of show rotation on our periodic results and operating margins;
• transportation disruptions and increases in transportation costs;
• natural disasters, weather conditions, accidents, and other catastrophic events;
• our exposure to labor cost increases and work stoppages related to unionized employees;
• our multi-employer pension plan funding obligations;
• our ability to successfully integrate and achieve established financial and strategic goals from acquisitions;
• our exposure to cybersecurity attacks and threats;
• our exposure to currency exchange rate fluctuations;
• liabilities relating to prior and discontinued operations; and
• compliance with laws governing the storage, collection, handling, and transfer of personal data and our exposure to legal claims and fines for data breaches or improper handling of such data.

For a more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect our business or financial results, please see Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. We disclaim and do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement in this press release except as required by applicable law or regulation.

Forward-Looking Non-GAAP Measures

The company has not quantitatively reconciled its guidance for adjusted EBITDA to its respective most comparable GAAP financial measure because certain reconciling items that impact this metric including, provision for income taxes, interest expense, restructuring or impairment charges, acquisition-related costs, and attraction start-up costs have not occurred, are out of the company’s control, or cannot be reasonably predicted. Accordingly, reconciliations to the nearest GAAP financial measure are not available without unreasonable effort. Please note that the unavailable reconciling items could significantly impact the company’s results as reported under GAAP.