Bell's Amusement Park

[Townsend]

 

Six Flags Announces Full-Year and Fourth Quarter 2008 Results

- Full Year 2008 Adjusted EBITDA(1) Increases 45% to a Record $275.3 Million on 5% Revenue Growth and Reduced Costs and Expenses

- Full Year 2008 Operating Income More than Triples to $144.0 Million

- Positive Free Cash Flow(1) Achieved for Full Year 2008 for the First Time in the Company's History

- Fourth Quarter Adjusted EBITDA Reaches $5.2 Million and, Excluding Certain Non-Cash Items(2), Loss From Continuing Operations Per Share Improves to $0.83

http://investors.sixflags.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=61629&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1264612&highlight=

Strange, NPR had a story just the other day talking about 6 Flags being at death's door.

[Cats Cats Cats]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gFDwcBaqm4uJHFfRM54bfm6elKPwD96T5MNG0

Ahead of the Bell: Six Flags bankruptcy fears grow

Mar 13, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Six Flags Inc. fell in premarket trading Friday as worries grew that the theme park operator may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Six Flags shares lost 2 cents, or 10.5 percent, to 17 cents in early trading. The stock has traded between 16 cents and $2.50 during the past 52 weeks.

In its fourth-quarter earnings report on Tuesday, Six Flags said it does not expect to have enough cash to redeem its preferred income redeemable shares on their redemption date of Aug. 15.

The shares, known as PIERS, must be redeemed for $287.5 million plus accrued and unpaid dividends, which may total up to $31.3 million. The company has skipped paying the dividends since May of last year.

The company said the PIERS redemption is one hurdle it is hoping to overcome in pursuing a "comprehensive restructuring of its balance sheet." If the company fails to refinance or restructure the PIERS, it would constitute a default that would allow its lenders to demand payment for other obligations.

In its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, the company said it may be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy if it cannot negotiate an out-of-court restructuring agreement with its PIERS holders, common stockholder and creditors.

"Such a court filing would likely occur prior to the maturity of the PIERS or well in advance of such date, if we were to conclude at such time that an out-of-court solution is not feasible or advantageous," Six Flags said in the filing.

[Conan71]

Who knows what to believe right now?  It's been a shorter's market since July.

[godboko71]

I thought Bells was going to Sand Springs. Shrugs thought I remember a story about it not to long ago, in the last 6 or 9 months or so.

[Shavethewhales]

I think the family has probably had enough by now, what with losing the election and being shun by so many communities. I expect to see the rides start popping up on ITAL in a few months.

It's really unfortunate though. As I've said before, Bell's doesn't deserve most of the rap it's garnered. Every public space has it's problems with kids (like a few of our malls  ) and one death in over 50 years of operation is actually as good or better a safety record than any other theme park in the country. I always enjoyed the park. Having traveled the world riding coasters and visiting parks, I always thought it was a decently clean and well-managed park for it's size. Trust me, if the park had a different operator than the Bell family, it would have been a LOT worse.

The really unfortunate thing is that Bell's is our only hope for an amusement park in the Tulsa area. Six Flags will almost certainly break up in the next year (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200903/1090/), Cedar Fair is already trying to sell of Worlds of Fun and ValleyFair, and the other operators including PARC and HFEC are just not going to be interested. With the effects of the current economic climate stretching into the next decade, and with increased fears over new projects after all the brand new parks that have failed just in the last couple of years, there's no way someone's just going to come out of the woodwork to start something new - and if they did it would likely be a Murphy-style funfair.

So I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for Bell's. If they had only gotten to build their new wooden coaster sooner, things would be different. Robby had some really amazing plans for the park, both in it's old location and at the new one.

[Double A]

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