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Surging Cedar Fair isn’t just enjoying the ride
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Parent company of Cedar Point is bumping up its growth targets
The parent company of Sandusky’s Cedar Point amusement park has grown at a steady clip amid a still-challenging economy, and unlike its roller coasters, it’s not planning to come to a screeching halt after reaching record heights. In 2012, the new management team at Cedar Fair unveiled a
strategic plan — dubbed FUNForward, as the company’s stock trades under the symbol “FUN” — that targeted $450 million, or more, in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, by 2016. But having concluded its fifth record year in 2014, the company, which operates 14 parks in North America, is eyeing an even more ambitious growth target. Just recently, the company an-
nounced it was targeting $500 million in EBITDA by 2018 — something Cedar Fair’s top brass believes can be reached by focusing on the guest experience, advance ticket sales, digital technology and a disciplined approach to big-ticket construction projects. Last year, Cedar Fair finished the year with EBITDA of $431 million. “We had been sitting there thinking about what that next generation of growth will look like,” said Brian
Witherow, Cedar Fair’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, “but a lot it was not revolutionary, but just evolutionary.” A big piece of Cedar Fair’s growth strategy hinges on repeat visits and luring more guests from beyond its parks’ immediate markets. At Cedar Point, the company’s flagship park, that strategy is particularly evident in the dramatic, multimillion-dollar makeover of its See CEDAR FAIR, page 24
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By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
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