SAM Magazine--Vancouver, Sept. 14, 2004--Thanks in part to the creation of its Leisura real-estate partnerships, Intrawest reported a strengthened balance sheet for fiscal 2004, raising cash flow from continuing operations to $423 million, up $444 million from 2003, and reducing debt by $285 million. Income from continuing operations for the year was $59.9 million, compared with $34.8 million in 2003.

The cash flow improvement stemmed from real estate development and management services and the sale of several resort development projects to the Leisura partnerships. The improved cash flow was used to reduce debt.

Total revenue for the year increased to $1.54 billion from $1.10 billion, and EBITDA increased 28 per cent to $268.3 million from $209.2 million in 2003. Resort operations revenue was $541.3 million, compared with $499.9 million in 2003. But resort operations EBITDA for the year was down to $105.1 million compared with $112.4 million in 2003, due to reduced skier visits (down 2 percent).

"We are now reaping the rewards of our business strategy and the groundwork of the past three years," said Joe Houssian, chairman and president and chief executive officer. "Looking ahead, the recent creation of our Leisure and Travel Group, including the alignment of all our non-real estate businesses, will further strengthen our resort operations activities and drive growth." \