Impark Lease Coverage Data For 1st Quarter 2002
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--May 24, 2002--Imperial Parking Corporation ("Impark") (AMEX: IPK) provided details today regarding its lease coverage in the first quarter of 2002.This information was provided as supplemental data in Impark's first quarter teleconference call, held on May 16, 2002.
Much of Impark's U.S. expansion has been through long-term leases rather than management contracts. Typically long-term leases have lower margins in their first few years but are expected to become significantly more profitable than management contracts over their full term. The improvement in lease margins over their term is illustrated by the table below, which groups Impark's leased locations active at March 31, 2002 by the number of years since the location was opened.
Quarter Ended March 31, 2002 ---------------------------------------------- Number of years in operation, as Number of Revenue Gross Margin of March 31, 2002 locations ($'000) ($'000) Coverage ---------------------------------------------------------------- 6 or more 299 $ 6,309 $ 1,139 1.22 5 36 632 8 1.01 4 53 2,025 175 1.09 3 23 425 80 1.23 2(a) 63 3,226 (362) 0.90 1 84 4,701 292 1.07 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Total 558 $ 17,318 $ 1,332 1.08
(a) Includes the San Francisco Giants ballpark lease, which for
the first quarter of each year is less than 1.00 because there
is no baseball during such months, but historically has been
greater than 1.00 on an annual basis.
"We think that Impark's lease coverage data is a valuable tool for investors to monitor our progress as time goes by, and to relate that to our firm strategy of rebalancing our portfolio to include more long term leases," commented Charles Huntzinger, Impark's President and CEO. "Of course, it's also an important tool for management in evaluating the strategies implemented at Impark over the last number of years and going forward."
Lease coverage is calculated by dividing revenue by the amount that revenue exceeds gross margin. Lease coverage should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Lease coverage is not an accepted measure under generally accepted accounting principles and other companies will use different measures or different calculations of profitability.
Imperial Parking Corporation, headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., Canada is the largest parking operator in Canada and one of the four largest in North America based on number of locations. As of March 31, 2002 Impark owned, leased or managed 1,613 parking locations containing over 300,000 parking spaces in Canada and the United States.
This press release contains projections and other forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These projections and statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. No assurance can be given, however, that these events will occur or that these projections will be achieved and actual results could differ materially from those projected, as a result of certain factors. A discussion of these factors is included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.