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JAMES THORNERThe resort cites both the "slowdown in the nation's economy" and "concerns about national security" as the cause.
WESLEY CHAPEL - After an unbroken string of at least 12 profitable years, Saddlebrook Resort, one of Pasco County's largest employers and taxpayers, reported losing $132,000 in 2003.
As was the case for many Florida tourist destinations, the golf and tennis resort suffered as companies cut back on all-expenses-paid conferences that in flusher times had been routine perks.
Saddlebrook reported a loss of $132,000 on revenue of $37-million in 2003, according to an annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company had been profitable - barely - in 2002.
The resort cited both the "slowdown in the nation's economy" and "concerns about national security" to explain one of its worst years financially since the recession of the early 1990s.
Chairman and owner Tom Dempsey traveled to England for the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Saddlebrook officials said he couldn't be reached for comment.
But in an April interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Dempsey said the loss "doesn't mean a whole lot."
"In those figures are $2-million worth of depreciation. Cash flow was strong and that's really the benchmark to how a resort is doing," he said.
Saddlebrook's SEC report said the loss was a "direct result of lower revenues" and that depreciation for 2003 was "effectively unchanged."
The mid- to late-90s had been glorious times for Saddlebrook. Companies splurged for conferences at the resort's two golf courses, three swimming pools, 45 tennis courts, and health and fitness centers.
Company profits peaked in 1998 at $5.7-million. That was Saddlebrook's best year since Dempsey, a former publishing executive, bought the resort in November 1988. In 2000, at the height of the stock market boom, Saddlebrook made $4.2-million on revenues of $54-million.
But the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon left millions afraid of flying.
Although Florida lured visitors back to previous levels within nine months of the attacks, the economic slump continued to sap business travel, said Tom Flanigan, spokesman for Visit Florida, the state's tourist marketing agency.
This year shows signs of shaking off the business travel doldrums. Saddlebrook took in $15.6-million in the first three months of 2004 vs. $13.3-million in 2003. Bookings are up about 19 percent this year.
Walt Disney World reports admissions rose 15 percent. Thousands more flights land and take off from Tampa International Airport this year compared to last.
"That's what we're hearing from the tourism industry: Everyone is very bright eyed and bushy tailed at this point," Flanigan said.
Saddlebrook suggested last year's losses might have run deeper were it not for cost cutting instituted by Dempsey.
He and his immediate family own 87 percent of the shares in the privately held company. The resort takes in 450 acres east of Interstate 75 on State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel.
Saddlebrook's employment, higher during the busy winter and spring season, held steady at 720. But cuts in marketing, administration and general operations shaved millions from expenses after 9/11.
Enriching Saddlebrook's balance sheets even further in 2004 is $3.3-million it netted in February from a lawsuit against a former insurance carrier.
The resort's rough stretch in 2003 appeared smooth beside that of Innisbrook, one of its main competitors for the conference and convention business.
Innisbrook's owners haven't made a mortgage payment in 21/2 years, and its lender could repossess the property along U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor.
- Times Staff Writer Aaron Sharockman contributed to this report.
REPORTED PROFIT OR LOSS BY YEAR2003($132,000)
2002$124,000
2001$3.4-million
2000$4.2-million
1999$2.3-million
1998$5.7-million
1997$3.1-million
1996$1.7-million
1995$1.8-million
1994$2.1-million
1993$703,000
1992$616,000
1991$594,000