shares in vail resorts one of the world’s largest ski resort businesses opened higher in early trade at the new york stock exchange after it reported a jump in profit amid an easing impact of covid19 in the us this year net profit at vail resorts in the three months to april 30 rose by 356 to 3726 million compared to 2746 million a year earlier the company said yesterday after the end of trade revenue increased by 32 to 117 billion from 889 million the increase in income “is primarily due to the greater impact of covid19 and related limitations and restrictions on results in the prior year” vail said in a statement yesterday for the nine months to april 30 revenue increased to 225 billion from 17 billion net profit was 4566 million from 268 million shares rose by 2 in early trading today to 250 61 from thursday’s 24550 close they had plunged by 51 from a recent high of 37251 on nov 5 vail owns winter resorts in the us canada and australia runs or operates hotels and develops real estate in march it announced plans to buy a 55 stake in andermattsedrun in switzerland marking its first strategic investment in a ski resort in europe underscoring a longtime trend vail said season pass users accounted for about 72 of all skier visits in north america compared with approximately 60 and approximately 51 for the 20182019 and 20142015 north american ski seasons offpeak skiing is also on the rise for the seasontodate ending april 30 this year weekday and nonholiday period visits increased approximately 8 from the season ending may 5 2019 “we believe this trend is driven by the growth in pass sales as pass holders tend to spread their visitation more across the season and with the increase in flexible and remote work we expect this trend to continue” the company said amid nationwide staff shortages vail said it plans to boost average wages by nearly 30 for hourly staff in the coming fiscal year in north america tipped employees will be guaranteed a minimum of 20 per hour yet with business is off to a good start from the coming year the “investment” in higher wages makes sense season pass product sales through may 31 for the 20222023 north american ski season increased approximately 9 in units and approximately 11 in sales dollars from a year earlier vail said