The Marcus Corporation (MCS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. I'm Steve Marcus, Chairman of The Marcus Corporation, and welcome to today's Annual Shareholders Meeting. We wish we were all together this morning, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we thought it was best to meet virtually once again. While you'll be listening and viewing today's meeting from your screen, shareholders who registered for the event with their control number will still be able to vote and ask questions at the end of the presentation, just like at the in-person meeting and similar to last year's virtual annual meeting. It's now 9:03 a.m. Central time, and online voting is now available at the bottom right of your screen, if you'd like to vote during the meeting or update and change your existing vote. Please note that the polls will close in several minutes so we urge you to vote your shares now if you've not already submitted a proxy or otherwise voted. If you have already submitted your proxy, you don't have to vote again. However, you may revoke your proxy by voting online at this meeting. [Operator Instructions] While we may not get to all the questions today due to time, we'll do our best to answer as many as possible. So with that, let's get the meeting started. I'd like to begin by introducing our corporate leadership team that you can see on Slide 2. They are Greg Marcus, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Tom Kissinger, Senior Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Douglas Neis, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; Michael Evans, President of Marcus Hotels and Resorts; Kim Lueck, Chief Information Officer; John Murray, Vice President of Human Resources; and Rolando Rodriguez, Executive Vice President of The Marcus Corporation and Chairman, President and CEO of Marcus Theatres, who unfortunately is unable to be with us today. We have an incredible leadership team who improved their commitments throughout the past year as they work day and night to further shore up our liquidity and make sure we're doing everything we can for our guests, our associates and the communities we do business in. They are and will continue to be a key driver behind our recovery from this global pandemic. Next, we'll begin the business portion of today's meeting. And I'll now call on Tom Kissinger to report on the mailing of meeting notices, the presence of a quorum and other necessary legalities.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Notice of this meeting and the availability of proxy materials online was mailed beginning on March 25, 2021, to all holders of record of our common and Class B common shares as of March 5, 2021. A supplemented definitive proxy statement dated April 7, 2021, amended and supplemented the definitive proxy statement and was filed by The Marcus Corporation on March 25, 2021. This supplement was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and posted on our proxy materials website. Based on proxies received prior to the meeting, a quorum is present for all purposes at this meeting and is represented by 78.18% of the common shares and 99.83% of the Class B common shares for a combined total of 94.83% of all eligible votes. And before we move ahead, Steve, I'd like to also remind our shareholders and guests that as we share information with you today, we'll be talking about our plans and expectations for the future. The Securities and Exchange Commission defines these plans as forward-looking statements. That means that I'm obligated to inform you that our actual results may differ materially from those projected and that additional information about our plans as well as factors, risks and uncertainties, which may impact our expectations, future results of operations or financial condition, particularly as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic, are included in the Risk Factors section of our 10-K and 10-Q filings. So Steve, with that out of the way, I'll turn it back to you.

Thank you very much, Tom. Based on the information provided by Tom, I declare this annual meeting to be properly legally convened and we are ready to transact the legal portion of this meeting. It's now 9:07 a.m. Central time. And since everyone has now had the chance to vote, I hereby declare that the polls are officially closed. We have 4 items on the agenda today, the first being the election of our Board of Directors. I'd like to introduce the Board nominees to you now. They are Greg Marcus, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Diane Marcus Gershowitz, an investor and real estate manager, who is also my sister; Tim Hoeksema, retired Chairman, President and CEO of Midwest Air Group, Inc.; Bud Selig, Commissioner Emeritus of Major League Baseball; Bruce Olson, retired Senior Vice President of The Marcus Corporation and retired President of Marcus Theatres; Philip Milstein, Principal of Ogden CAP Properties, LLC in New York City. Phil is our lead independent Director; Brian Stark, Founding Principal, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Stark Investments in Milwaukee; Katherine Gehl, former Chairman, President and CEO of Gehl Foods, Inc.; David Baum, President of Baum Media Group, LLC and a former partner at Goldman Sachs; and I am the final nominee for reelection today. Our Board is committed to representing you, our shareholders, through high standards and good corporate governance. As a part of these high standards, our Audit, Compensation and Corporate Governance and Nominating Committees are comprised entirely of outside directors. I want to thank our Board for the valuable counsel they provide to me, to Greg and our management team, especially over the past year as we navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic. I know the Board will continue to offer valuable insights and support as we move forward in our recovery. That completes the first item on the agenda. The second item is to approve the amendment and restatement of our 2004 equity and incentive awards plan. This plan was initially approved by you, our shareholders, in 2004, and they began in 2011 for the amendment and restatement of the plan. We're again seeking approval for the amendment and restatement of the 2004 equity and incentive awards plan as we believe the ability to attract, retain and motivate outstanding key employees and nonemployee directors is critical to the continuing success of our company. The third item on the agenda is to approve by advisory vote the compensation of our named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement for this meeting. Our executive compensation program is designed to foster an ownership mentality and entrepreneurial spirit in our management team. This is an advisory vote that will not be binding on our Board. However, the Compensation Committee will consider the outcome of the vote when evaluating the effectiveness of our compensation program and when making future compensation decisions for our named executive officers. The final item on the agenda is to ratify the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2021. And now I'll ask the Secretary to announce the preliminary results of the voting on these 4 items.

Mr. Chairman, regarding the election of the Board of Directors, based on a preliminary tabulation, each director on the nominated slate received no less than 90,561,004 votes. This means that at least 98.21% of the votes cast were voted in favor of the reelection of each of the directors, and I hereby declare that the entire slate of directors has been elected to serve until the next annual meeting. For the approval and the amendment and restatement of the 2004 equity and incentive awards plan, 98.6% of the votes present or represented at the meeting were voted in favor of the plan. Therefore, I hereby declare that shareholders have approved the amendment and restatement of the 2004 equity and incentive awards planned. On the advisory vote to approve the compensation of our named executive officers, 99.22% of the votes cast were voted in favor of the executive compensation program. Therefore, I hereby declare that shareholders have approved the compensation of our named executive officers. And on the ratification of the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2021, 99.9% of the votes cast were voted in favor of the ratification. Therefore, I hereby declare that the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP to serve as our independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2021 has been ratified.

Thank you very much, Tom. With there being no other legal business to come before the meeting, we have now completed the business portion of the meeting, and the legal portion of the meeting is hereby adjourned. And I'll now turn the program over to Greg, who will lead an update on our operations.

Thanks, dad, and good morning, everyone. As an 85-year old company founded during the middle of the Great Depression, you can say we've seen a lot, but 2020 was a year like no other. When the pandemic began, our challenge was twofold: navigate our businesses through an unprecedented period of time and take care of our people. While it's been tough, I believe we continue to do both, and it's thanks to our outstanding team. There were plenty of difficult times, to be sure, especially when we needed to temporarily close our properties. But there have also been moments of incredible bravery, commitment and resilience from our frontline staff and executive leadership team. Our associates have worked day and night through this crisis. And while taking great care of our guests, our communities and each other, and the leaders we introduced earlier, Tom, Doug, Rolando, Michael, Kim and John continued to do a magnificent job of calmly yet proactively driving our company forward. On behalf of my dad and our Board of Directors, thank you. While our response was fluid throughout the year, from day 1, we were focused on preserving cash and ensuring sufficient liquidity to get to the other side of this. In addition to securing new financing, which Doug will talk about in more detail, we reduced all nonessential operating and capital expenditures, actively work with landlords and major suppliers to modify the timing and terms of certain contractual payments and evaluated the provisions of the CARES Act and other grant programs and utilized the benefits, relief and resources under those provisions as appropriate. Throughout it all, the hardest part was the impact on our people, many of whom were out of work when we temporarily closed our properties. We did everything we could to lessen the impact, including providing severance pay as a bridge to when they could begin collecting unemployment and extended health care benefits. But our colleagues went further, stepping up to support and care for each other and our communities. They held food drives, distributed toiletries, helped each other with things like job hunting and/or the new world of kids learning from home. This is what makes our company great: Our people and their resiliency during times of challenge. Since our founding 85 years ago, a hallmark of our company has been the prudent management of our balance sheet. As such, we entered this crisis from a position of strength with a debt-to-capitalization ratio of just 26%. At the end of 2020, that ratio had only increased to 37%, which is equal to or lower than the same ratio during 7 of the last 10 fiscal year ends. After the worst year in our 85-year history, I find this incredible. Moreover, our majority-owned real estate position has proven yet again to be a significant advantage compared to our peers. In addition to our owned hotels, we own the underlying real estate for the majority of our theaters. This keeps our monthly fixed lease payments low and provides significant underlying credit support for our balance sheet. As we move forward, you can trust that we will continue to prudently manage our balance sheet. While the pandemic necessitated some decisions for the short term, the strength of our balance sheet helps position us for the recovery and to thrive in the years ahead. With the new year, came new hope for the future. Continued progress with the COVID-19 vaccines is especially encouraging. I recently saw that more than half of U.S. adults have had at least 1 dose of the vaccine, which is remarkable when you think of where we were just a few months ago. Now the hard work ahead is to get significantly more people vaccinated. While we would all like the number of new cases to be 0, most experts believe the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. If you've been to the Pfister or Grand Geneva lately or seen Godzilla vs. Kong, you know the recovery is underway, but we don't expect the recovery to be overnight nor do we expect it to be particularly linear. As of tomorrow, nearly 89% of our theater locations will be open. All 8 company-owned hotels and 9 out of 10 managed hotels and other properties are open as well. This also includes most of our restaurants and bars. As we welcome our guests back, we will continue to keep the health and safety of them, our associates and our communities top of mind. There's a lot of work ahead of us. That said, there is a lot to be encouraged by. While Michael and I will talk about each division, there are some common threads worth highlighting. First, our investments in technology have proven to be another asset in our response to the pandemic, allowing for low- to no-touch experiences, ordering movie tickets or concessions, checking in at our hotels or ordering in our restaurants. Second, the investments we've made in our theaters and hotels will prove to be another competitive advantage. In our theaters, we've already completed the majority of our renovations, offering what we believe to be the highest percentage of recliner seating, proprietary large-format screens and food and beverage options in the industry. And on the hotel side, our iconic properties offer the spaces and experiences people are looking for as travel returns. Third, despite the challenges associated with the pandemic, our customer experiences continue to excel. For Marcus Theatres, our satisfaction scores are some of the highest levels we have ever seen. In our hotels, loyal guests continue to safely return in search of an experience or an escape. Just look at the Grand Geneva. This past summer, golf revenues were higher than in 2019. And this winter, we had a record ski season. Last, the fact that we work with the very best people in the industry is our guiding star. Our team has been through a lot, but their resilience, creativity and willingness to put each other and our customers first is why we were able to navigate 2020, and those same characteristics will continue to lead us forward through the recovery. With Rolando unable to be here today, I will provide the Marcus Theatres report. Michael Evans will follow up with an update of Marcus Hotels and Resorts. While it's hard to pinpoint one word or phrase to describe the last year, ever-changing comes to mind, so does adaptable. It seems like every day was something new, quickly having to close our theaters in response to the pandemic, then a patch of reopenings based on local guidelines and of course, the constant changes to film release dates, yet our associates continue to show just how adaptable they truly are as we take it one day or even one hour at a time. They work through the curveballs and keep the customer experience top of mind here at all. So before I go further, I want to say thank you to our Marcus Theatres associates. Without their commitment, determination and out-of-the-box thinking, we wouldn't be where we are today in our recovery. As I mentioned, the first order of business was ensuring our theaters were ready to reopen when timing allowed, and that required making sure we left no stone unturned. When it came to the health and safety of our guests and associates, what resulted was our Movie STAR approach to cleaning and sanitization. STAR is an acronym for S, social distancing; T, thorough cleaning and sanitizing; A, app and website ordering for low contact; and R, respect for all guests and associates. These updated health and safety measures meet or exceed CDC guidelines and industry protocols and guidelines. We also leverage technology for low- to no-contact customer experiences. In addition to online ticket ordering via our app and website, we were already working on creating an easy-to-use food and beverage ordering experience. Once COVID-19 hit, we really sped up this work and became one of the first theater operators to offer this service. Turns out, we were onto something. Our average concession revenues per person increased 6.8% during fiscal 2020 compared to fiscal 2019. When our theaters closed, we could have turned off the lights and waited it out. Instead, we dove to finding creative ways to stay connected to our guests and associates. Nothing says movies more than the fresh smell of popcorn. To keep our brand and moviegoing alive for our guests, we launched a curbside program where customers could take home their favorite movie treats. We even shipped popcorn and snacks to those who ordered online. Last summer, our guests also enjoyed Marcus Parking Lot Cinemas. This brought us back to our roots, when Ben Marcus opened the company's first drive-in theater in 1949. While not a huge moneymaker, it kept us connected to our customers and gave people a sense of fun and nostalgia during a difficult time. Once we were able to welcome guests back to the theater, we were faced with limited new film releases and consumer acceptance in public spaces, thus began Marcus Private Cinema in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. This new offering allows guests to buy out an entire auditorium for a fee so up to 20 friends and family members can enjoy a movie on the big screen. We also enhanced our technology so that our customers can purchase their private cinema experience online. As a result, the program really took off for us in the first months of 2021. Here are just a few numbers. During the last 11 weeks of our recently completed first quarter, we averaged over 1,500 Marcus Private Cinema shows per week across our circuit, contributing approximately 21% of our admissions revenue during this time. In part because of this program and combined with significant industry closures, our overall market share of U.S. admissions revenues increased by approximately 50%. Marcus Private Cinema also gave some people who may have been hesitant to return to the theaters a chance to experience our safety protocols. And while I can't put a number on it, we've heard that it has encouraged many to come back for a regular show as well. As our business returns to normal, Marcus Private Cinema will lessen in its importance. That said, we do think it has a place, particularly to enhance traditionally slower parts of the week. We know Marcus Theatres is in a good position with many advantages compared to our competitors. For example, we completed most of our theater remodels before the pandemic hit, including many of our movie tavern theaters. We've even been able to make improvements in select locations. Tomorrow, our Mid Rivers Cinema in St. Peters, Missouri, near St. Louis is opening after a full remodel. This theater now boasts a Take Five Lounge, Reel Sizzle, a new concession stand, DreamLoungers and more. All this work continue -- all this work reduces our future capital needs. And as I mentioned earlier, the quality of our theaters positions us well for the recovery as we believe we have the highest percentage of recliner seating, proprietary large-format screens and food and beverage options in the industry. Now the most exciting part, the movies. As you know, most new film releases were delayed this past year, which does show the importance of theatrical releases to the profitability of the studios. I love movies, was among the millions disappointed with the delays, but the result is a tremendous backlog of films waiting to be seen the way movies are intended to be seen. Tom & Jerry, which opened the last weekend in February, exceeded expectations and might have been a first turning point in the recovery. An opening weekend, it drove attendance that was over 40% of the same weekend the year prior. And then on March 31, Godzilla vs. Kong was released and quickly became the best-performing films since the pandemic, generating over $50 million in its 5-day opening weekend. It is now approaching $100 million in the U.S. and over $400 million worldwide. Some other films that generated box office interest in the first quarter included Raya and the Last Dragon, The Croods: A New Age, Wonder Woman 1984 and The Little Things. And as we moved into the second quarter, we are also pleased with the performance of Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer, which are doing really well domestically and globally, further underscoring the pent-up demand for out-of-home entertainment. As we look ahead, we are excited by the slate of movies still planned for this year. The backlog of movies is too long to list. But among those highly anticipated films include A Quiet Place Part II. Tickets went on sale today. Fast and Furious 9, Black Widow, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Dune, No Time to Die, Top Gun: Maverick, West Side Story, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Downton Abbey 2 and more. As of tomorrow, nearly 89% of our theaters will be open, many with expanded days and hours. We expect the majority of the remaining closed theaters to reopen by the end of May as movies are released and demand grows. Optimism is high that there is a large interest in returning to the movies. The National Association of Theatre Owners, or NATO, recently reported that 64% of those surveyed said they are very or somewhat comfortable going to the movies right now with the percentage climbing to 86% when most Americans become vaccinated. This is up from 47% at the beginning of the year. That's an exciting improvement in just a short period of time. Movies are meant to be seen on the big screen. As a leader in the industry and through our trade associations, we are committed to working with the studios to ensure the postpandemic world is right for consumers, our business models and future growth possibilities. If you watched The Oscars a couple of weekends ago, I wanted to leave you with a few words from the woman who holds the triple crown of acting Frances McDormand. "Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible," she said. "And one day soon, take everyone you know into the theater, shoulder to shoulder in that dark space and watch every film that is represented here tonight." I'll tell you, I saw Nomadland, her movie, in the theater last weekend and she is exactly right. And I had friends that were there that had seen it on video, on TV and said it is a different experience seeing it in the movie theater. So I stand by her comments. That concludes my update. Now let me turn it over to Michael for a report on our hotels division.

Thanks, Greg. As first years go, my first full year at Marcus Hotels and Resorts was quite an experience. Just over 2 months into my tenure, the pandemic started with no real precedence for how to proceed. Looking back, one of the gifts from this time was how quickly I was able to truly see the smarts, strength and resiliency of the Marcus Hotels and Resorts team. Almost on a dime, we pivoted from business as usual to business most unusual. With no real playbook, our team dug in and faced the challenges related to the pandemic head-on. First, to how we take care of our people who are affected by the closure of our hotels, restaurants and bars, then to creating a safe, welcoming and comfortable environment for when we reopened and now, to how we thoughtfully deliver memorable experiences for our guests as they return to enjoying all we have to offer. We talk a lot, as leaders, about gratitude. I am so incredibly grateful to be part of this team especially in this moment. When we closed our hotels, it was not because we were required to do so. Rather, as the pandemic accelerated, the industry, us included, experienced a historic drop in demand that made temporarily closing our hotels the most prudent course. But we knew we wouldn't stay closed for long and got right to work to figure out how we could safely welcome our guests back. What resulted was our CleanCare Pledge, which incorporates the best industry practices and protocols for cleanliness, sanitization and operations of our hotels and restaurants. Among many things, this included new technology and procedures to facilitate low- to no-touch experiences as well as enhanced cleaning and sanitization protocols that go beyond leading hospitality industry standards and CDC guidelines. When we began reopening our hotels, we had very little in the way of advanced bookings. But by summer 2020, we started to see the drive-to leisure customer begin to return, especially on the weekends to get away and change their scenery after months at home. Grand Geneva Resort & Spa and Timber Ridge Lodge performed the best of our hotels during the year, especially with families looking for something to do. We had a good summer with increased sales on the golf course and the best ski season on record with multiple sellout weekends this winter. We believe most of our near-term revenue will continue to come from the drive-to leisure market. That said, we are seeing some return of group businesses. The resumption of Major League sports certainly helped with the return of Major League Baseball last summer and this season as well as the start of this year's NBA season. We also are on track for what may be a record year of weddings, and we are looking forward to the rescheduled bookings associated with the Ryder Cup in September. Our team continues to build creative marketing programs to welcome more guests back to our hotels especially as vaccinations continue to increase. We believe safety will continue to be an important message, but just as important is the quality of the experience our guests continue to expect from Marcus Hotels and Resorts. Saint Kate, for example, is an incredible destination that was just hitting its stride when the pandemic hit. Yet, guests are returning to be a part of it, to enjoy the bar, safely hear some great music and immerse themselves in the galleries. As another example, the Skirvin in Oklahoma City has also seen very high occupancy on the weekends. As the recovery continues, we believe consumers are flocking to quality. If they are going to stay in a hotel, they want to choose a place that gives them something more than just a bed. As you can see on the slide, throughout 2020, our properties again were awarded some of the most prestigious awards in the industry for exceptional service and amenities. Our reputation bodes well as consumers make choices about where they want to stay in the future. One thing we look at to see how we are doing compared to our peers is our RevPAR index, which is a way to examine market share. During the previous 4 fiscal years, our average combined company-owned RevPAR index ranged between 108 and 112, meaning that on average, our hotels were getting 8% to 12% more market share than you would expect if everyone got the proportionate share of business. Yet for fiscal year 2020, our RevPAR index for the same company-owned hotels increased to 136. In other words, our hotels' RevPAR was 36% higher than you would expect if everyone got their fair share. We know that we have a long road ahead of us before we are back to pre-COVID levels. While the leisure guests will continue to lead the way, we are seeing hopeful signs for the return of the business customer as well. During the pandemic, most businesses went virtual and imposed some level of travel ban. We are starting to see more companies reopen their offices, and we anticipate the resumption of business travel will follow. It may not happen as quickly as we would like but the signs are there. I've heard Steve talk about a time when the market was concerned that the advent of television would mean the end of movies, which, of course, didn't happen. Today, you read about Zoom being the end of business meetings. I don't think that will happen either. Business is about relationships. How you connect with your teams and your customers will matter just as much when the pandemic is over as it did before it began. As the industry recovers, we believe there may be opportunities to work with strategic partners to acquire hotels without significant outlays of capital. There should also be opportunities to secure third-party management contracts. We will carefully look at all opportunities for the division to grow while always keeping our balance sheet in mind. That completes the hotels report. Greg, back to you.

Thank you, Michael. Now that you've heard about our 2 businesses, let's turn our financial -- let's turn to the financial report from our CFO, Doug Neis. Doug?

Thank you, Greg. I'll start with an overview of how we fared through 2020. We announced our first quarter results yesterday, which I'll cover as well. As Greg mentioned earlier, maintaining a strong balance sheet and preserving ample liquidity has been a hallmark of our company for 85 years. As such, we entered the pandemic from a position of strength. That's not to say we had it easy. But because of our approach, we are positioned to continue to meet our debt obligations as they come due and can sustain our operations not only through 2021, but in the fiscal 2022 even in the unlikely scenario where our properties continue to generate significantly reduced revenues. And as we'll talk about shortly, our first quarter results give us cautious confidence the recovery is underway. When the pandemic began, our attention turned to making sure we had enough liquidity to help meet our needs and provide flexibility should the pandemic's effects be prolonged. In April 2020, we amended our credit agreement to provide for a new $90.8 million term loan. Doing so provided further support for our already strong balance sheet, allowing us to repay borrowings on our revolving credit facility and use funds for general corporate purposes. In September, we extended the maturity date of that term loan to September of 2021, amended our debt covenants and issued approximately $100 million of 5% convertible unsecured senior notes. Through this transaction, we effectively replaced short-term borrowings with longer-term junior capital with interest payments significantly lower than other longer-term options. After deducting the cost of the debt issuance, the net proceeds amounted to $78.6 million in additional liquidity added to our balance sheet. We also were among the beneficiaries of various state grants designed to support highly impacted industries like movie theaters, hotels and restaurants and bars. Through the end of 2020 and the first part of 2021, approximately $8.3 million in grants were received from several states to support either our theater or hotel operations. We're grateful for the recognition that the pandemic has had a significant impact on movie theaters and hotels, and we'll continue to work with our respective trade orders -- associations to further accelerate the recovery of these important job-creating industries. After reviewing provisions in the CARES Act, we filed and received income tax refunds for fiscal 2019, totaling over $37 million. We expect additional income tax refunds of approximately $24 million for fiscal year 2020. The receipt of these income tax refunds plus state government grants I just mentioned and continued strong cost controls at every level of our organization resulted in our cash and revolving credit availability of approximately $213 million at the end of our first quarter. Lastly, we'll continue to pursue additional opportunities to reinforce our liquidity, including through sales of surplus or noncore real estate. Now let's turn to our 2020 operating results. With an exciting film slate planned for the year and Saint Kate poised for its first full year of operation, our expectations were for a very different 2020. Of course, all that changed by March of last year, resulting in numbers I could never have imagined reporting at a shareholder meeting. Total revenues for The Marcus Corporation in 2020 were $237.7 million. This was coming off a record $820.9 million in fiscal 2019. Our operating loss for the year was $178.4 million compared to operating income of $68.2 million for fiscal 2019. Net loss was $124.8 million compared to net earnings attributable to The Marcus Corporation of $42.0 million for fiscal 2019. And adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP measure that is often used in our businesses to reflect cash generated from operation after adjusting for nonrecurring items. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $71.6 million for fiscal 2020 compared to adjusted EBITDA of $155.2 million in fiscal 2019. With that behind us, let's turn towards the results for the first quarter of 2021, which we announced yesterday. Operating performance improved across both businesses in the first quarter as compared to prior years, and both divisions once again significantly outperformed their respective industries, as Greg and Michael shared. As the slide shows, total revenues for the first quarter were $50.8 million. While this is down significantly from the first quarter of fiscal 2020, it's about a 38% increase from the prior quarter. Our operating loss is narrowing as well. You can see that our operating loss was about $35.6 million in the first quarter compared to about $22.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Our net loss for the quarter was $28.1 million compared to $19.4 million loss for the same period in fiscal 2020. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $17.5 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 compared to adjusted EBITDA of $12 million for the comparable prior year period. You can find a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA in yesterday's press release. For Marcus Theatres, the division's operating loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 was favorably impacted by a nonrecurring state government grant of $1.3 million. Average concession revenues per person increased 16% compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2020, further contributing to the division's improved results compared to recent quarters. Despite the impacts of the pandemic, Marcus Theatres outperformed the industry in the quarter by 9 percentage points. We believe we were the top-performing theater circuit during the first quarter of 2021 when compared to the top 20 movie theater circuits across the country. For our hotels division, we know the first quarter is historically the slowest quarter of the fiscal year. That said, first quarter results for Marcus Hotels and Resorts exceeded expectations. Operating loss during the first quarter improved significantly compared to last year's first quarter. Much of this was due to the strong cost controls at our properties and strong demand from our leisure guests. Because of this, and despite the challenges from the pandemic, we believe Marcus Hotels and Resorts outperformed the industry during the first quarter by 8 percentage points and outperformed its competitive sets in its markets by 6 percentage points. As we have said throughout this presentation, there are encouraging signs all around. While it will take some time for our results to return to prepandemic levels, we are encouraged by the improvements that we're seeing and remain optimistic for the future. With that, I'll turn it back to you, Greg.

Thanks, Doug. 2020 proved that my grandfather's saying, "Our people are our most important asset," could not be truer. While we know there's a long road ahead of us with the possibility of future bumps along the way, our company has weathered crises before. Some have questioned how soon movie theaters and hotels are going to bounce back. We've already seen people beginning craving a sense of normalcy and wanting to have experiences with others. People want to be together. They want experiences. They want to have fun, whether that means watching the latest blockbuster on the big screen or enjoying a relaxing vacation. Thankfully, we are ready for what comes next as we know our team, our perseverance and dedication will turn challenges into successes eventually. As I said during our fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2020 earnings call, we like to quote movie lines around the office. One of my favorite movies is Apollo 13. The scene I recounted during the call was when one of the characters recited all the things that could go wrong and noted that this might very well be the worst disaster in NASA history. Calm and cool, the actor playing Gene Kranz, Lead Flight Director at mission control, responded, "With all due respect, sir, I believe this will be our finest hour." That's how I feel about our company and about our team. I'm so proud of how we've responded to the pandemic and its aftermath. And I do believe our finest hour is yet to come. That brings us to the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. We'll wait a few minutes to assemble the question, then Tom will read them for everyone to hear.

Greg, we're still waiting for our first question.

It seems that we've got such a wonderful presentation that all questions were answered, right, Tom?

It's looking that way, yes.

I don't see any questions coming in. We can wait a few more seconds here and see if anyone has a question. We'd be happy to answer.

Okay. Greg, I think we're question-free.

All right. Well, before we close, those of you who have attended our meetings in the past know we offer our shareholders a special thank you gift. We are continuing that tradition today with a $25 e-gift card to show you how truly grateful we are for all your support over the past year and beyond. You can use this gift card at any of our movie theaters, hotels and restaurants as we continue our reopening. To request the e-gift card, please e-mail [email protected]. The e-gift cards will be e-mailed by May 20 to those who request one. If you like the physical gift card, we'd be happy to mail it to you. So please also provide your mailing address if you prefer that delivery method. I plan on using mine to get a Big Boy at the Saint Kate as soon as we get that restaurant reopened, which will be in the next couple of weeks. That completes today's virtual annual meeting. Thank you again for joining us and for your support. This year was challenging to say the least, but with our leadership's dedication, our associates' commitment and your trust, we know brighter days are ahead. We look forward to seeing you in person at our theaters or hotels soon.