FROM VANOC:

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) today released its report for the second quarter of the fiscal year, which includes a management discussion and analysis, and interim financial statements for the period ending January 31, 2009. VANOC’s quarterly report is available at www.vancouver2010.com.

“As we expected, we’re in a positive cash position this quarter because of revenues arising from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), sponsors and ticket sales. Licensing and merchandising revenue doubled this quarter and over $94 million worth of tickets were sold,” said John McLaughlin, VANOC’s chief financial officer. “However, these remain challenging economic times reinforcing our need to be financially prudent.”

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Deferred operating revenues exceeded deferred operating expenses by $145.9 million for the quarter, compared with a deficiency of $65.2 million in the previous quarter ending January 31, 2009. On a project-to-date basis, there is an excess of deferred operating revenues over deferred operating expenses of $53.3 million. As is typical in the life cycle of an Olympic Games Organizing Committee, the quarterly operating results will shift between an excess and a deficiency throughout the project’s lifespan. The fluctuation is attributed to the timing of the receipt of revenues and the payment of expenses, as it is dependent on specific contracts and does not follow a regular business cycle.

The Organizing Committee’s net deferred operating revenue from IOC contributions, sponsorship and ticketing was $242 million.

On a project-to-date basis, deferred operating revenues were $612.6 million and were comprised mainly of contributions from the IOC, ticket sales, licensing and merchandising, and international and domestic sponsorship. This represents approximately 35 per cent of budgeted operating revenues for the project.

VANOC’s net deferred operating expenses in the quarter were $96.1 million. Excluding the impact of net foreign exchange loss, deferred operating expenses were $90.7 million. On a project-to-date basis, deferred operating expenditures totaled $559.3 million, or about 32 per cent of the project budget. In accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles, all revenues and expenses are deferred prior to Games time.

VANOC’s total venue construction expenditures for the quarter were $17.7 million. Project-to-date venue construction expenditures now total $533.2 million, which represents 90 per cent of the venue construction budget. All venues are substantially complete and venue development activities in this quarter largely focused on the continuation of certification of the venues (“homologation”). Work is also progressing on the non-competition venues, which will reach substantial completion in the fall of 2009.

Last November, the first phase of the Olympic ticketing program started, resulting in 120 of 170 sessions being oversubscribed. This proved to be a resounding success with $94.7 million in ticketing revenue for the quarter. The second phase of tickets will go on sale this summer. Tickets for the Paralympic Winter Games will go on sale for on May 6.

The quarterly report contains the updated Games operating budget, approved by VANOC’s board of directors in January, as well as a summary of the Organizing Committee’s operating budget, current and project-to-date revenues and expenditures. VANOC continues to refine and update its forecast of the Games operating budget on an ongoing basis.

The next financial report will be released in June and will include interim financial statements for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 ended April 30.