Busch Parks - Revenue Falling Back Slightly

[The Deadman]

Business at Busch Entertainment Corp.'s theme parks continued to slow during the second quarter, the company's corporate parent reported Thursday.

Orlando-based Busch Entertainment, whose 10 parks include SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica and Discovery Cove, generated $399 million in revenue during the April-through-June quarter, according to results posted by Belgian beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev.

That was 4.2 percent less than the $416 million in sales the theme-park operator rang up in the second quarter of 2008, when it was still owned by the Anheuser-Busch Cos. of St. Louis.

It also followed an 18.3 percent slump during the first quarter, when Busch Entertainment's revenue dropped to $181 million from $222 million.

The second-quarter results were boosted -- and the first-quarter results hampered -- by the timing of the busy Easter travel period, which shifted from the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of this year.

For the entire first half of the year, revenue at Busch Entertainment fell 9 percent, to $580 million, from $638 million a year ago.

A-B InBev said combined earnings at Busch Entertainment and its U.S. packaging business -- before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization -- fell almost 15 percent during the second quarter, to $317 million from $371 million.

The company's theme parks account for only a tiny fraction of business at A-B InBev, which is the world's largest beer brewer. Companywide, A-B InBev said it made a $1.1 billion profit during the second quarter.

A-B InBev executives said they sold $3.56 billion worth of assets during the first half of 2009, and reiterated their goal of $7 billion in divestitures by the end of the year.

Busch Entertainment Corp. is widely believed to be among the properties that A-B InBev would like to shed, though there appears to have been little progress toward a sale.