Sales rise again at Universal theme parks-Jason Garcia
Sales and profit continued to rise at Universal Parks & Resorts during the third quarter, as NBCUniversal's theme-park division continued to benefit from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando and a King Kong attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Quarterly revenue for the Universal parks business, now owned by Philadelphia-based cable giant Comcast Corp., climbed to $580 million from $531 million a year ago, an increase of 9.1 percent. Operating cash flow, a measure of profitability, rose to $285 million from $252 million, an increase of 12.6 percent.
Comcast said the increases per capita guest spending its parks rose by a double-digit percentage for the quarter, while it said attendance was "relatively stable" at its Florida and California parks.Analysts have been expecting Universal's huge attendance gains to level off this year, as it is now facing tougher year-over-year comparisons against the months following the opening of Wizarding World and King Kong 360. Wizarding World opened June 18, 2010, at Universal's Islands of Adventure, one of the two parks at Universal Oralndo, and the Kong attraction debuted a few weeks later at Universal Studios Hollywood.
For the first nine months of the year, Universal Parks & Resorts revenue jumped 32.9 percent to $1.5 billion and operating cash flow soared 61.2 percent to $644 million. In addition to Universal's two U.S. resorts, the unit also earns licensing fees from overseas Universal theme parks in Japan and Singapore.
"The Harry Potter and King Kong attractions have set new levels of performance and we're excited to see that continue in the third quarter," Comcast Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts said on a conference call with analysts. "We see real opportunity to further build the theme-park business."