第1题
Not to Expect Profits Soon from Euro Disney The Euro Disney Corporation, acknowledging that its ela
Not to Expect Profits Soon from Euro Disney
The Euro Disney Corporation, acknowledging that its elaborate theme park had not performed as strongly as expected, announced Thursday that it would sustain a net financial loss of unpredictable scale in its first financial year.
At the time of the April opening of the park, which stands on a 4,800-acre site 32 kilometers (20 miles) east of Paris, Euro Disney officials said they expected to make a small profit for the financial year ending September 30． But since then the park has been hit by a number of problems.
"We were geared up for a very high level of operations," John Forsgren, the company's chief financial officer said in a telephone interview. "It has been very strong, but not as strong as we geared up for."
"While attendance is very strong," he said, "our cost levels do require adjustment for the current revenue level."
The parent company, Walt Disney Corporation, said Thursday that its income rose 33 percent in the quarter. But it warned investors against expecting profits soon from Euro Disney, of which it owns 49 percent.
Euro Disney said that although attendance levels had been high, "the company anticipates that it will sustain a net loss for the financial year ending September 30, 1992". It added that "the amount of the loss will depend on attendance and hotel use rates achieved during the remaining portion of the critical European summer vacation period". The announcement amounted to an extraordinary reversal for Euro Disney, which opened amid immense celebration and widespread predictions of immediate success.
At the time of the opening, on April 12, the company's shares were trading at 140.90 francs ($28.07), and had been as high as 170 francs earlier in the year. They dropped 2.75 percent Thursday to close at 97.25 francs. Mr. Forsgren said he thought the market had "reacted a bit emotionally to preliminary information". He added, "By all objective standards the park is very successful. The long-term acceptance is strong, the rest is just details."
The company said that 3.6 million people had visited the park from April 12 to July 22, a performance superior to that of comparable start-up periods at other Disney theme parks. But it warned that, given the likely strong seasonal variation in attendance, it was not possible to predict future attendance or profits.
Reacting to the announcement, stock market expert Paribas Capital Markets Group issued a "sell" recommendation on Euro Disney stock, saying that attendance levels for the period were 15 percent below its expectations and profit from sales of food and other goods was 10 percent below. It predicted that the company would lose 300 million francs in the current financial year and continue losing money for two more years.
The main problem confronting Euro Disney appears to be managing its costs and finding an appropriate price level for its over 5,000 hotel rooms. Clearly, costs have been geared to a revenue level that has not been achieved, and the company is beginning to drop hotel prices that have been widely described as excessive.
Mr. Forsgren said the number of staff, now at 17,000, would "come down significantly in the next two months, mainly through the loss of seasonal employees". Of the current staff, 5,000 are employed on a temporary basis, he said.
He also acknowledged that the lowest-priced rooms at the resort had been cut to 550 francs ($110) from 750 francs at the time of the opening, and that some rooms were being offered at 400 francs for the winter season. Analysts believe hotel use has been running at about 68 percent of capacity, although it is currently over 90 percent.
"The key issue is costs, " said one financial expert. "They have no idea what their winter attendance levels will be and they're battling to get costs to an appropriate level. The stock's still too expensive, but I think in the long term they'll get it right."
Still, huge doubt hangs over the company's plans to keep the theme park open through the cold European winter—something no other theme park in Europe has ever attempted. Last month, the company said it was having difficulty attracting people from the Paris region. Mr. Forsgren said that French attendance was improving and accounted for 1 million of the 3.6 million visitors, with most of the rest coming from Britain and Germany. Only 1 percent of visitors have been American.
For its third quarter ending June 30, the first in which the park had been operating, the company announced revenues of 2.47 billion francs ($492 million), but gave no profit or loss figures in line with the French practice of only giving such figures at year's end. In the first half, the company earned 75 million francs, mainly from investment income and sale of construction rights on its site.
点击查看答案
第2题
When looking for love, people may go to some extreme lengths. They might go on blind dates set up by family and friends. They might write personal ads to place in newspapers. Or they might use a computer to help them in their search for a soul mate by joining an online dating services. Some people have even tried to find their perfect match through game shows on television. Many of these TV dating shows, including The Bachelor and Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire？ have proved to be ratings blockbusters, with millions of viewers watching each week to find out which of the contestants will find true love. Of all these game shows, perhaps the one with the most unexpected ending was Mr. Right, which was shown in England in 2002. On the show, a bachelor, thirty-five-year-old Lance Gerrard-Wright, dated fifteen women to find the one who was his ideal partner. The host of the show was Ulrika Johnson, an English celerity originally from Sweden. For seven weeks on the show, Gerrard-Wright took turns going on dates with each of the women, taking them to expensive restaurants and exotic locations. He even met the women’s families and introduced them to his own. Then at the end of each episode, he would choose between one and three of the contestants with whom he had felt the least compatible, and say goodbye to them. At one point during the series, one contestant volunteered to leave because she said she didn’t find him attractive. After two dates she said she had had enough, and she couldn’t see it working. “He wasn’t my cup of tea.” In another episode the woman he was on a date with burst into tears when he called her by another contestant’s name. “You called me by another girl’s name. I can’t believe you did that. I really liked you,” she sobbed. But in the final episode, the woman he eventually chose decided she didn’t want to marry him after all. “I think you’ve chosen me because you have to choose someone,” she said. Maybe this was because she already knew he had fallen in love---with the show’s host! After leaving the show, Gerrard-Wright and Johnson were seen dining together and attending parties around London more and more often. Finally, on May 1, 2003, Gerrard-Wright proposed to Johnson on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral. And she accepted his proposal right away, although it was a conditional acceptance. Johnson has two children from previous relationships—an eight-year-old son, Cameron, and a two-year-old daughter, Bo. She had to make sure that they agreed to the marriage. Luckily, they did. Gerrard-Wright said, “In the end the show did work for me. I grabbed an opportunity to get a girlfriend and I did. Ulrika’s gorgeous.” Questions 1-3 Complete the following sentences with information given in the passage in a maximum of 2 words for each blank. 1. Lance Gerrard-Wright went to ____ to go on the show Mr. Right in order to find his perfect match. 2. On the show, Lance had the opportunity to date many gorgeous women among whom there might be one that he was almost ____. 3. Ulrika accepted Lance’s proposal ____ that her children agreed to their marriage as well. Questions 4-5 Choose the best answer according to the passage. 4. Which of the following did NOT happen on the show？ A. Lance went on dates with several women. B. The candidates went to some very good restaurants. C. Ulrika consulted her parents before she made her decision. D. The women met Lance’s family. 5. What happened after seven weeks of doing the show？ A. All of the women found their beloved. B. Lance started to date with the show’s host. C. One of the women on the show couldn’t help crying. D. Ulrika asked Lance to marry her.
请帮忙给出正确答案和分析，谢谢！
点击查看答案
题目内容
（请给出正确答案）
更多“He said that ending the …”相关的问题
如果结果不匹配，请 