In orientation the other day, HFEC CEO Joel Mamby told us that the state of the company was strong, but because we were not over-extended. Profits were not what they wished they had been last year, but we did make a profit. A lot of hard decisions were made to ensure the viability of the company, including closing CC (which was not profitable), putting salary increases and bonuses on hold for all employees, all people in management took pay cuts, and capital expenditures were put on hold (such as the new ride at SDC). The idea at this time is to try and stay in a position in which their debt could be paid off in 3 or 4 years.
Also, by doing these things, they were able to avoid laying off a significant number of people. He explained that in hard times, for many other companies, it's all about the numbers. If the profit margin is not there, their solution is massive layoffs, ie, the major motor companies and numerous others. We are fortunate to work at a company that considers it's employees valuable enough to be willing to relax expectations as to the numbers.
There is no plan to do anything with CC within the foreseeable future, probably not 3 or 4 years. The aquariums are proving to be profitable and were picked up very cheaply. They may try to acquire several more in the next few years, or if not, dump them for a considerable profit.
And for those of you who have expressed interest, they are planning for the 50th anniversary for SDC and the 25th for DW next year. No clue yet as to what form those plans will take.
