1. The Dubuque Times Herald reports that 5,677 visitors attended the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium over the Memorial Day weekend. Normal attendance is around 3,000. Once again proving Titanic still brings them in. Pity that Premiere Exhibitions seems not to be making much money these days.
Source:River Museum Sets Memorial Day Weekend Record As ‘Titanic’ Exhibit Opens(27 May 2015,Dubuque Times Herald)
2. Andara House in Comber,Northern Ireland was once the family home of Thomas Andrews. Built in 1872 for the Andrews family, it is steeped in history. The large manor was converted into luxury apartments a few years back and one,specifically Apartment 3, is up for sale. The asking price is £189,950 (about $291,218). Its connection to Titanic naturally draws attention of the curious and serious. According to the Belfast Telegraph:
A key feature of the apartment is beautiful original mahogany panelling in the living room – formerly the billiards room -which it is believed was installed by craftsmen who worked on the Titanic.
If the pictures at Belfast Telegraph are any indication, it really is quite a nice place but the upkeep is likely not cheap.
Source:Ardara House: Apartment With Strong Titanic Links Could Be Yours For £190k(22 May 2015,Belfast Telegraph)
3. Premier Exibitions:Sorry Folks, We Are Still Not Making Great Profits
Premier Exhibitions, which owns Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition,released its fourth quarter and year 2015 results. Here is what Michael Little, the current Interim president and CEO, says about the results:
Our overall results remain disappointing, however our total revenue increased for the third consecutive quarter due to contributions from our Pompeii and King Tut exhibitions which continue to offset our lower revenue from our Titanic and Bodies brands. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, we performed a detailed analysis of our general and administrative expenses and through reductions in headcount and other expenses reduced our normalized general and administrative expense from approximately $1.0 million per month to $750,000 per month. It should be noted this does not include the additional expenses related to the merger transaction that will continue through the third quarter of fiscal 2016. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 we performed our annual intangible impairment testing and based upon updated projections of future projects related to our AEG acquisition in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 determined that a non-cash charge of $2.9 million was required in order to reflect the change in our assumptions. In addition, we revalued our AEG royalty which resulted in a gain of $338 thousand and wrote-off $104 thousand in development cost for projects that were cancelled during the quarter.
Whew. Did you get that? The higher revenue generating exhibitions are offsetting the lower ones andtthey generally lowered expenses. They were forced to take a non-cash charge of $2.9 million. Revised royalty income resulted in a $338 thousand gain but had to write off $184 thousand in costs. In short, we still have our shirts on but hope to afford something more fancy then beer and pretzels at our next big event.
Source:Premier Exhibitions Reports Fourth Quarter And Full Year 2015 Results(28 May 2015,Global Newswire-Press Release)
