Hideo Sawada, president of Huis Ten Bosch (HTB), the large-scale theme park in Sasebo, Nagasaki, announced that it will stop accepting subsidies for restructuring from Sasebo City in 2014. After opening in 1992, HTB posted deficits for 18 straight years. In 2010, Sasebo promised to provide annual subsidies of ¥700~800 million for 10 years, but after management was transferred to HIS, HTB managed to bring its budget back into the black. According to its semi annual earnings report for the period ending March 2013, HTB posted sales of ¥10.029 billion (+39% y-o-y), ordinary profits of ¥3.154 billion (+94.3% y-o-y) and net profits of ¥2.911 billion (+80% y-o-y). A string of successful new events has led to a 47.6% uptick in admissions to 1.292 million visitors. HTB aims to record ordinary profits of ¥7~10 billion in three years. President Sawada said, “This will allow us to pay our own maintenance costs, and we are preparing to stop receiving subsidies from the year after next.” Source: Nishinippon Shimbun, June 11
