There are many sections of the economy that don’t get noticed much. The companies involved in these areas quietly go about their business with nary a glance. These segments may not be “sexy” but they can be profitable.
Ambassador International Inc., a turnkey travel, convention services, marine construction and insurance company, offers a complete line of services for attending conventions, traveling by inland leisure boat tours, or constructing marinas. From a general perspective, the company is divided into three groups: convention services, overnight river boat tours and marine construction services. Each division is distinctly different than the others but forms a unified group revolving around water and business.
The Travel and Events portion of the company’s business is perhaps the most familiar to business investors. It aides in the efficiencies involved when booking hotels and travel tickets, solving meeting issues and providing general services for conventions and meetings. The cruise portion of the company offers riverboat tours on company-owned vessels along the rivers of the United States. It added the WindStar cruises in April 2007, which added positive revenue but additional costs to the company’s financial statement.
The Inside Passage and Mississippi River tours are among the company’s most popular. The marine division is perhaps the most divergent part of the company, but most typically profitable. It provides turnkey solutions for building all types of marine facilities from the United States and Mexico to Japan. Seventeen million square feet of full dry-dock facilities to dock systems are but a few of the custom solutions the company can provide to marine applications.
Overall revenue for the company increased to $56.8 million for the first quarter of 2008 from $32.9 million in the same quarter 2007. Most activity in this regard was generated from the acquisition of the WindStar cruise line, although increased sales from the company’s Bellport Marine Division were notable. Serving the marine and events marketplace, the company appears to be on an even keel as it navigates from a solid position in a changing economy.
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