Weak theater business hurt by a lack...

Weak theater business hurt by a lack of Christmas movie hits contributed to a 22.5% drop in profit in the second quarter for Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based General Cinema Corp. The company added that earnings for the quarter and first half of the fiscal year were hit by costs of increased investment in Carter Hawley Hale Inc., the Los Angeles-based retailer, and London-based Cadbury Schweppes PLC, the beverage and candy company. Another drain on earnings was the continued spending on Super Video, the company’s start-up venture that rents video-cassettes through supermarkets.

For detailed data and results of other companies, please see accompanying tables.