Carnival Corp. (CCL) swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss on
fuel derivatives impacts but said its adjusted results beat
expectations thanks to better-than-expected ticket prices.
President and Chief Executive Arnold Donald said the stronger
ticket prices for Carnival Cruise Lines and the continental
European brands, as well as the timing of certain expenses, buoyed
results. The Carnival line is the company's largest brand and
recently featured 24 of Carnival's 101 ships.
But the company projected disappointing bottom-line results for
the current quarter at break-even on a per-share basis, plus or
minus two cents. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a
profit of seven cents.
The company also narrowed its earnings estimate for the year to
$1.50 to $1.70 a share. The cruise ship company, which also
operates the Princess, Cunard and Holland America lines, among
others, previously had forecast $1.40 to $1.80 a share.
Meanwhile, bookings have been running ahead of year-earlier
levels, although at lower ticket prices, the company said.
Carnival has been taking steps to repair its image after a
string of incidents, including the fatal Costa Concordia shipwreck
off Italy in January 2012. The company has launched fresh
initiatives, including its largest marketing campaign in years, in
an effort to attract more customers.
For the period ended Feb. 28, Carnival reported a loss of $15
million, or two cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit
of $37 million, or five cents a share. Excluding items such as
derivatives impacts, the company posted breakeven adjusted results,
compared with year-earlier adjusted earnings of eight cents. The
company had projected an adjusted per-share loss of seven cents to
11 cents.
Revenue edged down 0.2% to $3.59 billion, slightly below
analysts' estimates of $3.56 billion.
Net revenue yields --a measure of revenue relative to
capacity--fell 2.1%, excluding currency fluctuations.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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