Carnival has reported a strong
quarter, with higher revenue and
lower costs than anticipated, but
less impressive results in Australia.
ACCORDING to the company’s Q2 financial
report released on Friday, its Australian brands
(which include P&O, Carnival Cruise Lines,
Holland America Line and Princess Cruises)
saw “slightly lower yields” than its brands in
North America over the past three months.
But Carnival Corporation CEO Micky Arison
said he was pleased with non-GAAP earnings
of US$159 million for April, May and June.
“Cruise ticket prices (excluding Costa) held firm
close to sailing which, combined with stronger
than expected onboard revenues, drove yields
above prior year levels,” Arison said.
“Our North American brands performed well,
achieving a 3% revenue yield improvement
compared to the prior year, which more than
offset slightly lower yields for our Europe,
Australia and Asia brands (excluding Costa).”
Reported US GAAP net income for the
second quarter of 2012 was US$14 million,
and revenues were US$3.5 billion compared
to US$3.6 billion for the same period in 2011.
Since March, fleetwide booking volumes
have continued to improve and are running
“well ahead” of the prior year at lower prices,
Carnival Corp said in a statement.
For the last seven weeks, booking volumes
(excluding Costa) have increased 8% verses
last year, while booking volumes for Costa
over the same time period are up 25%.
“The increase in booking volumes indicates
that a progressive recovery is well underway
and we are catching up following the
slowdown in bookings during wave season,
our peak booking period,” Arison said.
“The attractive pricing we have in the
marketplace is clearly stimulating demand,
especially for the Costa brand.
“We are pleased to see the resurgence in
consumer demand for Costa, which is a
testament to the brand’s long-standing
reputation for quality built over many decades.”
The company forecasts full-year 2012 net
revenue yields to be down slightly.
