Carnival sees strongest bookings in its history

Published: 21 Dec 2009

Carnival Corporation has posted net income of $193 million on revenues of $3.2 billion for its fourth quarter ended November 30, 2009.

Company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings fell 48 percent amid falling yields. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $371 million on revenues of $3.3 billion.

Cost containment
The company reported net income for the full year ended November 30, 2009 of $1.8 billion compared to net income of $2.3 billion for the prior year. Revenues for the full year 2009 were $13.2 billion compared to $14.6 billion for the prior year.

For 2009 full year capacity was up 5.4 percent. The net revenue yields for 2009 in local currency were down 10 percent. The company stated that its cost containment initiatives offset the pressure on its revenue yields.

“For 2009, our European brands represented only 33% of our capacity but contributed 49% of our operating income,” said David Bernstein, senior vice president and chief financial officer. He shared this information during company’s Earnings Call (transcript on Seeking Alpha).

Positive sentiments
With continued strength in booking patterns during the last 13 weeks, occupancies on a capacity adjusted basis for the first nine months of 2010 are now at approximately the same levels as last year.

Booking volumes during this past quarter for North American and European brands covering the first three quarters of 2010 are each up over 40 percent versus the easier comparisons to last year. But these bookings are also strong on an absolute basis.

“Actually, on an absolute basis these are the strongest bookings we have seen in our history,” said Howard Frank, vice chairman and chief operating officer. He added that pricing for cruises still have not recovered “as much as we would like and perhaps that is a reflection of the uncertain economic picture for 2010”.

“Still, in selected areas of the business we have seen more demand and have been able to move pricing higher in certain trades,” Frank said. “Our US premium brands are showing increasing pricing strength which is a significant reversal from 2009.”