Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, has reduced its guidance for earnings per share (EPS) for the financial year to 30 November from one it issued in December.
The US-UK company now expects full year 2019 adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $4.35 to $4.55, compared to December guidance of $4.50 to $4.80, due to changes in fuel price and currency exchange rates and 2018 adjusted earnings per share of $4.26.
“At this time, cumulative advanced bookings for the remainder of 2019 are ahead of the prior year at prices that are in line with the prior year on a comparable basis. Pricing on bookings taken since January have been running in line on a comparable basis to the prior year while booking volumes are ahead compared to the prior year. As a result, even with higher capacity, there is less inventory remaining for sale than at the same time last year,” the company said in a statement.
President and Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald said: "Booking trends achieved during wave season rivaled last years' historical highs and were consistent with the demand trends we experienced going into the year, building further confidence in our full year guidance.”
“For our North America and Australia brands, our booked position is ahead of the prior year at higher prices while our Europe and Asia brands are well ahead of the prior year at lower prices. Our brands are strong and growing, including Continental Europe, where we continue to expect revenue growth driven by double-digit capacity increases," he said in the statement
Based on current booking trends, the company continues to expect full year 2019 constant currency net cruise revenues to be up approximately 5.5 percent, with capacity growth of 4.6 percent, and net revenue yields in constant currency expected to be up approximately 1.0 percent compared to the prior year driven by our NAA brands.
The company continues to expect full year net cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD in constant currency to be up approximately 0.5 percent compared to the prior year.
