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World Dream quarantined in Hong Kong

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Written by Teijo Niemelä Teijo Niemelä

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 05 February 2020 05 February 2020

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (February 5) said that subsequent to the notification of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection involving eight travellers from the Mainland who took the World Dream cruise from January 19 to 24, the CHP's Port Health Division is sparing no effort in carrying out the port health inspection work on the cruise.

Personnel of the Port Health Division have been assessing the health condition of over 1 800 passengers and over 1 800 crew members on board through health declaration and temperature checking. As of 9pm, 33 crew members of the cruise claimed to have developed upper respiratory tract infection symptoms. Among them, three crew members reported to have developed fever were sent to hospital for isolation and management.

Samples were collected from all crew members reported to have symptoms for testing on novel coronavirus. Currently, relevant test results showed that the respiratory samples of 32 crew members concerned were tested negative for novel coronavirus while that of the remaining one is pending.

The CHP said that relevant health inspection work is ongoing due to the large number of people on board. All passengers and crew members are required to stay on board prior to completion of the health inspection and permission by the DH.

RCCL launches five year programme to boost earnings and cut emissions

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 04 February 2020 04 February 2020

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the world’s second largest cruise shipping group, has introduced its 20>25 by 2025 program which is designed to give people throughout the company specific goals to work towards. 

“The program includes several goals by 2025: delivering $20.00 adjusted earnings per share (EPS); further reducing the company's carbon footprint by 25%; delivering strong returns on invested capital; and continuing to improve on record guest satisfaction and employee engagement metrics,” the company said in a statement.

For 2019, the adjusted EPS amounted to $9.56.

“These goals have been put in place to focus our leadership on achieving outsized improvements in our performance going forward.  We believe that what gets measured gets better and - just like the Double-Double program - we believe that this 20>25 by 2025 program will help focus our people on the key success factors for our future.  This program not only focuses on earnings and carbon footprint, it will also focus on further improving our guest satisfaction and employee engagement while continuing to deliver strong returns on invested capital,” RCCL said.

"We are pairing ambitious business and environmental goals because we all understand that businesses must do our part to meet the needs of all our stakeholders," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO.  "Over the last years, our people have worked hard to deliver strong performance on both profitability metrics and important societal goals.  This 20>25 by 2025 program should help take those efforts to the next level."

 

 

RCCL forecasts 2020 adjusted EPS to climb to $10.40-$10.70 range

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 04 February 2020 04 February 2020

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the world’s second largest cruise shipping group, says the outlook for the demand environment in the new year remains strong, but certain recent events have clouded the outlook somewhat.

“Excluding any impact from the Coronavirus and taking into account current fuel pricing, interest rates, currency exchange rates and the factors detailed above, the company estimates 2020 Adjusted EPS (earnings per share) will be in the range of $10.40 to $10.70 per share,” RCCL said in a statement, adding that its guidance does not include possible effect of Coronavirus outbreak.The 2019 EPS non-GAAP EPS amounted to $9.54

The company said it is very encouraged about the demand environment for 2020.  “Wave Season has started on a strong note with overall rates higher than same time last year and booked load factors ahead of same time last year on a like-for-like basis.  The company's new ships and new attractions are a major driver not only of revenue, but of the strength of its brands.”

Although demand for the core products is very strong across all quarters, recent geopolitical events such as the brushfires in Australia and unrest in the Middle East have impacted demand for certain itineraries, but the strength of the core products has more than compensated for this. The US and European markets have started the year on a particularly strong note.

The company expects a Net Yield increase in the range of 2.25% to 4.25% in constant currency and 2.5% to 4.5% as reported for the full year.

RCCL said four ships due to be introduced during 2020 will be important contributors to the yield growth and profitability.  The timing of the new ship deliveries would result in a more significant yield growth in the second half of the year than in the first half.

"Our yield outlook for 2020 is very encouraging with higher pricing on top of an exceptional 2019 performance," said Jason T. Liberty, executive vice president and CFO. 

"It's clear that the Coronavirus will impact revenue in China in the short term, but we are a long-term business and our plans to continue growing this profitable market remain unchanged.   We are also very excited about the introduction of our 20>25 by 2025 goals,” he continued.

“Our formula for success is simple and our path towards our EPS goal is driven by moderately growing our yields, effectively managing our costs and moderately growing our business.  Meanwhile, our emissions target, which is one of our many sustainability initiatives, will further focus our world-class design, engineering and operations teams to meaningfully improve our environmental impact."

Net cruise costs excluding Fuel are expected to be up 1.75% to 2.25 % in both Constant-Currency and As-Reported basis.  Operating costs for the full year show continued good discipline, although the cadence of costs between quarters will vary.  Costs in the first half of the year are expected to be higher than the second half driven by more drydock days and the timing of ship deliveries.

As previously announced, the Wuhan Coronavirus and the efforts to contain it are expected to negatively affect our results. While we expect this to be temporary, the situation is highly fluid and the overall impact cannot reasonably be estimated at this time.

Accordingly, our guidance does not include any provision for the impact of the outbreak. We will update our guidance as the situation stabilizes and we can reasonably estimate its impact.

Net yields are expected to increase 2.25% to 4.25% in constant currency and 2.5% to 4.5% as reported, RCCL said.

RCCL reports record result for 2019, but final quarter weaker year-on

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Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen

Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines

Published: 04 February 2020 04 February 2020

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL), the world’s second largest cruise shipping group, has reported record results for 2019 despite a weaker final quarter than in the previous year.

For the full year, net income rose to $1.90 billion from $1.18 billion and operating income reached $2.08 billion compared to $1.89 billion. Revenues rose to $10.95 billion from $9.49 billion.

Earnings per share in GAAP terms rose to $8.95 from $8.56.

However, in the final quarter, net income fell to $280.7 million from $320.4 million in the same period in 2018, while operating income contracted to $299.4 million from $364.0 million. Revenues increased to $2.52 billion from $2.33 billion.

Gross yields were up 8.2% in constant-currency and 7.0% as reported.  Net Yields were up 8.0% and 6.7%, respectively.

Gross cruise costs per Available Passenger Cruise Days ("APCD") increased 8.7% in constant currency and by 8.0% as-reported.  Net cruise costs ("NCC") excluding Fuel per APCD increased by 11.4% in constant currency and by 10.8% as reported,’ the company said in a statement.