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Royal Caribbean records Q1 loss
Wednesday, 24 Apr, 2009
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Royal Caribbean Cruises plunged into the red with a first quarter net loss of $36.2 million, figures out today show.
This compared with a profit of $75.6 million for the same period a year ago.
Revenues were $1.3 billion, down from $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2008. Net yields declined by 13.5%.
Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said: "Obviously, we are never happy to report a loss, but I am pleased that the full year earnings outlook has not changed materially.
"Given the horrible economy, I am encouraged by a more stable revenue environment and I am proud that our people have been able to reduce expenses and deliver better than expected results."
Chief financial officer Brian Rice said: "In January, we noted that our booking patterns had begun to stabilise but that there was still a high level of uncertainty in the market.
"Since then, we have seen consumer behaviour stabilise even further.
“We are obviously not completely back to equilibrium yet, but the predictability of our bookings gets better every day and the risk of a dramatic deviation continues to fall."
The company described bookings for Oasis of the Seas, which will be the world’s largest cruise ship when it enters service at the end of the year, as “extremely robust” and are expected to have a “significant accretive impact” on yields.
"A later booking pattern continues to make forecasting difficult, but our visibility gets better every day," said Rice.
"We have lowered our revenue forecast marginally to take into account selected areas of weakness including a more cautious view of onboard revenue, but overall, our bookings continue to come in within the range of our earlier expectations.
“In today’s world, that is significant."
The company recently received commitments for financing of Oasis of the Seas and signed credit agreements for Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity’s fourth Solstice-class vessel due to enter service in 2011.
by Phil Davies
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