Carnival Corp. Reports $260 Million Quarterly Profit

Carnival Corp. & plc reported net income of $260 million, or 33 cents per share, on revenues of $2.9 billion for its first quarter ended Feb. 28. That compares to profits of $236 million and 30 cents per share in the first quarter of 2008, on revenues of $3.2 billion.

“Considering the economic climate, achieving higher quarterly net income is quite remarkable,” Carnival Corp. Chairman and CEO Micky Arison said. “The effect of lower revenue yields resulting from the pull-back by the consumer was offset by the fall in fuel prices from prior year levels. Our continued focus on cost controls also played a meaningful role in our ability to achieve such positive results.” Fuel prices decreased 45 percent to $276 per metric ton for in the first quarter from $499 per metric ton in the same period in 2008.

This year, the company said, booking volumes for the remaining three quarters are running 10 percent ahead of the prior year but at significantly lower prices. Or, as Arison put it during a conference call with analysts, “We’ve had very strong volume against very lousy rates.”

Carnival has 16 ships under construction to be delivered through 2012 at a cost of $9 billion, the majority of which is expected to be funded by cash from operations. Cash from operations, committed financing facilities and available cash are forecasted to be sufficient to fund the company’s cash requirements for 2009.

Although the company will not need to obtain new financing for 2009, it said it will continue to look for low-cost opportunities to enhance its liquidity. At the end of the first quarter the company had $3.7 billion of liquidity, which includes $1.8 billion of available cash and non-drawn credit lines, as well as $1.9 billion of committed ship financing facilities.