Carnival Share Discussion Threads

[miata] 10/5/2012 15:45

The 114,500-tonne Costa Fascinosa, the largest Italian-flagged cruise ship, will make its inaugural cruise on May 11. It can accommodate 3,500 passengers and features a shopping centre, five restaurants, 13 bars and casino rooms.

Hopefully its captain will have been chosen with particular care.

[miata] 02/4/2012 20:21

Work to refloat the Concordia will start next month and is expected to take a year at a cost of $300m.

[miata] 16/3/2012 09:48

Couple of big trades this morning lend some support to 2070p.

127 4979118844 2070 17179 O 2068 2072 08:57:23
128 4979118844 2070 17179 O 2068 2069 08:58:52

[mj19] 12/3/2012 14:51

Costa Concordia a 'total write-off', says Carnival
Mar 09, 2012 15:07PM GMT

0 Comments and 10 Reactions

Costa Concordia is being written off as a total loss by parent company Carnival Corporation.

The company is to receive $515 million in insurance for the crippled vessel which run around with 4,200 passengers and crew on board with the loss of at least 25 lives off the Italian island of Giglio in January.

This will offset the value of the six year old vessel which has been deemed to be a "constructive total loss". It was originally thought the ship could have been salvaged.

The disaster cost Carnival Corporation $29 million in the first quarter of its financial year.

The company also faced a $34 million impairment charge related to Costa Allegra which lost power in the Indian Ocean six weeks after the Concordia incident and had to be towed to the Seychelles.

Carnival warned that its expectations for 2012 will be affected by the "direct and indirect" financial impact of the Costa Concordia incident.

Booking volumes for Costa are running "significantly behind" last year at lower prices at a time when the line curtailed virtually all of its marketing activities.

Cumulative advance bookings across the group, excluding Costa, for the remainder of 2012 are approximately 3 percentage points behind the last year's levels with prices slightly higher.

Since the date of the Costa Concordia incident in mid-January through to February 26, fleetwide booking volumes, excluding Costa, have shown "improving trends" but are still running high single digits behind the prior year at slightly lower prices.

"There has been less impact on the company's North American brands than European brands," the company said.

Chairman and chief executive Micky Arison said: "Our base of business for 2012 is solid and booking volumes have gradually improved, which we believe is a testament to consumer confidence in the cruise industry's long-standing record of exceptional safety.

"Despite the slowdown in bookings, all of our North American brands are still expecting a modest yield improvement in 2012 while our European brands, excluding Costa, are expecting to have slightly lower yields due in part to the slowing European economies.

"Overall, based on current pricing trends, any consumers holding out for deeper than normal discounts may be disappointed."

He added: "Our company is resilient and we will continue to work through this challenging period.

"We have every confidence that we will restore consumer faith in the Costa brand and the excellent reputation Costa's management team has built for the organisation which has a deep-rooted Italian heritage spanning more than 60 years.

"Carnival Corporation expects to carry nearly 10 million guests on its global fleet this year and the long-term fundamentals of our business remain strong as consumers continue to place tremendous importance on quality and value when making vacation decisions.

"Based on our solid operating cash flow, strong balance sheet and high investment grade credit ratings we are well positioned for the future and remain confident in our long-term outlook."

He also said: "Immediately following the Costa Concordia accident we ordered a thorough review, with the help of industry-leading experts, to understand what happened as well as to conduct an extensive audit of all safety and emergency response procedures across all of our cruise lines.

"We will work tirelessly to understand what went wrong, and make sure it never happens again."

Carnival achieved a net profit of $152 million in the three months to February 29 based on revenues which were up to $3.6 billion from $3.4 billion a year earlier.

The company will take delivery of three new ships in its second quarter - Costa Cruises' 2,984-passenger Costa Fascinosa, AIDA Cruises' 2,194-passenger AIDAmar and Carnival Cruise Lines' 3,690-passenger Carnival Breeze.

[miata] 12/3/2012 09:32

Some buying on the strength of the results announced on Friday, which boiled down to EPS of 2c, well above expectations of a loss of 6c.

[broadwood] 09/3/2012 14:47

Blimey - must be less bad than feared. Glad I didn't ditch them about an hour ago.

[miata] 09/3/2012 14:39

Key, to me is 2 to 4 percent decline. Therefore stock undervalued even allowing for high fuel costs and passenger lawsuits.

WEBCAST at 3pm

[miata] 09/3/2012 14:20

Mar 9, 2012 2:15:36 PM DWJ

1Q RESULTS.

1Q revenues increased by $163m to $3.6b from $3.4b in the prior year, due
primarily to increased capacity and higher ticket prices
* 1Q net revenue yields in constant dollars increased 2.9% (up 2.3% in
current dollars) compared to the prior year, which was higher than the
company's December guidance
* Excluding fuel, constant dollar net cruise costs per available lower berth
day ("ALBD") increased 6.4% and included a $34 million impairment charge
related to Costa Allegra and $29 million of Costa Concordia incident
expenses
* Fuel prices increased 30% to $707 per metric ton for 1Q 2012 versus $543
per metric ton in 1Q 2011
* An insurance recoverable of $515 million for Costa Concordia was recorded,
which offset the ship write off since the ship has been deemed to be a
constructive total loss
* 1Q Non-GAAP (diluted) earnings per share of $0.02, compared to $0.19 for
the prior year
* 1Q U.S. GAAP (diluted) loss per share of $0.18 included Ibero Cruises
goodwill and trademark impairment charges of $173 million and net
unrealized gains on fuel derivatives of $21 million

2012 Outlook

* At this time, cumulative advance bookings, excluding Costa, for the
remainder of 2012 are approximately 3 occupancy points behind the prior
year with prices slightly higher than last year's levels (constant dollars)
* Net revenue yields for FY 2012 are expected to be in line with the prior
year (constant dollars) excluding Costa, and decline 2 to 4 percent
(constant dollars) including Costa
* Net cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD for FY 2012 are expected to be in
line with the prior year on a constant dollar basis
* Changes in currency exchange rates and fuel prices for FY 2012 are expected
to reduce FY 2012 earnings by $0.59 per share compared to 2011
* Full year 2012 non-GAAP earnings per share (diluted) expected to be in the
range of $1.40 to $1.70, compared to $2.42 for 2011
* 2Q 2012 non-GAAP earnings per share (diluted) expected to be in the range
of $0.05 to $0.09, compared to $0.26 in 2Q 2011

[miata] 09/3/2012 08:43

We should get guidance on the outlook for the year around 14:15 GMT today.

[miata] 07/3/2012 08:54

Carnival has scheduled a conference call with analysts for 10 a.m. (EST); 3 p.m. (GMT), Friday, March 9, 2012, to discuss the company's first quarter financial results which are expected to be released that morning.

[miata] 07/3/2012 08:51

07 Mar Carnival PLC CCL UBS Buy 1,853.00 - 2,200.00 Retains

[miata] 06/3/2012 13:44

Carnival says it will send the 2,124-passenger Carnival Legend to the Continent next year from April to October for an extended season of sailings that will include the line's first Norwegian fjords itinerary and its first extended program from the U.K.

[miata] 06/3/2012 13:40

Carnival announced today that the Carnival Destiny will undergo a $155 million transformation from February to April 2013 and will become the Carnival Sunshine. The 101,353-ton, 2,642-passenger ship entered service in 1996 as the largest passenger ship ever built.

[miata] 02/3/2012 12:21

CCL blipped up a little yesterday because Royal Caribbean said bookings steady and prices up compared with same month last year.

[broadwood] 01/3/2012 14:59

Relief its back in port I guess. Share price thinks so.

[m.t.glass] 29/2/2012 06:27

boonboon - because of the negative sentiment, Carnival and its subsidiaries have reduced their own marketing in this first quarter - the very quarter in which they take bookings for the year. That is bound to have an impact throughout the year which won't be fully recorded till nearer end of year.



Carnival Incidents Mar Recovery From Concordia Wreck

February 29, 2012, 12:32 AM EST


Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Several new incidents at Carnival Corp., owner of the Costa Concordia passenger liner that ran aground off Italy in January, are clouding the cruise operator's recovery as peak booking season enters its final leg.

In the past week, 22 passengers of the Carnival Splendor were robbed during a land excursion in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and two of the company's British ships were turned away from port in Argentina after visiting the Falkland Islands in a long- running dispute between the South American country and the U.K.

Another of Miami-based Carnival's Italian liners, the Costa Allegra, suffered an on-board fire Feb. 27 and is being towed to the Seychelles, where it is expected to dock tomorrow. Today, the U.S. House begins hearings on cruise ship safety.

Carnival, the world's biggest cruise operator, has dropped 12 percent since Jan. 13, when the Concordia struck rocks and partially sank, killing at least 25 people. The incident led Carnival to reduce marketing in the January to March period during which one-third of all voyages are arranged.

The publicity is "not something you need during peak booking season," said Rachael Rothman, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Corp. in New York. She changed her rating on Carnival shares to "neutral" from "positive" on Jan. 17 due to the potential hit to cruise bookings and prices this year. "Our issue was that you couldn't ascertain a fair value if you didn't know what demand would be."

Carnival suspended the Mexico excursion and has apologized to guests, according to a statement from Vance Gulliksen, a company spokesman.

Flashlights, Bread

The company's Genoa-based Costa Cruises has been supplying the powerless Allegra with flashlights and fresh bread, and "doing everything possible to make the situation onboard more comfortable," according to a statement from Buck Banks, an outside spokesman for Carnival.

Prior to the Costa Concordia crash, Carnival had said that its annual earnings could rise as much as 17 percent to $2.85 a share in 2012. About $71 million in costs related to the accident, as well fuel and currency adjustments, may reduce results by as much as 51 cents a share, the company said in Jan. 30 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Carnival's namesake brand and its other lines, including Princess and P&O Cruises, operate separately, Gulliksen said in an e-mail. The Concordia shipwreck has affected those lines as well as Carnival's competitors.

Excluding Costa Cruises, fleetwide bookings declined in the mid-teens in percentage terms through Jan. 25, the most recent period for which information was available.

"The cruise industry has an outstanding historical safety record and we are fully confident in the long-term fundamentals of our business," Gulliksen said in an e-mail.

Royal Caribbean

Bookings at rival Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. fell by the low-to-mid teens afterward in percentage terms, the Miami-based company said in a Feb. 2 statement. Prior to the Concordia accident, bookings were running 5 percent ahead of 2011 levels.

"We're in uncharted territory and our traditional models simply don't cover events like this," Royal Caribbean Chief Executive Richard Fain said in a conference call that day.

Carnival added 0.2 percent to $30.01 yesterday in New York and has declined 8.1 percent this year. Royal Caribbean was little changed at $28.06 and has gained 13 percent this year.

The Costa Concordia remains half submerged and on its side. Divers searching the wreckage found eight more bodies on Feb. 22, according to the Italian Civil Protection Agency. Seven people are still missing, the agency said.

Italian Claims

A total of nine employees of Costa Cruises are under probe in connection with the Concordia crash. The line is "absolutely certain" that its staff acted correctly, it said in an e-mailed statement on Feb. 22.

Italian consumer associations have started advising clients on damage claims. Codacons, an Italian consumer group that filed a suit against Carnival in Miami with New York law firm Proner and Proner on Jan. 27 for the Concordia shipwreck, said on its website yesterday that damages to passengers of the Costa Allegra have to be "adequately paid back."

Italy is sending experts from the Coast Guard and the Transport Ministry to the Seychelles to probe the Costa Allegra accident along with local authorities and assist passengers, Ansa, an Italian news agency reported.

--With assistance from Chiara Vasarri in Milan. Editors: Anthony Palazzo, Rob Golum

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at [e-mail]; Marco Bertacche in Milan at [e-mail]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at [e-mail]

[miata] 27/2/2012 15:39

In passenger capacity terms, Costa is only 15% of Carnival.

[boonboon] 27/2/2012 15:24

still bad publicity, I wonder how many people will now not book with Costa cruises and what impact does this have on the bottom line?

[cambium] 27/2/2012 15:03

The coast guard said all passengers and crew on the Costa Allegra were "in good health and were informed promptly of the situation."

The fire broke out near the ship's generators and has now been put out.

"The Costa Allegra's engines are out but its communications are working," it said.

[cambium] 27/2/2012 15:01

BREAKING NEWS: Costa cruise ship adrift off Seychelles following fire, says Italian coastguard


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