Star Cruises Downgraded
A poor operating performance and expensive valuation prompted analysts to downgrade Asia's largest cruise operator Star Cruises Group. The company reported it posted a loss last year following its acquisition of Norwegian cruise firm NCL Holdings. "We have downgraded it into a sell," said Teh Chi-Chang, analyst of SG Securities in Kuala Lumpur. Amelia Mehta of ING Barings also cut her rating from a hold to a sell, putting a price target of 36 cents while Teh cut his target from 78 cents to 46 cents. The group, part of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd, recorded a net loss of $26 million after including interest expense of $84.2 million for NCL's acquisition. Star Cruises said its results were not comparable to 1999 as they included a 10-month contribution from NCL.
Star Purchases Two Airtours Vessels
Star Cruises Plc has bought the remaining two ships of Airtours' Sun Cruises unit as well as the rights to the Sun Cruises name. The Sun Viva I and Sun Viva II will be renamed MegaStar Sagittarius and MegaStar Capricorn respectively, Star said. It gave no financial details. Star said that following its joint acquisition with U.S. cruise firm Carnival Corp last month of Norway's NCL Holdings for $1.1 billion, it has a fleet of 18 ships and over 21,000 lower berths. By 2004, with the five ships currently on order, Star/NCL will have 23 vessels with about 34,000 lower berths.
