Carnival Posts Smaller Loss as it Tightens Control on Costs

Carnival Corp on Wednesday posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss as the cruise operator kept a tight lid on operating costs, sending its shares up about 7% in morning trade.

Cruise operators including Carnival have been wrestling with rising fuel prices, a stronger U.S. dollar and higher interest rates, which have been further exacerbated due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Carnival has been removing some of its less efficient ships from the company’s fleet, including two ships from its Costa Cruises line, in an effort to streamline the brand amid continued closure of cruise operations in China.

The company said it also sees occupancy for the current quarter to be 90% or slightly higher, adding it expects occupancy to return to historical levels in the summer of 2023.

“Booking volumes strengthened following the relaxation in protocols, cancellation trends are improving globally, and we have seen a measurable lengthening in the booking curve, across all brands,” said Chief Executive Officer Josh Weinstein.

The cruise operator’s revenue rose to $3.84 billion in the fourth quarter ending Nov. 30 from $1.29 billion a year earlier, but missed analysts’ average estimate of $3.91 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company posted a smaller adjusted net loss of 85 cents per share compared with analysts’ expectation of 87 cents.

(Reuters - Reporting by Granth Vanaik; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)