Carnival Weathers Impacts From Hurricanes Despite Caribbean Port Closures
September 26 2017 - 3:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Costas Paris
Carnival Corp. said Tuesday five popular Caribbean destinations
remain closed in the wake of recent hurricanes but the world's
biggest cruise operator appears to have weathered the financial
impacts from the storms.
A company spokeswoman said there are no sailings by Carnival or
its other brands to the Virgin Islands port of St. Thomas, St.
Maarten, Tortola, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Grand Turk Island.
Carnival calls on a total of 40 ports in the Caribbean.
Carnival said closures from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria
will dent per-share earnings between 10 cents and 12 cents in its
fiscal fourth quarter.
"We have not experienced lots of cancellations. Cancellations
are running at around 1%," said Carnival Chief Executive Arnold
Donald in a conference call on the company's third-quarter
earnings. He added that the impacted destinations should be up and
running before the end of the year.
Dozens of cruises were canceled, diverted or delayed due to the
recent spate of hurricanes. But the cruise sector, compared with
others in the shipping industry, is growing, with bookings well
into next year. And shipyards that specialize in building cruise
liners are fully booked until around 2025.
Carnival shares recently rose more than 3% as the company
reported strong bookings and higher ticket prices in the quarter
ended Aug. 31. In its third quarter, Carnival's adjusted earnings
per share came in at $2.29, above the $2.20 expected by
analysts.
The company expects to earn $3.64 to $3.70 on an adjusted
per-share basis this year, up from a prior estimate of $3.60 to
$3.70. It said bookings for the first half of 2018 are ahead of
this year, both in terms of price and occupancy.
While analysts have raised concerns about bookings from China
tightening travel restrictions in the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Donald
said Tuesday the company is "planning to go as normal" with cruise
itineraries. Carnival said it could plan more domestic sailings in
China and some extended sailings to Southeast Asia, including
Thailand and Vietnam, to serve customers.
Write to Costas Paris at costas.paris@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 26, 2017 15:14 ET (19:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Carnival (NYSE:CUK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Carnival (NYSE:CUK)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024