Q4 adjusted net income was $492m, or 70 cents per share, up from $452m, or 63 cents EPS, a year ago. This includes unrealized gains and losses on fuel derivatives and other net charges, totaling $2m of net gains for the recent quarter and $94m of net gains for Q4 2017. US GAAP net income was $494m, or 71 cents EPS, compared to $546m, or 76 cents EPS, for the prior year.
Fuel prices, currency cost 13 cents/share
Revenues were $4.4bn, up from $4.2bn in 2017. Changes in fuel prices and currency exchange cost 13 cents per share in the recent quarter.
Full year adjusted net in come was $3bn, or $4.26 EPS, up from $2.8bn, or $3.82 in 2017, while US GAAP net income was $3.2bn, or $4.44 EPS, compared to $2.6bn, or $3.59 EPS. Revenues for the full year were $18.9bn, up from $17.5bn in 2017.
'We delivered strong fourth quarter earnings and record adjusted fourth quarter earnings to top off a record breaking year. In 2018, we grew net cruise revenue (constant currency) over 5 percent, achieving the highest revenue yields (constant currency) in our company's history, and producing double-digit adjusted earnings growth despite a significant drag from fuel and currency,' said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corp. & plc. 'More importantly, we achieved double-digit return on invested capital in line with the target we established five years ago.'
In five years, Carnival has doubled return on invested capital and nearly tripled earnings per share.
2019 outlook
At this time, cumulative advance bookings for 2019 are considerably ahead of the prior year at prices in line with the prior year. Pricing on bookings taken since September has been running in line with the prior year while booking volumes are significantly higher. As a result, even with more capacity, there is less inventory remaining for sale than at the same time last year.
Based on current booking trends, Carnival expects full year 2019 constant currency net cruise revenues to be up approximately 5.5% on capacity growth of 4.6%, and net yields in constant currency are forecast to rise approximately 1% compared to the prior year. The company expects full year net cruise costs excluding fuel per available lower berth day in constant currency to be up approximately 0.5% year over year.
Changes in fuel prices, including realized fuel derivatives, and currency exchange rates are expected to increase earnings by 14 cents per share compared to the prior year. Voyage cancellations due to the delayed delivery of AIDAnova have impacted 2019 earnings by 4 cents per share.
Carnival expects full year 2019 adjusted EPS to be in the range of $4.50 to $4.80.
First quarter
First quarter constant currency net revenue yields are expected to be flat with the prior year. Net cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD in constant currency are expected to increase by approximately 2%, while changes in fuel prices and currency exchange rates are expected to have a negative impact of 3 cents per share. All told, Q1 adjusted earnings are forecast at 40 cents to 44 cents per share, versus 2018's 52 cents, and just under the 45-cent consensus.
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