Carnival Corporation & plc, the Anglo-American cruise shipping group, has increased its forecast for the negative impact of fuel and foreign exchange costs for the rest of itsfinancial year.
Changes in fuel prices, including realised fuel derivatives and currency exchange rates are expected to decrease earnings by $0.19 per share compared to March guidance and $0.13 per share compared to the prior year, the company said.
“At this time, cumulative advanced bookings for the next three quarters are in line with the prior year at higher prices. Since March, booking volumes for the next three quarters have been running slightly ahead of prior year at prices that are in line with the prior year,” Carnival Corporation & plc said in a statement.
Arnold Donald, President and Chief Executive Officer said in the statement: "Strong operational results coupled with sustained strength in booking trends have mitigated the unfavorable $0.19 per share impact of fuel and currency moving against us since our last update.”
“We remain on track to deliver double digit return on invested capital in 2018. In addition, we have accelerated returns to shareholders through our recent dividend increase, with annual dividend distributions now over $1.4 billion and the reauthorisation of up to $1 billion in share repurchases." The company invested over $375 million in share repurchases since the beginning of the quarter, bringing the cumulative total of repurchases to date to over $3.7 billion since late 2015.
Based on current booking trends, the company now expects full year 2018 net revenue yields in constant currency to be up approximately 3.0 percent compared to the prior year, better than March guidance of up approximately 2.5 percent. The company still expects full year net cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD in constant currency compared to the prior year to be up approximately 1.0 percent, in line with March guidance.
