Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, has reported its strongest quarter ever in the three months to 30 August, the company said in a statement.

Group net profit rose to $1.70 billion from $1.33 billion a year earlier, while revenues increased to $5.84 billion from $5.51 billion. Operating result (EBIT) jumped to $1.79 billion from $1.39 billion.

For the first nine months of its financial year, Carnival reported a rise in net profit to $2.66 billion from $2.07 billion, while revenues reached $10.69 billion from $9.81 billion. Operating profit increased to42.77 billion from $2.26 billion.

President and Chief Executive Officer Arnold Donald stated: "Strong execution delivered the highest quarterly performance in our company's history, overcoming fuel and currency headwinds. At the same time, our strong cash flow and balance sheet enabled us to accelerate our opportunistic share repurchase program, investing almost $750 million in Carnival stock since the beginning of the third quarter, bringing the total investment to $4.4 billion in just three years, and leading to the second replenishment of our $1.0 billion repurchase program this year alone.”

Adjusted net income excludes unrealised gains and losses on fuel derivatives and other net charges, totaling $34 million in net gains for the third quarter of 2018 and unrealized gains on fuel derivatives of $65 million and impairments and other net charges of $395 million for the third quarter of 2017.