Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, said it expects its earnings per share (EPS) for the financial year to 30 November 2019 to rise to the range of $4.50 to $4.80, compared to 2018 adjusted earnings per share of $4.26.

The company said in a statement that a this time, cumulative advance bookings for full year 2019 are considerably ahead of the prior year at prices that are in line with the prior year. “Pricing on bookings taken since September has been running in line on a comparable basis to the prior year while booking volumes are significantly higher compared to the prior year. As a result, even with higher capacity, there is less inventory remaining for sale than at the same time last year,’ Carnival said.

Arnold Donald, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented in a statement: "Based on continued strength in underlying fundamentals, we are poised to deliver another year of strong revenue and earnings growth, with booking volumes running significantly ahead of our higher capacity growth and net revenue yields expected to exceed last year's record levels (constant currency). We remain committed to driving demand in excess of measured capacity growth to continue the momentum into 2019 and beyond."

Based on current booking trends, the company expects full year 2019 constant currency net cruise revenues to be up approximately 5.5%, with capacity growth of 4.6%, and net revenue yields in constant currency expected to be up approximately 1.0% compared to the prior year.

The company expects full year net cruise costs excluding fuel per ALBD in constant currency to be up approximately 0.5 % compared to the prior year.

Changes in fuel prices (including realized fuel derivatives) and currency exchange rates are expected to increase earnings by $0.14 per share compared to the prior year. Voyage cancellations due to the delayed delivery of AIDAnova have impacted 2019 earnings by $0.04 per share.

 

Donald added, "Based on the foundation we have put in place we are well positioned to continue to drive shareholder returns as we execute along a path toward growing earnings and return on invested capital over time. We remain committed to the continued distribution of cash to shareholders through increasing dividends, currently totaling $1.4 billion annually, and opportunistic share repurchases, which have reached $4.6 billion since late 2015."