Boston, MA 12/20/2013 (wallstreetpr) – Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) this week reported lower earnings on higher revenues. But the company’s Chief Executive Arnold Donald is celebrating everything, what gives? The CEO believes that according to what the company anticipated in September guidance, the earnings are better than expected.
The company’s fourth quarter net income in U.S. was $66 million or $0.08 per diluted share. This compares to the year ago net income of $93 million or $0.12 per share. As can be seen, this signifies a drop of about $0.04 per share.
As for the revenue, CCL beat expectations by a margin by posting $3.7 billion against $3.6 billion in the previous year. For the full fiscal 2013, CCL’s net income is seen at $1.1 billion or $1.39 per diluted share. Last year, net income was $1.3 billion or $1.67 per share. The full year revenue for 2013 came in at $15.5 billion against $15.4 billion in the prior year.
The reason that the company’s management is giving for the better than expected earning and revenue in the just reported quarter is that ticket prices improved. As well, onboard spending was better than anticipated. If these conditions prevail or better still improve, the company hopes to continue posting better results.
That CCL is seeing a significant drop in its EPS and even revenue can be attributed to the image nightmare that the company is facing. Since the Costa Concordia disaster, the company is still battle to disassociate itself from that negative memory. To win this war, the company has been spending a lot on its image spruce-up so that it can attract new customers. This heavy marketing spending can be seen having impact on its profit.
The fact of the matter is that as for the case of public relation nightmare, the problem will most likely hang around a little longer before. In the meantime, spending in this image campaign must continue. However, if the company’s CEO is to be believed, improving ticket prices and on board spending should help Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) overcome its present-day challenges.
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