Carnival Corporation Publishes Improved Q2 Figures

The Carnival Corporation has delivered an ameliorated set of second-quarter year-on-year financial figures, and announced that bookings for the remainder of 2014 are ahead of last year. The world’s largest cruise conglomerate stated that yields in the current quarter – covering the main summer months – would be affected by “significant” industry capacity increases in the Caribbean, and raised its forecast for full year trading amid falling costs and an improved economic picture.   The group saw profits almost treble in the three months to 31 May to $10.6 million from $4 million in the second quarter of 2013, based on revenue up to $3.6 billion from $3.5 billion.   Carnival Corporation president and chief executive, Arnold Donald, stated that the company had been helped by better than expected revenue and lower cruise costs:   "We benefited from effective marketing initiatives, which combined with a gradually improving economic environment, led to revenue yield improvement for our continental European brands in the quarter compared to the prior year and is expected to continue through the remainder of the year.   "Collectively our brands are gaining momentum in our efforts to drive higher ticket prices and we continue to expect sequential improvement in revenue yields, despite a more competitive environment in the Caribbean this summer.   “We remain focused on further understanding our guests and refining the exceptional customer experience we provide.   “We have also made significant strides in our efforts to identify opportunities for cross-brand operational efficiencies. This work is still in the early stages, but we are making progress and beginning to see encouraging signs.”