Carnival Corp. reported a first quarter loss of $139 million, compared to a profit of $152 million a year ago, though analysts noted that the downside from Concordia was not as bad as was feared.
Fleetwide booking volumes, excluding Costa, are improving but are still running behind 2011 with less impact on the company’s North American brands than European brands, and advance bookings are also behind in comparison to last year. Executives said booking volumes for Costa are running “significantly behind” last year despite lower prices. However, Costa has curtailed virtually all of its marketing activities during this period. Carnival has reduced the midpoint of its earnings expectations from projections in December by $1.15 per share. Concordia has been declared a constructive total loss, with Carnival expecting to recover $515 million in insurance. www.carnival.com
