Norwegian Cruise Line vessel

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Income Rises in First Quarter

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has delivered record first quarter of 2019 earnings, reporting a net income of USD 118.2 million compared to USD 103.2 million in the prior year.

Image Courtesy: Norwegian Cruise Line

Revenue increased 8.5% to USD 1.4 billion compared to USD 1.3 billion in 2018. These increases were primarily attributed to the addition of Norwegian Bliss to the fleet, along with strong growth in organic pricing across all core markets and robust onboard spending.

Gross Yield increased 2.8%. Net Yield increased 4.1% on a Constant Currency basis and 3.2% on an as reported basis.

“We were pleased to enter the year in a record booked position, which when combined with a solid WAVE season and record results for the first quarter, paved the way for an increase to our full year adjusted EPS outlook that now exceeds the high-end of our previous guidance range, and would result in yet another year of double-digit adjusted EPS growth,” Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, said.

“Our modest in-year capacity growth of less than 3%, coupled with continued robust global demand for our portfolio of brands allowed us to focus on driving pricing as evidenced by our first quarter topline beat, our record wave season pricing and higher net yield growth expectations for the remainder of the year.”

The company expects to generate record full year earnings in 2019 and has increased its Net Yield growth and adjusted EPS outlook above the high-end of the previous guidance range. 2019 full year Net Yield growth guidance on a Constant Currency basis increased 50 basis points from the prior guidance to 3.5% to 4.5%.

“The strong demand environment we have been experiencing for some time is continuing throughout 2019 and into 2020,” said Mark A. Kempa, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

“We remain confident in our outlook to achieve our Full Speed Ahead 2020 targets and have opportunistically executed USD 200 million in share repurchases in the quarter, bringing our total shareholder capital returns to USD 600 million over the last four quarters.”