Prestige Takeover Pushes NCL to Fourth Quarter Loss

Miami-based cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line ended 2014 with USD 338.4 million net income, but reported USD 25.6 million net loss in the fourth quarter due to the USD 3.025 billion purchase of Prestige Cruise Holdings, parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

The annual revenue increased by 21.6% to USD 3.1 billion from USD 2.6 billion in 2013, which the operator attributes to the 19.8% increase in capacity days.

The increase in capacity days was primarily a result of the addition of Norwegian Breakaway and Getaway, which entered the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet in April 2013 and January 2014, respectively, and the addition of capacity days from the Prestige fleet of eight vessels.

Commenting on the start of 2015, Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line, said: “As anticipated, the combined impacts of the challenging Caribbean capacity and pricing environment along with a normalized winter season for the Norwegian brand, which last year included an extended bareboat charter of Norwegian Jade for the Sochi Olympics, results in tempered expectations for the first quarter. Looking to the balance of the year, the outlook is much more encouraging with solid pricing and booking trends across all markets. While 2015 is primarily an organic year, we expect to deliver robust Adjusted EPS growth of approximately 23%.”