Just before the holiday break, Carnival Corp announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024 and provided an outlook for the first quarter and for 2025.
The key highlights included:
- Full year revenues hit an all-time high of $25 bill, over 15% higher than the previous year, with continued strength in demand.
- Full year net income of $1.9 bill; adjusted net income of $1.9 bill outperformed the September guidance by over $130 mill.
- Record full year adjusted EBITDA of $6.1 bill, over 40% higher than in 2023.
- Record full year operating income of $3.6 bill, over 80% higher than the 2023 figure.
- Adjusted return on invested capital (ROIC) of 11%.
- Record fourth quarter revenues of $5.9 bill, 10% higher than in the previous year, delivering record adjusted EBITDA.
- Cumulative advanced booked position for this year is at an all-time high for both price (in constant currency) and occupancy.
- Adjusted EBITDA per available lower berth (ALBD) for 2025 expected to be the highest in almost two decades, achieving the 2026 SEA Change target one year ahead of schedule.
“This has been an incredibly strong finish to a record year. Revenues hit an all-time high driven by a strong demand environment that we elevated throughout the year, enabling us to outperform our initial 2024 guidance by $700 mill and deliver nearly $2 bill more to the bottom line, year over year,” commented Carnival Corp’s CEO, Josh Weinstein (pictured).
“The progress was broad based, as we drove strong pricing in 2024, as compared to 2023 across our major cruise lines and trades.
“We are delivering long-term value for our shareholders through improved operational execution across our brands, essentially on a same ship basis. We ended 2024 with adjusted ROIC of 11%, comfortably above our cost of capital. In fact, with one year down, we’re already over 80% of the way toward achieving our 2026 SEA Change EBITDA and adjusted ROIC targets,” Weinstein continued.
He also said that there was even more in store to continue the momentum, as the company was working on an enhanced destination strategy to provide guests with yet another reason to take a cruise vacation offered exclusively by Carnival Corp’s portfolio of cruise lines.
The company is also working to increase awareness and consideration for cruise travel globally, he said.
“2025 is shaping up to be another banner year, with yield growth expected to far outpace historical growth rates and again exceed unit cost growth, thanks to the efforts of our amazing team members. They have delivered a step-change improvement in 2024 which sets us up for a fantastic 2025 and beyond, while delivering unforgettable happiness to over 13.5 mill guests last year,” Weinstein added.
For the full year 2025, the company forecast:
- Net yields (in constant currency) about 4.2% higher than record 2024 levels based on continued strength in demand.
- Adjusted cruise costs, excluding fuel per ALBD (in constant currency) up around 3.7%, compared to 2024, in part due to higher drydock days, higher advertising expense and operating costs for the company’s new exclusive destination, Celebration Key.
- Adjusted net income of around $2.3 bill, over 20% higher than 2024.
- Adjusted EBITDA of about $6.6 bill, up around $500 mill, compared to 2024. Adjusted EBITDA per ALBD to reach its 2026 SEA Change target one year in advance.
- Adjusted ROIC of about 11.7%.
“With the benefit of well managed near term maturity towers and improved leverage metrics, we expect to opportunistically capitalise on improved interest rates, while proactively managing our maturity towers for 2027 and beyond. In 2025, interest expense is currently expected to be over $200 mill lower than 2024 and over $500 mill lower, compared to 2023,” added Carnival Corp’s CFO, David Bernstein.
“We are laser focused on continuing our efforts to further reduce interest expense and rebuilding an investment grade balance sheet. Just this year, we achieved a 4.3x net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio, nearly a two and a half turn improvement from 2023, positioning us three-fourths of the way to our initial leverage target,” Bernstein added.
Last year, the company made debt prepayments of $3.3 bill, bringing its total prepayments to $7.3 bill since the beginning of 2023.
In addition, Carnival has reduced its debt balance by over $8 bill from its peak in January, 2023, ending the year with $27.5 bill of debt. As of 30th November, 2024, the company’s debt maturities for full year 2025 and 2026 were $1.5 bill and $2.7 bill, respectively.
During the quarter, the company obtained three new export credit facilities, bringing its total committed financings related to ship deliveries to $7.8 bill, continuing its strategy to finance its newbuilding programme at preferential interest rates.
