Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) has reported GAAP net income of $118.2 mill or EPS of $0.54 for the first quarter of this year, compared to $103.2 mill or $0.45 in 1Q18.
The company generated adjusted net income of $181.8 mill or Adjusted EPS of $0.83, compared to $137.8 mill or $0.6 in 1Q18. Revenue increased 8.5% to $1.4 bill compared to $1.3 bill in 1Q18.
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%, whilenet yield increased 4.1% on a constant currency basis and 3.2% on an as reported basis.
Total cruise operating expense increased 7.6% in 1Q19, compared to 1Q18, primarily due to an increase in capacity days. Gross cruise costs per capacity day increased 2.4%. Adjusted net cruise cost,excluding fuel per capacity day, increased 3.6% on a constant currency basis and 3% on an as reported basis.
Fuel price per tonne, net of hedges, increased to $461 from $448 in 1Q18. NCLH reported fuel expense of $98.3 mill during the period.
“The strong demand environment we have been experiencing for some time is continuing throughout 2019 and into 2020,” said MarkKempa, NCLH’s executive vice president and CFO. “We remain confident in our outlook to achieve our Full Speed Ahead 2020 targets and have opportunistically executed $200 mill in share repurchases in the quarter, bringing our total shareholder capital returns to $600 mill over the last four quarters.”
“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,” said Frank Del Rio, NCLH’s president and CEO. “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.”
In March, MCLH announced plans for the development and construction of the Norwegian Cruise Line Center of Excellence, a new shipboard team member training facility near Manila in the Philippines. The 200,000 sq ftcentre will serve both new and existing shipboard team members across the company and will provide training for various onboard service areas.
Due for completion in 2020, the centre will provide annual training for up to 8,000 shipboard team members each year.
As part of the Norwegian Edgeprogramme,‘Norwegian Sky’ recently emerged from her refurbishment project, following a three-week drydock in Freeport, Bahamas.
