Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings has surpassed Wall Street consensus for the second quarter as the New York-listed cruise ship operator recorded the highest revenue ever for the three-month period.
Miami-based Norwegian posted $86.1m in net income for the quarter versus a loss of $509m for the same period in 2022.
On an adjusted basis, the cruise major with 28 ships registered $137m in net income for the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $487m posted a year ago.
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.30 for the quarter, beating analyst consensus of $0.27 and the year-ago result of $1.14 loss per share.
“We are pleased to report strong second-quarter results, in which we met or exceeded guidance on all key metrics, allowing us to improve our full-year outlook for adjusted Ebitda and adjusted EPS,” chief executive Harry Sommer said in a statement.
“The continued strength in the demand environment is evident not only in this quarter’s results, in which we generated a meaningful increase in pricing on 19% capacity growth compared to 2019, but also in our forward booked position which is within our optimal range and at higher pricing.”
Norwegian expects full-year Ebitda to range between $1.85bn and $1.95bn and full-year EPS to come in at $0.80. Three months ago, the company expected full-year Ebitda to fall between $1.8bn and $1.95bn and full-year EPS to land at $0.75.
Second quarter revenue totalled $2.21bn, up 46% from the same period in 2022 and up 33% from $1.71bn same quarter in 2019 before the pandemic.
As of 30 June, Norwegian had $13.1bn in total debt and $12.2bn in net debt. Liquidity was about $2.4bn, consisting of about $900m in cash, $875m in a revolving loan facility and a $650m undrawn backstop commitment.
For the first half 2023, Norwegian posted $73.5m in net loss versus $1.49bn in net loss for the same period in 2022.
Revenue for the first six months totalled $4.03bn, up from $1.71bn for the first half of last year.
