A leaner Carnival Corp remained deep in the red for its third quarter, but the cruise giant promises things are looking up as two of its brands return to sailing.
The Miami-based, New York-traded cruiseship owner posted a $2.9bn loss for the three month period that ended on 31 August as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced cruise fleets worldwide into lay-up.
But chief executive Arnold Donald said its Italian brand, Costa Cruises, had returned to service and soon German arm AIDA Cruises would as well, as the group continues to work to shrink its fleet.
"Our business relies solely on leisure travel which we believe has historically proven to be far more resilient than business travel and cannot be easily replaced with video conferencing and other means of technology," he said in a statement alongside the results.
"Our portfolio includes many regional brands which clearly position us well for a staggered return to service in the current environment."
Costa Cruises came back online on 6 September, with the first voyage of the 2,826-berth Costa Deliziosa (built 2010) in six months. On 19 September, the 4,927-berth Costa Diadema (built 2014) will depart from Genoa. The company's ships will avoid South and Central America, where the line has been sailing for more than 70 years, due to the pandemic.
AIDA Cruises is set to return in November.
The company said both brands have developed comprehensive safety and hygiene protocols to keep passengers happy.
On a sequential basis, Carnival's most recent quarter was an improvement over the $4.4bn loss it posted in the quarter ending on 31 May.
The company said its total deposits at quarter's end were $2.4bn, most of which were credits from cancelled cruises earlier this year and slightly lower than the $2.9bn at the end of 31 May.
Carnival said bookings for the second half of 2021 were at the higher end of the historical range and similar to bookings in 2018 for the second half of 2019.
"The company believes this demonstrates the long-term potential demand for cruising," the company said.
Fleet getting smaller
Carnival also said it is planning on dumping as many as 18 ships in a move Donald said would help Carnival emerge from the pandemic "a leaner more efficient company".
Over the summer, TradeWinds identified 13 ships worth at least $1bn as tabbed to leave the fleet.
Many were sold and four Fantasy-class cruiseships were scrapped in Turkey.
The company said the 18 were either leaving "or expected to leave" the fleet, representing a 12% decline of pre-pause capacity but only 3% of 2019 operating income.
More liquidity incoming?
In a separate regulatory filing alongside its results, Carnival put $1bn-worth of its shares on the shelf for potential sale down the line.
In early trading on Tuesday, its shares were down by $1.27 to $16.58.
In its results, the company said it had $8.2bn in cash and cash equivalents, raised during the pause in service.
The funds include $2.8bn in loans, $2.2bn in bonds and a direct listing of 99m shares it used to buy back $886m in bonds due in August.
