Royal Caribbean is working to meet CDC’s requirements for the resumption of the cruise, but “much uncertainty remains about the details, timing and cost of implementing its requirements.” Here, a Royal Caribbean ship is moored in the port of Miami.
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Strongly hit by the pandemic,
Royal Caribbean Group
lost $ 1.1 billion, or $ 5.02 per share, in the fourth quarter adjusted for a profit of $ 1.42 per share the previous year, as revenue fell to $ 34.1 million, from $ 2.5 billion.
Royal Caribbean (RCL), like its peers, has suspended most of its operations for nearly a year due to Covid. With most of its fleet inactive, the company has burned hundreds of millions of cash each month.
In a press release Monday, the Miami-based company estimated that its monthly cash outage would be between $ 250 million and $ 290 million “during a prolonged suspension of operations.”
As of December 31, the company’s liquidity totaled about $ 4.4 billion. Last year, to bolster its liquidity, Royal Caribbean raised nearly $ 9.3 billion in new capital, including debt and equity.
Royal Caribbean did not provide any financial guidance for the year, other than that it expects to have losses in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and a tight base for the first quarter and full year of 2021. Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty told analysts during the company’s fourth quarter earnings say Monday morning that “the timing and trajectory of the recovery remain uncertain.”
In the mid-morning stock trading, Royal Caribbean shares rose 10%, to around $ 86.60.
Speaking to analysts, CEO Richard Fain said there has been a lot since the creation of a Covid protocol group sponsored by Royal Caribbean and
Norway Cruise Line Holdings
(NCLH) released its recommendations last fall. Since then, Covid vaccines have begun to roll out.
“We continue to work with the group” and “to identify the safest way forward in the new post-vaccination environment when we can protect our guests and crew like never before,” Fain said, adding that the company has successfully resumed some cruises. of Singapore.
A key question is when Royal Caribbean will be able to resume operations inside and outside U.S. ports. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a conditional sailing order in late October, but the timing is still uncertain.
The company said it “continues to prepare and develop its plan to meet the framework” of that order.
“While the framework represents an important step in returning to service, many uncertainties remain about the details, timing and cost of implementing its requirements,” the statement said.
Royal said it hopes to resume its global cruise operation “gradually, as initial cruises have reduced guest occupancy, modified itineraries and improved safety and health protocols.”
Cruise operators suffered a setback recently when the Canadian government extended the ban on large cruises one more year. This is likely to have an impact on Alaska cruises, which are popular in the summer.
Royal Caribbean said Monday in a press release that bookings for the second half of this year are “aligned with the cruise company’s early resumption.”
Based on GAAP, Royal Caribbean lost $ 6.09 per share in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $ 1.30 per share the previous year.
For all of 2020, the company lost $ 27.05 per share based on GAAP and $ 18.31 on an adjusted basis, reflecting the huge impact of closing operations due to the pandemic.
In 2019, before the success of the pandemic, the company earned $ 8.95 based on GAAP and $ 9.54 on a tight basis.
Corrections and amplifications
Royal Caribbean raised about $ 9.3 billion in new capital last year. An earlier version of this article incorrectly omitted the trillion.
Write to Lawrence C. Strauss to [email protected]