Carnival Slashes Profit Outlook in Wake of Italy Wreck

Carnival Corp (CCL: 29.98, -0.50, -1.66%) on Monday said it would take a $155 million to $175 million hit against net income in fiscal 2012, blaming the Costa Concordia cruise ship catastrophe. The Costa Concordia-related hit against earnings could be higher because of lower net revenue yields. But Carnival said in a U.S. regulatory filing that it has not yet determined that impact. The accident and loss of the ship off the coast of Italy will hurt net income by $85 million to $95 million in fiscal 2012, Carnival said in an annual report filing. Insurance deductibles will reduce net income by another $40 million and other incident-related costs are pegged between $30 million and $40 million. Carnival also said it significantly reduced its marketing activities after the disaster. Excluding its Costa European subsidiary, Carnival said fleet-wide booking volumes, from after the ship wrecked through January 25, declined in the "mid teens" compared with the previous year. Continue reading this article

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