Carnival (NYSE:CUK) fell to a first quarter loss on Friday, as the company was hit with a series of charges, mainly stemming from writedowns in its Ibero Cruises subsidiary, and expenses related to the tragic grounding of the Costa Concordia earlier this year.
For the three months that ended February 29, the cruise ship operator posted a net loss of $139 million, or $0.18 loss per share, compared to earnings of $152 million, or $0.19 per share, a year ago.
The latest quarter saw the cruise ship operator hit with a series of charges, including $173 million related to the writedown of goodwill and trademark assets for its Ibero Cruises business, and $29 million in expenses related to the Costa Concordia disaster.
The quarter's results also include a $21 million unrealized gain on fuel derivatives, and a $515 million insurance recoverable.
Adjusted for these items, earnings were $13 million, or $0.02 per share.
Total revenues rose five percent to $3.6 billion, from $3.4 billion in the same period last year.
Analysts polled by had expected a $0.08 loss per share, on $3.57 billion in revenues for the quarter.
"All of us at Carnival Corporation & plc are deeply saddened by the Costa Concordia tragedy. Our hearts go out to everyone affected, particularly the families of the deceased and missing," said CEO Micky Arison.
"Immediately following the Costa Concordia accident we ordered a thorough review, with the help of industry-leading experts, to understand what happened as well as to conduct an extensive audit of all safety and emergency response procedures across all of our cruise lines.
"We will work tirelessly to understand what went wrong, and make sure it never happens again."
Net cruise costs, excluding fuel, increased 10 percent to $1.7 billion during the quarter.
The company, which had predicted a 3.5 to 4.5 percent rise in expenses in December, said the spike was due to $34 million in charges related to the Costa Allegra, which was left stranded in pirate-infested waters in the Indian Ocean after a power failure last week.
Fuel prices increased a whopping 30 percent, to $707 per metric ton.
Carnival carried a total of 2.26 million customers in the first quarter, up four percent from a year ago.
The company said that while booking volumes are lower than they were a year ago, they are showing improvement. However, Carnival has suspended virtually all marketing programs following the Costa Concordia disaster.
Carnival said it expects revenues to decline between 2.5 and 3.5 percent in the second quarter, including the impact of the Costa Concordia incident. Earnings, on an adjusted basis, are expected between $0.05 and $0.09 per share.
For the full year fiscal 2012, the company said it expects adjusted earnings between $1.40 and $1.70 per share. In December, the cruise ship operator had forecast fiscal 2012 earnings between $2.55 and $2.85 per share.
Analysts are expecting $0.21 per share in earnings for the second quarter, and $1.85 per share in earnings for the full year.
In New York, shares of the Miami, Florida-based company edged up 0.2 percent to $30.59, as of 10:39 am EDT.
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