Carnival Corporation released both Full Year 2023 and Fourth Quarter earnings this morning, December 21, 2023 and the analysts are all wishing their congratulations now as the call wraps up.

It was truly a record-setting year – in fact, the cruise operator broke record after record as they shared results this morning, exceeding even their own expectations.

Below are the results outlined in this morning’s press release:

Full Year 2023

• Full year revenues hit an all-time high of $21.6 billion.
• Full year cash from operations was $4.3 billion and adjusted free cash flow was $2.1 billion (see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below).
• U.S. GAAP net loss of $74 million and positive adjusted net income of $1 million outperformed the September guidance range (see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below).
• The company made debt payments of $6 billion, reducing its debt balance by $4.6 billion from its peak in the first quarter of 2023 and ended the year with $5.4 billion of liquidity.
• The company entered 2024 with its best booked position on record, for both price and occupancy

Fourth Quarter 2023

• Record fourth quarter revenues of $5.4 billion with record net per diems (in constant currency) significantly exceeding 2019 levels and above the September guidance range and record net yields (in constant currency) (see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below).
• Booking volumes for the two weeks around Black Friday and Cyber Monday reached an all-time high for that period.
• Total customer deposits reached a fourth quarter record of $6.4 billion, surpassing the previous fourth quarter record of $5.1 billion (as of November 30, 2022), by 25 percent.

Comments

“We ended the year on a high note with another record-breaking quarter that exceeded expectations and achieved positive full year adjusted net income. In fact, we consistently outperformed in all four quarters of the year, buoyed by a strengthening demand environment across all our brands,” commented Carnival Corporation & plc’s Chief Executive Officer Josh Weinstein.

“Net yields for the fourth quarter continued on a positive trajectory, were significantly higher than a very strong 2019 and even higher than we had anticipated, enabling us to overcome four years of high cost inflation to deliver five percent higher per unit EBITDA than 2019 (holding fuel and currency constant),” Weinstein added.

“Thanks to a strong second half of 2023, we are already tracking ahead of our plan to achieve SEA Change, our three-year financial targets calling for the highest adjusted ROIC and adjusted EBITDA per ALBD in nearly two decades. Based on our 2024 guidance, we expect to deliver another big step forward, positioning us more than halfway toward realizing all our 2026 SEA Change targets. With nearly two-thirds of 2024 on the books already, we are well positioned to obtain another year of record revenues and adjusted EBITDA,” Weinstein noted.