Carnival Loses $4B Amid Ship Lockdowns

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Carnival Corp. preliminarily reported a massive quarterly loss as the coronavirus pandemic continues to keep its ships mothballed.

The world’s largest cruise operator said Thursday that it lost $4.4 billion in the second quarter, its largest loss in at least 25 years. Excluding a $2 billion impairment related to the pandemic, it lost $2.4 billion, or $3.03 per share.

Analysts had expected an adjusted loss of $1.52 per share.

Revenue plunged to only $700 million from $4.8 billion in the year-ago period, reflecting the industry-wide lockdown on cruising that has kept Carnival’s fleet from sailing since mid-March.

“COVID-19 has had, and is expected to continue to have, a significant impact on our financial condition and operations,” the company said in a news release.

Carnival has already announced it will start cruising from Florida and Texas on August 1. But on Thursday, it said it “is unable to definitively predict when it will return to normal operations.”

The company also warned that “if we are unable to recommence normal operations in the near-term and further extend covenant waivers for certain agreements [waivers do not currently cover periods after March 2021], we may be out of compliance with a maintenance covenant in certain … debt facilities.”

In trading Thursday, Carnival shares fell 2.5{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} to $18.62. The stock had rallied since Saudi Arabia’s kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund disclosed in April that it had built an 8.2{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} stake in the company.

Even though Carnival had $7.6 billion of liquidity as of May 31, it is still burning through $650 million in cash a month. “The company expects to further enhance future liquidity, including through refinancing scheduled debt maturities,” it said Thursday.

Analyst Timothy Conder of Wells Fargo wrote that he expects Carnival to “imminently look to raise an additional $4-$5 [billion] of capital to take the company” through fiscal 2021.

Carnival has also secured preliminary agreements for the disposal of six ships, which are expected to leave the fleet in the next 90 days, and is currently working toward additional agreements.