Carnival Corp. posts Q2 profit - South Florida Business Journal:

yjanebixe.wordpress.com
The company (NYSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) said on Thursdag that its net incomewas $264 million, or 33 cents a share, on revenue of $2.9 billion. That’sw down from $390 million, or 49 cents a on revenue of $3.4 billion during the same quarterlast year. The gainsw were offset, in part, by higher fuel prices and the impactg from disruptions of its cruises to Mexico following the Swineflu outbreak, which the companyg said cost it approximately 3 cents a share.
The compangy said that booking volumes for the seconrd half of the year are 26 percent aheads oflast year, but are still behind for the remaindert of this year, and tickeft prices are substantially lowet as the cruise line continuese to offer deep discounts. "Despite the soft economy and rising rates of we seem to have found a price point that incentivizes consumers tobook vacations," said Carnival'w Chief Operating Officer Howard Frank, during a mornin conference call. In December, as oil pricesa fell below $50 a barrel, Carnival dropped its fuel surcharge, saying it woulc reinstate the charge if oil wentabovwe $70 a barrel.
However, during Thursday's conference call, executivea said that even though prices have riseb abovethe $70 threshold, they have no plans at this time to add back the fuel The company now forecasts full year 2009 earnings per shar e to be in the rangwe of $2 to compared to its previouss guidance range of $2.10 to $2.30. Sharea of CCL were up $1.72 to The 52-week high was $42.39 on Sept. 19. The 52-week low was $14.86 on Nov. 21. Shares of CUK were up $2 to $25.9r in afternoon trading. The 52-week high was $39.60 on Aug. 11. The 52-weem low was $15.24 on Nov. 20.