Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) Tuesday said that the outbreak of H1N1 virus flu is estimated to have a financial impact of approximately $0.22 per share, as it adversely affected the company's operations mainly in the Mexican market.
According to the company, Royal Caribbean International had to deviate its vessels' itineraries away from Mexican ports, leading to pricing pressures in the Mexican market. The H1N1 outbreak occurred just prior to the launch of Pullmantur's Pacific Dream, a new product targeting Mexican nationals. The launch was canceled and the ship remained idle, Royal Caribbean noted.
The company also said that the outbreak caused a significant reduction in Pullmantur's tour capacity in Mexico. Meanwhile, operations of the company's Celebrity cruises were not affected by the flu.
Commenting on the financial impact of the flu outbreak, Richard Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean stated, "The flu outbreak had a short, but highly disruptive impact to our operations."
"Fortunately, our vessels are quickly returning to their original itineraries, but the impact from the publicity surrounding the H1N1 virus on our Mexican business is frustrating," Fain added.
On April 23, Royal Caribbean said that it expects second-quarter results to be flat to a loss of $0.05 per share. The company also lowered its fiscal 2009 earnings per share estimate to around $1.35 from approximately $1.40 per share projected earlier.
RCL is trading at $14.85, down $0.03, on a volume of 1.36 million shares.
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