By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Royal Caribbean stock (NYSE:RCL) was 4.2% lower in early trading Friday after the company said it will take more time to return to profits, blaming Omicron for the delay.
The cruise industry has had many false starts in the last one year, thanks to repeated outbreaks of Covid-19. While it was just reaching capacity, Omicron hit. That surge once again forced operators to change their itineraries and even cancel voyages.
The cruise operator’s fourth-quarter total revenue topped $982 million, up nearly 29 times from a year ago when the pandemic kept most luxury travel business shut. However, it was lower than estimates.
Adjusted net loss was wider than estimates at $4.78 per share.
By the end of 2021, the group returned 50 of 61 ships to operations, over 85% of its capacity. It got 12 ships back into service in the quarter through December.
“While the timing of Omicron was particularly unfortunate for the first half of 2022 bookings and will likely delay our return to profitability by a few months, we do not expect it to impact our overall recovery trajectory and the strong demand for cruising," President and CEO Jason Liberty said in a company statement.
Bookings in the fourth quarter were sequentially higher than the third quarter, the company said. After a fall in December, they have risen every week since the beginning of 2022 and are now back to pre-Omicron levels, it said.
The group expects to return the full fleet before the summer season with a forecast that load factors will approach historical levels in the third quarter.
It has earmarked $3.1 billion as capital expenditure for the year.