Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) reported that its second quarter profit dropped to $206 million, or 26 cents per share, from $252 million, or 32 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose to $3.6 billion from $3.3 billion. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 23 cents per share on revenue of $3.52 billion
Commenting on the second quarter, Carnival Corporation & plc Chairman and CEO Micky Arison said, "Our North America brands' revenue yields increased 3 percent in the second quarter while yields for our Europe, Australia and Asia brands were up slightly (constant dollars), having been affected by the geo-political events which unfolded in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan. The revenue yield improvement was more than offset by higher fuel prices which cost the company approximately $150 million, or $0.19 per share."
Looking ahead,the company said that third quarter constant dollar net revenue yields are expected to increase 1.0 to 2.0 percent (up 5.5 to 6.5 percent on a current dollar basis) compared to the prior year.
The company now forecasts full year 2011 fully diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.40 to $2.50, compared to 2010 earnings of $2.47 per share.
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