Carnival Corporation & plc (CCL) swung to a net profit for the quarter ended Feb. 28, 2015. The company has made a net profit of $49 million, or $ 0.06 a share in the quarter, against a net loss of $20 million, or $0.03 a share in the last year period. On an adjusted basis, net profit for the quarter was $159 million, when compared with net loss $3 million in the last year period.

Revenue during the quarter went down marginally by 1.51 percent to $3,531 million from $3,585 million in the previous year period. Total expenses were 92.47 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 98.13 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 566 basis points in operating margin to 7.53 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $266 million, compared with $67 million in the previous year period.

Carnival Corporation & plc president and chief executive officer, Arnold Donald noted “The year is off to a strong start achieving significantly higher earnings than the prior year and our previous guidance. Our onboard revenue initiatives drove particularly strong improvement in the first quarter with onboard yields more than 8 percent higher than prior year (constant dollar).” Donald also noted that the Carnival Cruise Line brand continued to outperform, achieving significant revenue yield growth and remains on track for a strong year."

For fiscal year 2015, Carnival Corporation & plc expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.30 to $2.50 on an adjusted basis.

For second-quarter of fiscal 2015, Carnival Corporation & plc expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.11 to $0.15 on an adjusted basis.

Working capital remains negative
Working capital of Carnival Corporation & plc was negative $5,986 million on Feb. 28, 2015 compared with negative $5,043 million on Feb. 28, 2014. Current ratio was at 0.19 as on Feb. 28, 2015, down from 0.25 on Feb. 28, 2014.

Days sales outstanding went down to 10 days for the quarter compared with 13 days for the same period last year.

Debt comes down marginally
Carnival Corporation & plc has recorded a decline in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $9,139 million as on Feb. 28, 2015, down 4.90 percent or $471 million from $9,610 million on Feb. 28, 2014. Total debt was 23.61 percent of total assets as on Feb. 28, 2015, compared with 24.08 percent on Feb. 28, 2014. Debt to equity ratio was almost stable at 0.39 as on Feb. 28, 2015, when compared with the last year. Interest coverage ratio improved to 4.67 for the quarter from 0.93 for the same period last year.