President and chief executive Arnold Donald said the higher earnings for the year ending November 30, 2015, came as the cruise operator doubled its fourth quarter results.
The positive news came despite a fall in total revenues for the year from $15.9bn in 2014 to $15.7bn this year and which was blamed on the unfavourable impact of currency exchange rates, which cost the company more than $800 million.
The figures also meant the cruise company could announce adjusted net income for the full year of $2.1bn compared to $1.5bn the previous year.
Donald said the results were being released as figures showed cumulative advance bookings for the first three quarters of 2016 are well ahead of the prior year at slightly higher constant currency prices.
He added: “We nearly doubled our fourth quarter results and ended the year with 40% higher earnings. Strong operational execution delivered $0.25 per share higher earnings than the mid-point of our full year 2015 December guidance, despite a $0.10 drag from the net impact of currency and fuel prices.
“This year we achieved a 4.3% improvement (constant currency) in revenue yields compared to the prior year due to higher onboard revenues and increased ticket prices as we have driven demand in excess of capacity growth, while our ongoing efforts to leverage our industry-leading scale helped to contain costs.
“Our strong performance led to record operating cash flow of well over $4 billion versus $3.4 billion last year.
“As we had anticipated, with less inventory remaining for sale, we have begun to sell at higher prices than the same time last year, particularly close to departure, affirming our expectation of continued yield improvement in 2016.”
“We have accelerated progress toward and remain well positioned to achieve our double digit return on invested capital threshold in the next two to three years.
“Over time, we expect to continue to return excess cash to shareholders as demonstrated by our recent 20 percent increase in quarterly dividends and more than $400 million in share repurchases.”
