Carnival profits fall on higher operating costs

British cruise company Carnival raised its fourth quarter dividend by 29% on Tuesday as full-year revenues increased despite higher fuel and operating costs which weighed on profits.

Over the twelve months leading to 30 November, Carnival saw pre-tax profits slip 5.7% to $2.67bn, even though revenues grew 6.8% to $17.51bn.

Carnival highlighted 4.5% growth in ticket prices that boosted its full-year performance and helped it overcome a "variety of headwinds."

President and chief executive officer Arnold Donald, said the results affirmed: "that our core strategy, which is anchored in delivering exceptional guest experiences, driving demand through marketing programs to increase cruise consideration, and introducing new more efficient ships through measured capacity growth all while leveraging our scale, can deliver consistent earnings improvements."

Profit performance was held back by higher operating costs; however, Donald said Carnival had "exceeded the high-end" of its original forecasts for 2017 "despite a significant drag from fuel and currency."

"Despite booking disruptions from this year's multiple hurricanes, we are still heading into 2018 with a stronger base of business and higher prices than last year," Donald said.

"We have numerous efforts underway to keep the momentum going in 2018 and beyond, from our innovative approaches to increase consideration for cruising, including our recently announced partnership with Univision, to the further roll-out of our state-of-the-art revenue management system," he added.

Carnival, which declared a fourth quarter dividend of $0.45, reported a decline in earnings per share to $3.59 from $3.72 a year earlier.

Shares closed 0.93% higher to 4,889.97p.