Genting HK reports surging cruise ship revenue

Genting Hong Kong reported a 39.1 percent gain in cruise ship related activities in 2016, but it swung to a loss on higher costs and as one-time gains last year weren’t repeated.

On an adjusted basis, excluding one-time items, the loss before taxation for 2016 was US$121.5 million, compared with a loss before taxation for 2015 of $87.8 million. The loss attributable to equity owners of the company was $502.3 million for 2016 compared with the profit attributable to equity owners of $2.1 billion the prior year.

Revenue from cruise and cruise-related activities was $908.1 million in 2016 compared with $652.8 million in 2015. Net revenue gained almost 39 percent to $689.7 million.

Total operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortisation, increased 60.6 percent to $848.8 million, while selling, general and administrative were also up by 66 percent.

Cruise and cruise-related activities recorded a positive EBITDA of  $62.8 million in 2016, compared to US$43.4 million (excluding Dream and Crystal pre-operating costs for the new ships) in 2015.

The company made a $658.8 million gain on the disposal of a stake in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings in 2015, which boosted the bottom line. It also made a one-off accounting gain of $1.56 billion due to the reclassification of Norwegian Cruise Lines from an associate to available-for-sale investment.