(Reuters) – Carnival Corp on Tuesday missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, as a rise in COVID-19 infections due to the Omicron variant during the quarter hampered cruise bookings.
Omicron has been a cause of concern globally with cases of the fast-spreading COVID variant rising rapidly. The situation has forced people to reassess their travel decisions.
Several cases of infections were identified on board ships owned by Carnival in December and January.
The company said during the first quarter of 2022, as a result of Omicron it experienced an impact on bookings for its near-term sailings, including higher cancellations resulting from an increase in pre-travel positive test results.
The cruise operator’s revenue rose to $1.62 billion in the first quarter, from $26 million a year earlier, missing analysts’ average estimate of $2.26 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
However, the company’s net loss narrowed to $1.89 billion, or $1.66 per share, in the quarter ended Feb. 28, from $1.97 billion, or $1.80 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
