Royal Caribbean has released its fourth quarter 2012 fiscal results as well as its full year 2012 results and provided an initial outlook for 2013.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, Royal Caribbean announced net income before impairment charges of $21.1 million, or $0.10 per share, versus income of $36.6 million, or $0.17 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2011. During the quarter the company recorded non-cash impairment charges totaling $413.9 million related to the company’s Pullmantur brand.

The good news is close-in bookings and onboard spending in the fourth quarter were stronger than expected and that resulted in a Net Yield increase of 1.8% on a Constant-Currency basis versus prior guidance of just 1%.

For the full year of 2012, net income before impairment charges was $432.2 million, or $1.97 per share, versus income of $607.4 million, or $2.77 per share for full year 2011.

Looking forward to the fiscal year of 2013, booking activity in the fourth quarter 2012 was lower than the same time last year due to the aftermath of super-storm Sandy. However, Royal Caribbean has seen much stronger bookings since the beginning of the WAVE season in January, which shows demand to be at a healthy level.

In fact, Royal Caribbean is seeing booking volume running about 20% ahead of this same time last year.  Booking volumes are exceeding those during the same period in 2011 and in the aggregate, forward booked load factors and pricing are higher than at this time in both 2011 and 2012.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain commented that Royal Caribbean is doing well in North America but not as well in Europe, "Looking forward, we see a tale of two continents; North America is doing well, while parts of Europe continue to be a challenge. Nonetheless, we are encouraged that the former will countervail the latter allowing us to drive meaningful yield growth in 2013."

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on February 4, 2013 at 10am to discuss its fourth quarter 2013 financial results.

The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com. To listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

Royal Caribbean announced today that NASDAQ has added the cruise line giant's stock as one of the top 100 companies in the world  for its sustainability practices by being added to the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index.

The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index tracks performance of companies that  are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting. These companies have voluntarily disclosed their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain commented on the news, "Royal Caribbean's addition to the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability Index is recognition of our status as a global leader for its sustainability practices. Conserving the marine environment is an integral part of our economic success. Our goal and that of our industry in general is to protect the marine environment and sustain the well-being of the people and destinations we serve. We appreciate the efforts made by NASDAQ and CRD Analytics to genuinely measure the performance of listed companies, and this recognition encourages and affirms our sustainability efforts."

Ahead of its conference call with investors, Royal Caribbean announced better than expected financial results for the third fiscal quarter and increased its earnings outlook for the full year 2012.

Royal Caribbean reported third quarter net income of $367.8 million, or $1.68 per share, versus income of $399.0 million, or $1.82 per share, in the third quarter of 2011.

Helping Royal Caribbean's financials for the quarter were stronger than expected close-in bookings, including Europe.  NCC excluding fuel were also better than anticipated and increased 2.0% on a Constant-Currency basis (declined 0.2% As-Reported).

Royal Caribbean Richard Fain commented on the news, "The strong third quarter certainly validates our confidence in our business model.Strong close-in demand and our focus on costs drove substantially better results than expected. I am especially gratified that we are still seeing price increases in a year marked by so many external pressures."

Royal Caribbean also increased its guidance for full year earnings per share by $0.15 to a range of $1.85 to $1.95. This increase has been mainly driven by stronger than anticipated revenue (+$0.06 per share) and expense reduction (+$0.06 per share). The remaining $0.03 per share improvement is principally due to currency benefits net of oil price increases.

Royal Caribbean has scheduled a conference call for Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 10am Eastern time to announce the results of it's third quarter fiscal calendar earnings.

If you're interested in hearing the results live, you can listen on-line at Royal Caribbean's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com. To listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

With the global economy still uncertain, Royal Caribbean is just one of many companies that struggle to provide financial forecasts for shareholders and analysts every quarter.

Royal Caribbean chief financial officer Brian Rice is in charge of this task and has taken an approach to widen the range of profit, revenue or other projections while spending more time and effort making sure investors have the information they really need.

“It would certainly make my life easier if we didn't give [financial] guidance."

Rice mentions that Royal Caribbean continues the practice because rival cruise provide Carnival Corp. provides them, so Royal Caribbean feels compelled to keep up.

When it comes to net yelds, a very important performance benchmark, the company has modified the way it provides forecasts for it.   Early this year, it projected a four-percentage-point range for the change in its annual yield, wider than the three-percentage-point range of last year’s prediction and the two-point range it has traditionally used, Mr. Rice says.

He says the wider range gives the company breathing room with analysts. With narrower ranges analysts would typically press for more information if the company deviated by even 0.1 percentage point from the midpoint of its projections, he adds.

Royal Caribbean's Board of Directors announced today that it will offer its shareholders a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share payable on October 9, 2012, to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 25, 2012.

Dividends from the cruise have been $0.10 since 2008 after it dropped from its highest $0.15. This new change in dividends is an increase of 20 percent.

Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain commented on the change, "I am pleased that our Board of Directors increased the quarterly dividend payment today. We have consistently communicated our desire to balance rational growth, leverage reduction and shareholder return improvement. I think today's actions are further evidence that these goals can coexist harmoniously."

Royal Caribbean reported its second quarter fiscal results for 2012 of a net loss of $3.6 million.

Larger than anticipated discounting in Europe has hurt Royal Caribbean's bottom line, despite solid demand in the Caribbean and Asia.  The impact of the Costa Concordia disaster continues to affect Royal Caribbean, particularly in the second and third quarters.

"The steady drumbeat of negative news emanating out of Europe is certainly having an impact," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer. Fain continued, "As a result, we are seeing pluses and minuses in the different geographical markets - North America is holding up reasonably well; Asia is a big plus; but Europe is a pretty consistent minus. Overall we have seen about a 100 basis point drop in our yield projections, but we expect to offset over half of this decline with lower spending."

The outlook for the rest of 2012 is being reduced somewhat, due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar.  The dollar's gain has reduced the company's full year outlook by approximately $0.13 per share. This outlook reduction has been largely offset by the reduction in bunker pricing that occurred during this same time period. The net effect of these currency and fuel price changes is essentially neutral for the company's full year earnings outlook. However, the mark-to-market loss on the options is expected to cost the company a ($0.05) per share charge at current prices versus prior guidance.

You can view the full quarterly results.

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on July 26, 2012 at 10am to discuss its second quarter 2011 financial results.

The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com. To listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

At Royal Caribbean's annual shareholder meeting, executives said it expects a few more not-so-great months before business turns around.

The impact of the deadly Costa Concorida disaster are still rumbling through the cruise industry and Royal Caribbean is not immune to it.  Royal Caribbean chief financial officer Brian Rice said future booking volumes have been off since the Concordia shipwreck back on January 13.

Rice expects Royal Caribbean to feel the greatest impact from the crash in the second and third quarters of 2012 but 2013 looks to be "healthy".  Rice also cited other negative influences such as consumer spending, economic instability in Europe, fuel costs and the company's debt.

On the positive side of things, Royal Caribbean's global reach, customer engagement and a moderate pace of growth and fuel hedging are contributing to help the company's stock price.