In a double coronavirus whammy, Carnival Corporation has announced a $4.4bn (£3.6bn) three-month loss and the immediate sell-off of six of its ships.
The company’s cruise operations have been paused for most of the March – May quarter and, unable to definitively predict when it will return to normal operations, it is unable to provide an earnings forecast.
Revenues plunged to $700m from $4.8bn for the same 2019 period as the suspension of Carnival’s cruise line operations decimated sales.
Details of the financial impact of the pandemic coincided with the announcement that the corporation is bringing forward the retirement of six of its older ships, already planned as new vessels come on stream.
Many of Carnival’s cruise lines, including the British subsidiaries P&O and Cunard, have paused operations until at least the autumn.