Carnival Posts $4.4 Billion Quarterly Loss

Carnival Corp reported a quarterly net loss of $4.4 billion on Thursday, as the cruise operator took major write-downs on the sale of some ships and was virtually crippled by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Shares of the Florida-based company, which also warned of a net loss for the rest of the year, fell over 4% in premarket trading.

Cruise line operators were among the hardest hit in the global health crisis and the industry had some of the largest early high-profile infections.

The company said it expects to burn cash at the rate of about $650 million per month for the second half of 2020 and was speeding the sale of more ships.

Excluding one-time charges, such as losses on ship sales, Carnival reported a preliminary second quarter net loss of $2.4 billion or $3.30 per share.

The company revenue fell to $700 million for the second quarter ended May 31 from $4.8 billion a year earlier.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Vinay Dwivedi)