Royal Caribbean Announces $250 Million Senior Notes Offering
June 29 2009 - 7:27AM
PR Newswire (US)
MIAMI, June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Royal Caribbean Cruises
Ltd. (NYSE:RCLOSE:RCL) today announced that it has commenced an
offering of $250 million aggregate principal amount of 6-year
Senior Notes. The offering of the Senior Notes is being made
pursuant to a shelf registration statement filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. The company plans to use the
proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes,
including repayment of amounts outstanding under its unsecured
revolving credit facility. As part of its prospectus supplement for
the offering, the company provided a business update and details of
the effects of the H1N1 virus outbreak and rising fuel prices.
Overall, the company reported booking volumes and pricing levels
have remained stable and consistent with prior guidance. With the
exception of the Spanish market, the peak summer products are
performing consistent with prior guidance. While it is still early,
the trajectory of both rate and volume - especially as it relates
to its newer ships - points to improving yields in 2010. Since the
company last provided guidance on April 23, 2009, the H1N1 virus
outbreak and rising fuel prices have negatively impacted what
otherwise would be considered a stabilizing operating environment.
On April 23, the company provided guidance of 2009 earnings per
share of approximately $1.35 plus or minus $0.10 per share for
every 10% change in fuel prices. Since then, the price of oil has
risen approximately 45%. On June 9, the company estimated the
effects of the H1N1 virus on 2009 earnings per share to be
approximately ($0.22) per share. In the prospectus supplement, the
company provided further guidance that: 1. Hedging and fuel cost
management have mitigated the impact of increasing oil prices and
that full year fuel expense would now be up only $0.12 per share at
today's prices; 2. Other Income and Expense for the second quarter
is expected to be worse than prior guidance due mainly to foreign
currency adjustments to the balance sheet and for ineffectiveness
related to hedging amounting to about $0.10 per share; and 3.
Interest on the senior notes is expected to increase interest
expense for the year by approximately $0.05 per share. 4. Fuel
consumption is currently hedged at 48%, 50% and 45% for 2009, 2010
and 2011, respectively. Commenting on the bond offering, Richard D.
Fain, chairman and chief executive officer noted, "Although there
are clear signs of stabilization in our business and we enjoy solid
liquidity, we believe prudence dictates that we be proactive and
opportunistic in these uncertain and volatile financial markets."
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a global cruise vacation company
that operates Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises,
Pullmantur, Azamara Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France. The
company has a combined total of 37 ships in service and six under
construction. It also offers unique land-tour vacations in Alaska,
Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America and New Zealand.
Additional information can be found on
http://www.royalcaribbean.com/, http://www.celebrity.com/,
http://www.pullmantur.es/, http://www.azamaracruises.com/ or
http://www.rclinvestor.com/. The issuer has filed a registration
statement (including a prospectus) with the SEC for the offering to
which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should
read the prospectus in that registration statement and other
documents the issuer has filed with the SEC for more complete
information about the issuer and this offering. You may get these
documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC Web site at
http://www.sec.gov/. Alternatively, the issuer, any underwriter or
any dealer participating in the offering will arrange to send you
the prospectus. A written prospectus for this offering meeting the
requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933 (other
than a free writing prospectus as defined in Securities Act Rule
405) may be obtained from the offices of Morgan Stanley at 180
Varick Street, Second Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attention:
Prospectus Department or by email at . Certain statements in this
news release are forward-looking statements. Words such as
"anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "goal",
"intend", "may", "plan", "project", "seek", "should", "will", and
similar expressions are intended to help identify these
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements do not
guarantee future performance and may involve risks, uncertainties
and other factors, which could cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to differ materially from the future
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in those
forward-looking statements. Examples of these risks, uncertainties
and other factors include, but are not limited to the following:
the adverse impact of the continuing worldwide economic downturn on
the demand for cruises, the impact of the economic downturn on the
availability of our credit facility and our ability to generate
cash flows from operations or obtain new borrowings from the credit
or capital markets in amounts sufficient to satisfy our capital
expenditures, debt payment requirements and other financing needs,
the impact of disruptions in the global financial markets on the
ability of our counterparties and others to perform their
obligations to us, the uncertainties of conducting business
internationally and expanding into new markets, the volatility in
fuel prices an foreign exchange rates, the impact of changes in
operating and financing costs, including changes in foreign
currency, interest rates, fuel, food, payroll, airfare for our
shipboard personnel, insurance and security costs, impact of
problems encountered at shipyards and their subcontractors
including insolvency or financial difficulties, vacation industry
competition and changes in industry capacity and overcapacity, the
impact of tax and environmental laws and regulations affecting our
business or our principal shareholders, the impact of changes in
other laws and regulations affecting our business, the impact of
pending or threatened litigation, enforcement actions, fines or
penalties, the impact of delayed or cancelled ship orders, the
impact of emergency ship repairs, including the related lost
revenue, the impact on prices of new ships due to shortages in
available shipyard facilities, component parts and shipyard
consolidations, negative incidents involving cruise ships including
those involving the health and safety of passengers, reduced
consumer demand for cruises as a result of any number of reasons,
including geo-political and economic uncertainties and the
unavailability or cost of air service, the international political
climate, fears of terrorist and pirate attacks, armed conflict and
the resulting concerns over safety and security aspects of
traveling, the impact of the spread of contagious diseases, the
impact of changes or disruptions to external distribution channels
for our guest bookings, the loss of key personnel or our inability
to retain or recruit qualified personnel, changes in our stock
price or principal shareholders, uncertainties of a foreign legal
system as we are not incorporated in the United States, the
unavailability of ports of call, weather, and other factors
described in further detail in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The above
examples are not exhaustive and new risks emerge from time to time.
We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. In addition, certain financial measures
in this news release constitute non-GAAP financial measures as
defined by Regulation G. A reconciliation of these items can be
found on our investor relations website at
http://www.rclinvestor.com/. DATASOURCE: Royal Caribbean Cruises
Ltd. CONTACT: Ian Bailey, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.,
+1-305-982-2625 Web Site: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/
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