Cruise ship group Carnival said yesterday it would take up to three years for its Costa brand to recover its reputation and profitability after its Concordia ship sank off the Italian coast last year.
"There are a lot of great brands that have had setbacks and they've recovered … but the economic situation in southern Europe isn't helping," said the Carnival chairman, Micky Arison.
He was speaking in London ahead of a statement by the company in New York warning that it was likely to make a loss in the current quarter, after posting a 30% fall in profit over the last quarter. The shares fell by 8% in early trading, though recovered slightly later.
The company, which operates the Carnival and Holland America lines as well as Costa, said it expects adjusted results for the current quarter to be between a loss of three cents a share and a profit of three cents a share. Analysts had been expecting earnings of some nine cents a share and speculated Carnival is losing customers to rivals such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line.
The wrecked Costa Concordia, which has lain partly submerged in shallow waters off the Tuscan island of Giglio since the accident in January 2012 that killed 32 people, was rolled off the seabed and on to underwater platforms last week.
"Costa is already beginning to recover, studies of acceptance suggest it has recovered nicely," Arison said, adding it would take "two to three years" to get it back to where it was.
The accident was followed by another setback involving Costa's Triumph vessel, which stranded passengers for five days and was eventually evacuated, while the company has also struggled with mechanical issues on other ships.
Those issues prompted Carnival to offer a full refund plus an additional 10% across all its 10 brands to anyone not happy with their cruise holiday.
Carnival's P&O Cruises business on Tuesday said its newest cruise ship, the Britannia, would enter service in the first quarter of 2015.