Princess on crest of a wave

Patrick Hosking12 April 2012

P&O Princess Cruises today reported a 40% surge in demand in its key booking period as it reiterated its advice to shareholders to reject a hostile £3.6bn bid from Carnival and approve a friendly merger with Royal Caribbean.

Customers who cancelled cruises immediately after 11 September are flocking back, according to chief executive Peter Ratcliffe. 'We're catching up the deficit very quickly,' he said.

Operating profits in the December quarter doubled to $31.2m (£21.5m), making a full-year contribution of $361.3m, off 3%.

'You can see from the results we're a great business. Merging with Royal Caribbean will accelerate the creation of value for shareholders,' Ratcliffe said.

But Carnival seized on the figures as evidence that the terms of the proposed merger favoured Royal shareholders over Princess's. Princess was contributing 60% of the profits, but getting only 50.7% of the combined business, a Carnival spokesman said.

Shareholders are due to vote on the deal next week. Carnival chairman Micky Arison was in London today to lobby Princess shareholders and urge them to push for an adjournment. There is speculation that Carnival may lift its offer for a third time.

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