Star Cruises has reported net income of $1.2 million, or $0.02 per share, on revenues of $193.6 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000, compared to net income of $16.0 million, or $0.03 per share, on revenues of $83.2 million for the first quarter of 1999.

The first quarter of this year also included Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) for the month of March 2000. Excluding NCL and acquisition costs, Star would have posted net income of $18.0 million on revenues of $112.2 million for the first quarter of 2000.

Star said that the first quarter of 2000 is not comparable to the first quarter of last year due to $16.9 million in interest expenses in conjunction with the acquisition of NCL.

Star expects to have a medium-term loan and a fresh equity issue in place by the third quarter and said that once these were in place, NCL would not be dilutive to earnings. The acquisition was initially funded by a $600 million short-term loan.

In addition, Star expects to obtain a listing for its shares on a major stock exchange to raise the liquidity of its shares.

Star said that NCL posted net income of $6.7 million for the first quarter before write-offs for Norwegian Capricorn Line and non-recurring charges, compared to $2.8 million last year.

In other news, the Norwegian Sea will be sub-chartered from NCL to Star. She will be renamed Superstar Capricorn and positioned in Taipei.

The Star Aquarius will replace the Superstar Aries in Bangkok, boosting Star’s capacity in the Thai market by 75 percent.

The Aries will be positioned in Japan by the end of the year, giving Star two ships in the Japanese market.

It had previously been announced that the Aries would be positioned alongside the Megastar Sagittarius in Dubai where Star said it is “assessing the market for its receptivity to cruising in the Arabian Gulf.”