Norway’s Hurtigruten has reported net income before taxes of NOK 103.1 million on revenues of NOK 1.0 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2013, compared to net income before taxes of NOK 133.5 million on revenues of NOK 1.1 billion for the same period last year.
Hurtigruten attributed the result to a 14 percent drop in passenger nights compared to last year, with the biggest drop coming from the Scandinavian and German markets. On the upside, the company increased its ticket revenues per passenger night 2.6 percent and onboard spending by 11 percent, including a 19 percent increase in excursion sales.
For Q2 2013, the company reported 291,647 passenger nights, down from 340,280 last year, and said that the booking situation for the rest of the year was still challenging.
For the first six months of the year, Hurtigruten posted a loss of NOK 30 million before taxes, compared to a loss of NOK 39 million last year.
Norwegian coastal sailings account for 84 percent of Hurtigruten’s revenues, the expedition ship Fram, 6 percent, Spitsbergen, 6 percent, and other businesses 4 percent.
Meanwhile, the company has a restructuring and streamlining effort underway, amounting to a shoreside down-sizing of 30 percent, in addition to various sales and marketing initiatives to drive traffic for 2014.
