Analyst Raises Red Flags on NCLH News

Norwegian Joy

As Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings installs a new CEO, BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst Xian Siew has issued a note to investors questioning the decision.

“His background is not from the cruise industry,” Siew wrote in a note to clients.

“He was most recently CEO of Subway Restaurants and before that was CEO of Burger King. These restaurants are capital light franchised concepts, very different from the capital intensity of cruise ships.”

The note coincides with the news that Elliott Investment has taken a 10 percent stake in NCLH and is pushing for major changes at the company.

Siew acknowledged Chidsey’s time at Avis Rent a Car offered some exposure to capital-heavy businesses, but noted it “is still quite different from cruise.”

Siew also raised a question about Chidsey’s board tenure: which overlapped with what the analyst described as a period of clear “missteps,” including a strategy to aggressively expand Caribbean capacity that “weighed on pricing power.”

Siew further asked “how involved Elliott was with the appointment of Chidsey.”

“Change could take some time to take hold,” he said.

 

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