TICKERS: RCL, WYNN
EVENTS
- Mar 5: The 3rd Session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature will convene in Beijing
HEADLINE NEWS
- RCL - announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell its cruise ship Splendour of the Seas to TUI Cruises in 2Q 2016. The ship will then be leased to Thomson Cruises, which will operate the vessel. "The ship's sale is in line with our strategic objective of divesting ourselves of older hardware and keeps us firmly on the course to the Double-Double," says CEO Fain.
Takeaway: One way to deal with cannibalization risk is to sell the underperforming ships. The last time RCL sold a ship, (Celebrity Century Sept 2014) it was at a $17.4 million loss. Splendour itineraries are in Europe and Dubai.
COMPANY NEWS
WYNN - “The board decided not to re-nominate Elaine P. Wynn to serve as a director, based on the recommendation of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee,” said a company filing. But the document said Ms Wynn intended to nominate herself for election by shareholders even if the board does not support her. The board meeting is on April 24.
Starwood Capital/Melia - announced today that they have established a joint venture that has agreed to acquire a collection of hotels across key resort locations in Spain. The initial portfolio for the joint venture consists of seven well-established beachfront hotels representing 2,933 keys that are currently owned by Melia Hotels International and will continue to be managed by Melia upon completion of the transaction. The properties will be acquired by the joint venture in a transaction valued at €176 million ($198 million), subject to the approval of the European Union Merger Control Office.
RCL - A guest on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas is reporting the ship is experiencing propulsion problems that is forcing the ship to travel at a reduced speed. As a result of the slower speed, the ship has canceled a scheduled port stop in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and will instead head back home to Fort Lauderdale.
The report has not been confirmed by Royal Caribbean yet but the guest did indicate Royal Caribbean is issuing an onboard credit of $100 for inside staterooms and $200 for balcony staterooms for the inconvenience.
Takeaway: If true, another headache for RCL
INDUSTRY NEWS
Hotel room rates drop for Lunar New Year holidays - The average room rate in Macau’s three-star, four-star and five-star hotels was MOP2,019 (US$252.75) during the Lunar New Year holidays this year, 15.4% less than in the equivalent period last year, the Macau Government Tourist Office says, citing data from hoteliers.
The average occupancy rate of such hotels fell by 6.9% points to 87.5%. The average occupancy rate of two-star hotels fell by 13.4% points to 73.9% and the average occupancy rate of guesthouses fell by 8.6% points to 74%.
Takeaway: Not a good sign as we wait for the final monthly numbers for February. The only bright spot in Macau was supposedly strong hotel bookings.
S'pore Changi Airport- passenger traffic for January 2015 fell 3.8% YoY.
Takeaway: Bad start to new year
MACRO
Hedgeye Macro Team remains negative Europe, their bottom-up, qualitative analysis (Growth/Inflation/Policy framework) indicates that the Eurozone is setting up to enter the ugly Quad4 in Q4 (equating to growth decelerates and inflation decelerates) = Europe Slowing.
Takeaway: European pricing has been a tailwind for CCL and RCL but a negative pivot here looks increasingly likely in 2015.
