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BUSINESS A25
                                                                                                                                                                      Thursday 31 March 2016

Carnival’s profit nearly triples thanks to lower fuel prices

MIAMI (AP) — Carnival            end of its earnings outlook    rise to $16.3 billion analysts  three months ended Feb.                                          which also beat Street fore-
Corp.’s profit nearly tripled    for the year, and its stock    expected, according to          29, compared with $49 mil-                                       casts. Six analysts surveyed
in the first quarter as it paid  rose Wednesday.                FactSet.                        lion, or 6 cents per share, in                                   by Zacks expected $3.62
less for the fuel to power its   Carnival said it now ex-       For the current quarter,        the same quarter the year                                        billion.
cruise ships.                    pects earnings between         Carnival expects earnings       before.                                                          Carnival paid $187 million
The Miami company, which         $3.20 and $3.40 per share      between 34 cents and 38         Earnings, adjusted for non-                                      for fuel costs in the quarter,
operates 99 ships under the      for the full year.             cents per share.                recurring costs, were 39                                         41 percent less than the
Carnival, Holland America        Its previous forecast was      Analysts expected earn-         cents per share, topping                                         $318 million it paid in the
and other brands, also said      between $3.10 and $3.40        ings of 37 cents per share,     Wall Street expectations.                                        same quarter a year ago.
Wednesday that trip book-        per share.                     according to FactSet. Rev-      The average estimate of                                          The company said it had
ings for the rest                                               enue is expected to rise as     nine analysts surveyed by                                        about 4 percent more pas-
of 2016 are higher than           Analysts expected earn-       much as 2.5 percent.            Zacks Investment Research                                        sengers in the quarter.
they were last year and          ings of $3.36 per share, ac-   Carnival Wednesday re-          was for earnings of 31 cents                                     Shares of Carnival Corp.
that travelers are paying        cording to FactSet. Carni-     ported fiscal first-quarter     per share.                                                       rose $1.80, or 3.6 percent,
higher prices. So the com-       val still expects revenue to   net income of $142 million,     Revenue rose 3.4 percent                                         to $51.44 Wednesday in
pany boosted the lower           rise 3 percent for the year,   or 18 cents per share, in the   to $3.65 billion in the period,                                  midday trading.
                                 slightly below the 4 percent

MetLife wins challenge to US as judge removes threat tag 

MARCY GORDON                                                                                                                                                     MetLife said Wednesday
AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) —                                                                                                                                                that Collyer’s ruling vali-
MetLife has won a major
legal challenge to the gov-                                                                                                                                      dated its decision to chal-
ernment’s policy for pre-
venting another financial                                                                                                                                        lenge the regulators’ ac-
crisis, as a federal judge
tossed out its designation                                                                                                                                       tion in court.
by regulators that its failure
would pose a threat to the                                                                                                                                       “From the beginning,
financial system.
MetLife Inc., the largest U.S.                                                                                                                                   MetLife has said that
insurance company by as-
sets, took the government                                                                                                                                        its business model does not
to court more than a year
ago to appeal its labeling                                                                                                                                       pose a threat to the finan-
by the Financial Stability
Oversight Council as “sys-                                                                                                                                       cial stability of the United
temically important” and
requiring stricter supervi-                                                                                                                                      States,” Chairman, Presi-
sion. That meant regula-
tors deemed MetLife to be                                                                                                                                        dent and CEO Steven Kan-
so big and entwined with
the financial system that it                                                                                                                                     darian said in a statement.
could threaten the econo-
my if it collapsed.                                                                                                                                              “This decision is a win for
U.S. District Judge Rose-
mary Collyer issued an or-                                                                                                                                       MetLife’s customers, em-
der Wednesday removing
the designation of New                                                                                                                                           ployees and shareholders.”
York-based MetLife.
The government has the                                                                                                                                           Collyer didn’t make pub-
right to appeal. The Trea-
sury Department said in a                                                                                                                                        lic the reasons behind her
statement it “will continue
                                                                                                                                                                 decision, keeping her legal

                                                                                                                                                                 opinion under seal — pos-

                                                                                                                                                                 sibly because it contains

                                                                                                                                                                 company         information

                                                                                                                                                                 deemed to be confiden-

                                 The MetLife skyscraper overlooks another building in New York. MetLife has won a major legal                                    tial.
                                 challenge to the government’s policy for preventing another financial crisis, as a federal judge on
                                 Wednesday, March 30, 2016, tossed out its designation by regulators as a potential threat to the                                The oversight council is a
                                 financial system.
                                                                                                                                                                 group of top federal regu-
                                                                                                                                       (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
                                                                                                                                                                 lators created by the 2010

                                                                                                                                                                 Wall Street overhaul law

                                                                                                                                                                 to monitor the financial

                                 to defend the council’s        companies would force           Capital requirements for                                         system with an eye to pre-
                                 designations process vigor-    the companies to raise the      banks were established to
                                 ously.”                        prices of their products,       protect depositors, rather                                       venting another crisis. Its
                                 In fighting the oversight      reduce the amount of risk       than ensuring that life insur-
                                 agency’s action, MetLife       they take on in selling their   ers can meet their obliga-                                       label of “systemically im-
                                 said that tougher require-     products, or stop offering      tions to policyholders, the
                                 ments on life insurance        some products altogether.       company said.                                                    portant” brings stricter gov-

                                                                                                                                                                 ernment oversight and, in

                                                                                                                                                                 MetLife’s view, excessive

                                                                                                                                                                 costs.

Strong holiday sales give Lululemon a boost in 4th quarter

NEW YORK (AP) — Lulule-          per share. A year earlier it   retailer’s health, increased    Looking ahead, the chain                                         a first-quarter profit of 37
mon’s fiscal fourth-quarter      earned $110.9 million, or 78   5 percent on a constant         anticipates first-quarter                                        cents per share on revenue
performance beat Wall            cents per share.               dollar basis. This figure ex-   profit between 28 cents                                          of $486.1 million and fiscal
Street’s view, bolstered by      Analysts polled by Fact-       cludes results from stores      and 30 cents per share on                                        2016 profit $2.16 per share
strong holiday sales.            Set predicted 80 cents per     recently opened or closed.      revenue in a range of $483                                       on revenue of $2.32 billion.
Its shares rose almost 8 per-    share.                         Lululemon Athletica Inc. re-    million to $488 million. Lu-                                     Lululemon shares rose
cent in morning trading          Revenue climbed to $704.3      ported a full-year adjusted     lulemon expects fiscal 2016                                      $4.73, or 7.8 percent, to
Wednesday.                       million from $602.5 million,   profit of $1.86 per share on    profit between $2.05 and                                         $65.97 in morning trading
For the period ended Jan.        topping the $692.6 million     revenue of $2.06 billion.       $2.15 per share on revenue                                       Wednesday. Its shares are
31, the Canadian yoga-           that analysts expected.        On a constant dollar basis,     in a range of $2.29 billion to                                   up almost 2 percent over
wear company earned              Sales at stores open at least  same-store sales rose 4 per-    $2.34 billion.                                                   the past year.
$117.4 million, or 85 cents      a year, a key indicator of a   cent.                           Wall Street is looking for
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