PIRAEUS, Greece -- Royal Olympic Cruise Lines reported a net loss
of $10.2 million for the first six months of the fiscal year 2000.
It is an improvement of $2.3 million, or 18.4%, compared with
the same period last year.
The company reported that revenues increased by 2.2%, to $36
million, while operating expenses decreased by $2.2 million, or
6.8%, to $30.6 million.
As a percentage of net revenues, operating expenses decreased
from 93.01% in the first six months of 1999 to 84.86% in the same
period of this year.
Company executives said the first half of the year is
traditionally slow for Royal Olympic's European cruise market, and
they expect to improve during the second half of 2000 and to show a
profit at year's end.
They also expect to benefit from the deployment in the Caribbean
and Aegean cruise markets of the Olympic Voyager, their newest and
largest ship, which was delivered in June.
Royal Olympic also announced that it amended its agreement with
the bank that is financing its two newly built cruise ships,
Olympic Voyager and another ship that is expected to be delivered
in late spring or early summer of 2001.
Under the terms of the agreement, the company is required to
raise $20 million of additional equity by the end of the year.
ROC Holdings Inc. and Louis Cruise Lines Ltd. have agreed with
the bank to provide up to the full amount of the required $20
million equity investment. ROC Holdings owns 51.4% of Royal
Olympic, and Louis Cruise Lines owns 70% of ROC Holdings.