Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Conor Cunningham: Great. Thank you.

Operator: And the next question comes from the line of Patrick Scholes with Truist Securities.

Patrick Scholes: Hi. Good morning, everyone.

Frank Del Rio: Good morning.

Mark Kempa: Good morning.

Patrick Scholes: Going back to some comments from last — I believe last summer and last fall, you had talked about expectations or you seem pretty confident in record EBITDA for this year. However, when I look at the range, certainly at the midpoint and below, if I’m comparing apples-to-apples would not imply a record EBITDA. And then additionally, it looks like if I’m getting this correctly, your expectation since last earnings for bookings are now ahead, I think previously it was in line. What’s changed in how you think about hitting that record EBITDA target as it relates to the guided range? And I hope that makes sense, what I just asked.

Mark Kempa: Yes, we think we got it. So, Patrick, nothing has changed. I think if there’s anything we’ve learned as a management team and society over the last year or two is that the — we’re in a unique environment. On one hand, we have a very strong consumer. We have very strong wage growth and employment. And on the other hand, we have economists telling us that we’re — there’s a high chance of recession. So, you take your pick. We’re — I like into this is we’re in uncharted territory in the world. So, nothing has changed. But we think by being — we want to be conservative. We want to make sure we’re hitting putting out reasonable targets, but nothing should be implied from that. We’re confident of where we are, but we think a range is the most appropriate way to go at this point, given all the factors that are in front of the world as a whole.

Patrick Scholes: Okay. I just have a couple of, hopefully, quick follow-up questions. Can you just explain again why you dipped into the Apollo financing? It sounded like last summer or last fall, that would not have been the intention at that time, but that’s changed. Can you just review with us the rationale there?

Mark Kempa: Certainly. So first and foremost, it was $250 million, which when you look at our overall debt structure, it’s really minimal. But the most important reason we did that is we wanted flexibility on the facility. And as you recall and if you look in the past, we were getting — we had six months options. We had eight-month options, 12-month options. We wanted a two-year option. And the price to do that was our counterparty wanted a small draw on the overall facility. So, when you look at the totality of that draw, which is relatively minor in the broader scope of our debt, versus having a two-year flexible backstop, we thought that was the prudent course of action to take at a relatively reasonable cost on the overall facility.

Patrick Scholes: Okay. And then last one, this question actually might save Mark, you and Jessica a number of callbacks later. Just I do see your share count is going up for the full year to $460 million. Is — I assume that’s from the convert or exchangeable notes converting sometime in the year. Can you just remind us, which — I think it’s the May 2024 and August 2025 and how many if that’s correct? And what — how many shares are added from each of those, if those are the correct ones and roughly at what quarter might you expect that to occur?