Sven Lindblad
Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead
Thanks, Craig. and thank you everyone for joining us this morning. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to review the company's performance in 2017 and to highlight some of the key events that shaped our financial results and our progress towards meaningful growth, and then I would like to turn to 2018 and beyond. With what was announced we were delighted with this past year to begin operation of our newest ship, National Geographic Quest, on July 29, the first of our robust new build program. Yes, that was later than originally planned by 32 days, but she is in fact a prototype and certainly the most sophisticated passenger ship built in the U.S. in decades. While any delay is unfortunate, its effect, when considering a 25-plus year life, is really, in my view, minimal. Most importantly, she completed 2017 with high occupancies and the yields, and our guests are delighted with our ability to execute expeditions in comfort and in style. At the same time, the National Geographic Sea Bird and Sea Lion, which operated the same core geography as the Quest, Alaska primarily, maintained their high occupancies this past year, confirming that demand is very strong, and we need not be concerned with cannibalization as a consequence of bringing new vessels into the region. As we speak, the National Geographic Quest is exploring the geography where we have not been since 2004, Belize, which is totally sold out for the seven voyages planned this year. Expanding our expedition footprint is key for our U.S. flag fleet, which makes this result typically important. The Quest will have a full year of operation this year and, much like the second half of 2017, we expect it to be a key driver of our strong financial growth. Of course, as we have discussed before, the other significant event from this past year was losing the Orion's Antarctic season in the first quarter of 2017, particularly as all of the canceled voyages were completely sold out. I've been asked on occasion by investors with this incident, combined with a much shorter two-week canceling of the National Geographic Sea Lion, was indicative of any sort of pattern. Perhaps the best way to answer to this is that in the past that 10 years prior to 2017, we averaged only 2.1 days out of service on our owned and operated ships due to any form of mechanical or accidental reason. There is no correlation to any lack of maintenance, age or vessels or human error that caused the incidence on the National Geographic Orion or the Sea Lion. As we know, as well as anyone, that the prospect to being out of a service is prevented both by rigorous maintenance and personnel training, and the track record I mentioned earlier is a testament to that. So it is clear that these incidents are, without question, the exception rather than the rule. While we did deliver financial growth this past year, this increase would, of course, been significantly greater had it not been for these unusual events. Craig will walk you through the details shortly, but with these unique incidents in our rearview mirror, we're poised to deliver a significant growth in the years ahead. When we spoke to you on our third quarter earnings call on November 7, we highlighted that bookings during 2017 for travel in 2018 and beyond are up approximately 26% over the same time a year prior. That base has continued into 2018, already bookings for travel during 2018 have all except all of 2017 bookings, and each week that gap widens considerably. It is partially a factor of the added inventory but also a stronger occupancy and yield on the fleet more broadly. At the same time, bookings for 2019 and beyond are approximately 40% higher than the same point in 2017 and for 2018. This again, is not just based on new inventory but largely by increased demand for existing itineraries as well as from opening up new geographies, particularly in bringing the National Geographic Orion to Russian Far East and Northern Alaska in the summer of 2019, where occupancy already is approximately 60%, with limited marketing efforts to date. I believe this booking strength is driven in part because of the ever-increasing demand for this kind of travel but also because we're focused tenured expedition brand are in a very good position to harvest increased interest in this space despite capacity because of new entrants. People who sign on to this kind experience do a lot of research, and have proven track record along with a trusted partnership like the ones between ourselves in National Geographic means a great deal. Our jointly developed photography program, for example, is relevant both in perception and execution. Our guest want to travel with the company that is fully committed to the notion that we will do whatever it takes to provide them with extraordinary experiences in the world's on traveling space. We also launched, in 2017 a jointly created global explorers program for kids, making their experience richer and more meaningful, something not only they, but parents and grandparents appreciated enormously. And the family business particularly during school holidays is very, very important for Lindblad expeditions. Now I'd like to turn to our next new, the National Geographic Venture sister to the quest, and the new blue-water vessel being built in Europe. We will be announcing the name on March 17, during the [indiscernible] ceremony. Both are on track for their revised delivery dates of December 2018 for the Venture and January 2019 for the Polar Ice. These dates are approximately six months later than our original expectations, but with good reason. In the case of the Venture, it is a factor of lessons learned from building the Quest areas for improvement that required re-engineering aspects of the prototype design. In the case of the Bluewater vessel this is a very, very specialized ships. The most sophisticated expedition ship ever designed with capabilities unheard of previously. We decided subsequent to our original plan to add elements based on what we perceive as an opportunity in part because we realize there is a significant interest increased interest in polar travel. The new vessel as now engineered will extend our polar season by several months, a huge competitive advantage. A six month delay may feel like a loss in the short term, but again, if you look out through and over 25-year lifespan, it's so much more valuable to factory new information, new opportunity that will pay dividends for more than a quarter century. In the meantime, aside from just build the new ships that are expanding geographies where we operate as a Russian Far East and Northern Alaska, as I mentioned earlier. We have also reentered Egypt modestly initially, but with the intent to expand significantly in 2019, a region which was once very, very important to Lindblad Expeditions. We are expanding on a series of shorter voyages, four and five day in a variety of regions, to attract audiences that simply do not have the time of a longer of a voyages. Perhaps people like many of you who might be on this call. Some of these shorter expeditions are incorporating new and different focuses as well, more active, how wellness brought to a higher level, et cetera et cetera to test and nurture future generations of traveler. Our marketing and sales platform have been significantly augmented since 2017, expanding the use of video with both National Geographic outlets and our own. Recently, National Geographic posted a video do we from the decks of the National Geographic Explorer about the killer whale hunt with a tape has well over five million views in nearly 20,000 shares. We're also beginning to build the architecture for a new CRM system and focusing on increasing the sales activity from our web platform. Same regions travel agent exponentially increase by doubling our infield sales force. And together with National Geographic, we will significantly increase our region to the international markets. Before I finish, I do want to mention the strong year that the Natural Habitat delivered in its first full year as part of our company. Ben Bressler and his team have done a fantastic job driving this land-based business, and Natural Habitats continues to achieve our initial expectations. They are attracting more and more guests across their diverse and unique product offerings while at the same time, we're generating increased cross-selling between Lindblad and Nat Hab. This acquisition has proven to be very accretive to both – the number of Nat Hab guests traveling with Lindblad increased four fold in 2017 versus 2016. And we are seeing significant growth already for 2018 as well. So with our future on a multitude of important measures extremely positive, we are excited about the year ahead, and is confident as ever and ever a long-range growth platform. Demand is clearly very strong expansion. The fleet expansion albeit with some delivery changes in on track and most importantly our core mission to supply guests with awesome connections with the worlds loud places. Radiating fashion is in fact something I would contend as the ultimate luxury in today’s world. So thank you for your time this morning. And now please let me turn this over to Craig.