Carnival Corporation has announced non-GAAP net income of $1.9 billion, or $2.42 diluted EPS, for 2011, compared to net income of $2.0 billion, or $2.47 diluted EPS, for the prior year.

The fall in earnings comes despite revenues for the full year increasing to $15.8 billion from to $14.5 billion in 2010.

Commenting on 2011 full year results Carnival chairman and chief executive officer, Micky Arison, said: “On the whole, 2011 was an encouraging year for our global portfolio of cruise brands.

“Our North American brands performed well, achieving an almost four percent revenue yield increase, while our European, Australian and Asian brand yields were in line with the prior year (constant dollars) despite having been significantly impacted by the geo-political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.”

A large percentage of the fall in net income can be attributed to a sharp increase in the price of fuel.

Prices were up 32 per cent for fuel over the year, which reduced earnings by $535 million or $0.68 per share.

In an attempt to offset the trend, Carnival recently implemented a fuel derivatives program to mitigate a portion of its economic risk attributable to potentially significant fuel price increases.

Arison added, “Cash from operations of $3.8 billion provided more than ample funding for our $2.7 billion capital investment program and enabled the company to return excess cash to shareholders.

“Earlier this year, our quarterly dividend was increased from $0.10 to $0.25 per share resulting in $670 million of dividend distributions.

“In addition, we purchased 14.8 million of the company’s shares in the open market at a cost of $455 million.”