I have great sympathy for the guys who write financial press releases. Publicly-traded companies are required to report financial results, but the PR guys are under pressure to make even poor results sound rosy.

For example, Ambassadors International, parent company of Windstar Cruises and Majestic America Line (which they are trying to sell), sent off a press release titled:

Ambassadors International, Inc. Reports Increased Revenue and Improvement in Pretax Results for the First Quarter 2008"

(Our News article on the release is here)

That translates as:

• They bought Windstar for $100M last year, which added to the company's revenue, and fortunately Windstar has a better operating margin than Majestic America Line.
• Apples-to-apples revenue, from Majestic America Line, is down about 20%, for two reasons:
• Empress of the North has 46% fewer passengers and guests who did book paid 14% less than last year. This is presumably due to loss of reputation from the ship running aground in May 2007.
• A fire on Queen of the West's fire meant she was out of commission for two sailings, and Columbia River cruises had to be pulled in to cover

Oof. Like I said, my sympathies to the Ambassador's PR guys. And to all editors who have to parse their releases.