P&O, parent company to Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises, has announced operating profits of 48.2 million pounds for its cruise division during the six-month period ended June 30, 1995, compared to 42.9 million pounds for the same period last year.

Lord Sterling, P&O Chairman, said that conditions in the U.S. remain challenging but that Princess is not experiencing the downturn in bookings reported by other cruise lines. He also said that yields were slightly better than in the same period last year.

Lord Sterling also noted that the grounding of the Star Princess this past summer, which put the ship out of service for six weeks, will cost the company nine million pounds of which two million were reflected in the six-month report.

P&O reported overall operating profits of 205 million pounds on revenues of 2.9 billion pounds for the six-month period of this year, compared to operating profits of 196 million pounds on revenues of 2.7 billion pounds last year.