CSFB also raised its fourth quarter earnings per share estimate from 26¢ to 28¢

CSFB also raised its fourth quarter earnings per share estimate from 26¢ to 28¢.CSFB’s bullish stance follows recent checks it has completed with travel agents which indicate that booking volume growth remains healthy for cruises and that pricing is firming. The broker did, however, warn that it might not be all plain sailing for Carnival in 2004. Started working at Computacenter as a salesman a year after graduating and became chief executive 10 years later.Interests: Playing golf and watching sports, particularly cricket and rugby Likes a “nice” car but says he is not a fanatic. Owns a Ferrari.Family: Married, with one daughter, and has two daughters from a previous marriage..

If recent comments from the broker Credit Suisse First Boston are anything to go by, Thursday’s fourth-quarter results from Carnival, the cruise ship operator, should make pleasant reading for shareholders. But Mr Norris seems in no hurry to move on.”I love earning money, I’m not going to be too principled about that,” he says, “but I don’t come to work for the money. I want to do a great job.”MIKE NORRIS RISING TO A CHALLENGE Position: Chief executive.Age: 42.Income: He received a salary of £395,000 last year, plus a £148,125 bonus Other benefits took his total pay to £549,405. He also owns about 1 per cent of the business, worth £8.45m.Career: Studied computer science and mathematics at UEA before working for a small Norwich-based IT business.

“It’s raining at the source of the river – so you kind of know it’s going to get to you,” he says.He has his frustrations, of course Journalists are apparently one Goldman Sachs, one of the company’s brokers, is another. “I think we’re now on a steady growth curve,” he says.Falling hardware prices will continue to be a pressure, he says, but he notes that other factors – such as the increasing demand for the Microsoft XP operating system – should work in its favour.It is also “just starting to see” signs of recovery in spending from investment banks. Besides which, he now thinks the industry is coming out of the doldrums and he predicts better times are ahead. He reckons trading bottomed out in the second half of last year. I genuinely think it was wrong.”Ms Olds won only the claim for unfair dismissal and, Mr Norris says, ended up with less money than the company had originally offered.As for the tough period of trading the company endured, which started to impact in the second quarter of 2001, he says he has enjoyed the challenge.

At 448p, the stock is now well below the point at which it listed five years ago.Interestingly, though, this is not the worst time for Mr Norris. That came when Caroline Olds, a former sales executive, brought a case of unfair dismissal, breach of contract and sexual discrimination.At this stage in the interview, his head sinks to the desk “That was the lowest point I was really upset,” he says “I genuinely felt as if someone was conning this company. Computacenter has, for the past couple of years, been dealing with a severe drop in demand, not to mention the collapse in its share price. “I got a degree in computing and maths and thought I could be a salesman,” he says.”You don’t plan this do you? You can’t plan this.”Putting his career success to one side, he has enjoyed the money, having owned a string of Porsches and the ultimate Essex-boy-made-good accessories – the Docklands flat and the Ferrari.He now lives with his second wife, Jackie, and their four-year-old daughter in north London, although he is still on good terms with his first wife, Lorraine, with whom he has two daughters, aged 16 and 14.But it has not all been plain sailing.