News

Carnival Corporation files $1.0 billion at the market equity offering prospectus

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 15 September 2020 15 September 2020

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, said Carnival Corporation has filed a prospectus supplement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under which it may offer and sell shares of its common stock, through any of its sales agents having an aggregate offering price of up to $1.0 billion from time to time through an “at-the-market” equity offering programme.

Carnival Corporation, which is the Panama domiciled and US listed part of the group, said it expects to use the net proceeds from sales of shares under the ATM offering for general corporate purposes.

“The timing of any sales will depend on a variety of factors. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, BofA Securities, Inc. and 12 other financial institutions are acting as sales agents under the ATM Offering. PJT Partners is serving as independent financial advisor to Carnival Corporation,” the company said.

Carnival doubles cull of inefficient ships

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 15 September 2020 15 September 2020

Carnival Corporation & plc, the Anglo-American cruise shipping group, said it would axe 18 ships from its fleet in a drive to boost efficiency, twice the figure it had intended to axe after the Covid-19 pandemic had emerged as a major concern for the cruise industry.

“The company now expects to dispose of 18 ships, eight of which have already left the fleet. In total, the 18 ships represent approximately 12% of pre-pause capacity and only three percent of operating income in 2019. The sale of less efficient ships will result in future operating expense efficiencies of approximately two percent per available lower berth day ("ALBD") and a reduction in fuel consumption of approximately one percent per ALBD,” the company said in a statement.

Carnival said it expects future capacity to be moderated by the phased re-entry of its ships, the removal of capacity from its fleet and delays in new ship deliveries. “Since the pause in guest operations, the company has accelerated the removal of ships in fiscal 2020 which were previously expected to be sold over the ensuing years,” it said.

Carnival group expects only two of the four ships originally scheduled for delivery in 2020, following the start of the pause, to be delivered prior to the end of fiscal 2020. These are presumably Iona of P&O Cruises and Costa Venezia of Costa Crociere, although Carnival did not state this.

Carnival currently expects only five of the nine ships originally scheduled for delivery in fiscal 2020 and 2021 to be delivered prior to the end of fiscal year 2021. The company currently expects nine cruise ships and two smaller expedition ships of the 13 ships originally scheduled for delivery prior to the end of fiscal year 2022 to be delivered by then

Based on the actions taken to date and the scheduled newbuild deliveries through 2022, the company's fleet will be more efficient with a roughly 13% larger average berth size and an average age of 12 years in 2022 versus 13 years, in each case as compared to 2019,” it said.

Carnival Corporation & plc reports deep third quarter loss, 55% of cancellations require cash refunds

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 15 September 2020 15 September 2020

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world’s largest cruise shipping group, has reported a deep loss for the third quarter of its financial year and said that 55% of the passengers whose cruises had been canceled have requested cash refunds, the company said in a statement.

Net loss to three months to 31 August amounted to $2.9 billion, which included a $0.9 billion impairment charge that is a non- cash item.

Cash and cash equivalent items amounted to $8.2 billion at the end of August. Customer deposits declined to $2.4 billion from $2.9 billion at the end of May, which the company said it had expected. “As of August 31, 2020, the current portion of customer deposits was $2.1 billion with $0.1 billion relating to fourth quarter sailings. Approximately 55% of bookings taken during the quarter ending August 31, 2020 were new bookings, as opposed to FCC re-bookings, despite minimal advertising or marketing,’ Carnival said.

“While the company believes bookings in the first half of 2021 reflect expectations of the phased resumption of its guest cruise operations and anticipated itinerary changes, as of August 31, 2020, cumulative advanced bookings for the second half of 2021 capacity currently available for sale are at the higher end of the historical range and similar to where booking positions were in 2018 for the second half of 2019,” Carnival said.