Shares in Carnival Cruise Line rose on Friday after the company said that advance bookings for 2021 “remain within historical ranges at prices that are down in the low- to mid-single-digits range,” according to The Street.
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Carnival’s stock closed at $16.16 on Friday – still more than 70 percent off its high for this year but up $1.58, or 10.84 percent from the previous day. That’s also up from its rock bottom low of $7.97 per share on April 2, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Carnival also said it was selling 13 of its ships.
“We have been transitioning the fleet into a prolonged pause and right-sizing our shore-side operations,” Carnival Chief Executive Arnold Donald said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. “We have already reduced operating costs by over $7 billion on an annualized basis and reduced capital expenditures also by more than $5 billion over the next 18 months. We have secured over $10 billion of additional liquidity to sustain another full year with additional flexibility remaining.”
The company also noted in its SEC filing that its AIDA line – one of nine lines under the Carnival umbrella – will resume operations from ports in Germany beginning next month with three of its ships.
AIDA will be the first of the Carnival lines to return to the sea.
