Carnival set for record year as bookings boom
FTSE 250 group Carnival is gearing up for a record year after a surge in people booking cruises for the first time.
Customers are choosing to holiday at sea rather than spend a fortune on hotels or flights.
Carnival’s bookings hit an alltime high in the first three months of this year, while revenues soared 22pc to a record £4.3bn and profits reached £690m.
The number of first-time cruisers rose 30pc. With demand greater than ever, Carnival expects profit for 2024 to be more than 30pc higher than last year, at £4.5bn. Chief executive Josh Weinstein said: ‘This has been a fantastic start to the year.’
The shares rose 1.7pc, or 20.5p, to 1236.5p.
On the wider market, the FTSE
100 crept up 0.01pc, or 1.02 points, to 7931.98 and the FTSE 250 climbed 0.17pc, or 33.02 points, to 19,810.66. Takeover frenzy gripped the City once again with a host of deals in the offing.
Shares in DS Smith jumped 10.2pc, or 36.8p, to 396.6p as a transatlantic bidding war erupted for the packaging group.
Distribution group Diploma soared 9.5pc, or 324p, to 3750p, as it closed in on a £236m deal to buy its US rival Peerless.
The FTSE 100 company, which supplies products such as wires, cables and surgical devices, said the takeover should be completed in the next few weeks. North Sea operator Ithaca Energy joined the frenzy as it eyed the UK operations of its Italian rival Eni.
The London-listed firm’s proposal will make it the secondlargest operator in the region, with Eni to take a near-40pc stake in the enlarged group.
The announcement came alongside Ithaca’s full-year results that showed production levels last year were largely unchanged from 2022. Shares increased 2.4pc, or 3.4p, to 145.6p.
Sir Martin Sorrell said no ‘credible’ offer has been made for
S4 Capital following reports that it rejected bids from its New York rival Stagwell.
The comments came as S4’s revenues fell 5.4pc to £1.01bn in 2023 as clients cut spending.
It also unveiled a major boardroom shake-up. Shares plunged 6.9pc, or 3.06p, to 41.46p.
An upgraded outlook from CMC Markets added nearly £50m to the value of the stakes held by the Conservative peer Lord Cruddas and his wife.
The trading firm that was set up in 1989 by the former Tory party treasurer and donor expects income to be higher than its previous forecast of between £290m and £310m.
Cruddas and his wife Fiona own 174.15m shares, which is 62pc of the company. Shares surged 16.8pc, or 31.5p, to 219.5p.
Travis Perkins is on the hunt for a chief executive as Nick Roberts, who led the building supplier for five years, prepares to step down just weeks after it reported profits fell to £70m last year, down from £245m in 2022.
The news lifted the share price 1.2pc, or 8.6p, to 735p.
Sainsbury’s rose 3.6pc, or 9.4p, to 271.9p after analysts at UBS raised the supermarket’s rating.