16th Mar 2020 08:44
(Alliance News) - Carnival PLC on Monday said it has suspended operations of four additional North American cruise brands for one month.
The FTSE 100 travel stock was trading 12% lower at 1,025.00 pence each on Monday morning in London.
On Thursday last week, the cruise ship operator had said its Princess Cruises division would voluntarily pause its global operations for sixty days in response to the "unpredictable circumstances" evolving from the spread of Covid-19 virus.
On Monday, Carnival said Carnival Cruise Line, Cunard North America, Holland America Line and Seabourn also will suspend operations for one month, putting a pause on new voyages.
"Through serving our many guests who still wanted to travel, we've stood with all the people in the port communities here in the US, and in the other places we sail, who are dependent on us for their livelihood. Today we stand with the nation as we together seek to mitigate the spread," said Carnival Corp Chief Executive Arnold Donald.
Late Sunday, Anglo-German tour operator TUI had said it is suspending the "majority" of its operations over coronavirus fears as it made a request for state aid. The group, which employs 70,000 people worldwide, said the suspension will affect its "package travel, cruises and hotel operations".
The stock dived on Monday morning in London, trading 38% lower at 223.00 pence each.
TUI added that it taking "substantial cost measures" to mitigate the effect on its earnings, adding that it would apply for state aid guarantees "to support the business until normal operations are resumed".
TUI has withdrawn its profit forecast for the current financial year.
For the financial year to the end of last September, TUI's pretax earnings declined by 28% to EUR691 million despite revenue growing by 2.5% to EUR18.93 billion. In December, it had said it expected underlying earnings before interest and taxes for financial 2020 to be in the range of between EUR950 million to EUR1.05 billion.
By Ife Taiwo; [email protected]
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