It's fundraising time for struggling cruise ship operator Carnival (CCL 0.51%) (CUK 0.30%). The company announced Monday that it's floating $1 billion worth of its common stock in a public offering.
In both its press release on the flotation and in the regulatory filing underpinning it, the company was short on detail. It wrote without elaboration that the proceeds of the issue would be utilized "for general corporate purposes."
The sole bookrunner and underwriter of the issue is Goldman Sachs.
Image source: Carnival.
Carnival typifies the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. As the company's operations have come to a near-standstill, revenue has been thin and losses steep. In its most recently reported quarter, the former line item was only $34 million, while the bottom-line shortfall was over $2.2 billion.
That said, with the significant declines in coronavirus cases and deaths of late, the company could be poised for a rebound. Many people currently cooped up at home are surely excited to travel once opportunities arise.
Carnival is obviously eager to begin its post-pandemic life, recently announcing that its Costa line would be launching cruises in the Mediterranean late next month. Prior to that, CEO Arnold Donald predicted that most of the company's sizable fleet would be ferrying passengers by the end of this year.
The company doesn't seem to be having trouble raising capital to keep itself above the waterline. Last week, it announced that it closed a $3.5 billion flotation of unsecured debt.
Investors were cheered by the news of the coming stock issue. On Monday, shares of both listed Carnival entities rose by nearly 6%, against the modest decline of the S&P 500 index.
