Carnival hikes buy-back programme by 835m dollars

Cruise operator Carnival Corp has boosted its share buy-back programme by 835m dollars and declared a quarterly dividend of 25 cents per share.

Since the start of the group's financial year (December 1st 2012), the company has repurchased two million shares of common stock valued at $78m, meaning it has so far bought back $835m in shares under its $1bn buy-back programme announced in September 2007.

However, before Carnival completes this current programme, it has now decided to raise the limit back up to $1bn, taking the total value of repurchases to $1.835bn.

"Our ongoing share repurchase program demonstrates our continued confidence in the earnings power of our global brands," said Micky Arison, Carnival's chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

"We remain committed to increasing shareholder returns through a combination of dividend distributions and opportunistic share repurchases."

Despite the bullish move, the stock failed to move into the blue on Thursday, trading 0.24% down at 2,514p by 15:00.

Meanwhile, the company has approved a record date for its latest quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share for February 22nd with a payment date of March 15th.