Carnival Corporation & plc Increases Quarterly Dividend by 25 Percent
MIAMI, Oct. 19, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE: CCL; LSE) (NYSE: CUK) announced today that it has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 cents per share -- an increase of 25 percent.
The dividend is payable on December 9, 2005, to shareholders of record on November 18, 2005.
With today's announcement -- combined with previously announced dividend increases in April 2005 and October 2004 -- Carnival's quarterly dividend has doubled in just over 12 months.
In April 2005, Carnival's quarterly dividend increased 33 percent from $0.15 cents per share to $0.20 cents per share; in October 2004 the company increased its dividend 20 percent to $0.15 per share from $0.125 per share.
Holders of Carnival Corporation common stock or Carnival plc ADSs will receive the dividend payable in U.S. dollars. The dividend for Carnival plc ordinary shares will be payable in U.S. dollars or sterling. In the absence of instructions or elections to the contrary, holders of Carnival plc ordinary shares will automatically receive the dividend in sterling. Dividends payable in sterling will be converted from U.S. dollars at the exchange rate quoted by the Bank of England in London at 12 noon on December 1, 2005. Holders of Carnival plc ordinary shares wishing to receive their dividend in U.S. dollars or participate in the Carnival plc Dividend Reinvestment Plan must elect to do so by November 18, 2005.
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise vacation group in the world, with a portfolio of 12 cruise brands in North America, Europe and Australia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Windstar Cruises, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Ocean Village, P&O Cruises, Swan Hellenic, and P&O Cruises Australia.
Together, these brands operate 79 ships totaling more than 137,000 lower berths with 12 new ships scheduled for delivery between January 2006 and April 2009. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon, Holland America Tours and Princess Tours. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices.
Additional information is available online at http://www.carnivalcorp.com and http://www.carnivalplc.com .
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc
CONTACT: Media (U.S.), Tim Gallagher, +1-305-599-2600, ext. 16000, or
Investor Relations (U.S. or UK), Beth Roberts, +1-305-406-4832, both of
Carnival Corporation & plc; or Media (UK), Sophie Fitton or Sarah Lindgreen,
both of Brunswick Group, +011-44-20-7404-5959, for Carnival
