Carnival (CCL) shares ticked up 4.9% to 1,606.7p as it expects more cruises to restart in May
The Company told investors on Friday that the German Cruise operator AIDA Cruises, which is part of Carnival Corporation, will start cruising the Greek Islands from 23 May 2021. In addition, AIDAperla is sailing on seven-day voyages around the Canary Islands through June.
Separately, Carnival recently informed its guests of additional cruise cancellations as well as the extension of its pause across all operations from U.S. ports to 30 June 2021.
Despite this, the cruise operator, which holds a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe and Australia, cited its hopes to restart more cruises this May in a recent update.
Despite posting a loss of $2 billion in its first quarter of 2020, bookings volumes have accelerated, coming in 90% higher than booking volumes in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The company said cumulative advanced bookings for full year 2022 are “ahead of a very strong 2019”, despite minimal advertising or mark. Meanwhile, Carnival has stated that six of its nine brands are expected to resume limited guest cruise operations by this summer.
System1 Group (SYS) shares jumped 26.32% to 240p as it reports a strong second half
The advertising effectiveness agency released a trading update in which it stated that a strong second half performance helped offset its full year revenue reduction. Revenue in H2 was c.8% above that of the same prior year period, compared with a 26% decline in H1.
The Company said profitability was also stronger in H2 than in H1 as sales picked up faster than adjusted operating costs which were 16% lower than last year in the second half.
System 1 said it plans to remain profitable and to continue to generate cash in the 2021/22 financial year, notwithstanding that it is targeting revenue growth to be at least matched by the rate of cost growth as it prioritises scaling its automated predictive products.
Petro Matad (MATD) shares soared 34.67% to 5.05p following progres with Block XX
Shares have ticked up by 25% over the past month. The Mongolia-focused oil company told investors earlier this month that progress had been made on the two remaining steps of the exploitation licence application for Block XX of the prolific oil producing Toson Uul basin.
The agreed Block XX exploitation area contains all of the prospectivity identified within the proven basin. The Company previously highlighted that it is looking to undertake near-field exploration drilling in the area, in parallel with the development of the Heron oilfield.
The Company told investors that it remained hopeful that the licence would still be granted within the period, but that in order to secure its financial standing beyond mid-2021, it had procured an unsecured loan facility from its major and founding shareholder Petrovis.
“We are evaluating the near field potential in the area that could see reserves increase significantly through low cost, high chance of success, exploration drilling conducted in parallel with production and development activities at Heron over the next few years,” it said.
Advance Energy (ADV) shares rose 17.07% to 2.4p following its acquisition of Buffalo PSC
The Company unveiled on Monday that it had completed the acquisition of a 50% interest in Carnarvon Petroleum Timor Unipessoal which holds the Buffalo PSC, offshore Timor-Leste.
The Acquisition constituted a reverse takeover of the Company, pursuant to the AIM Rules while shares in the enlarged company commenced trading on the LSE on Monday morning.
The admission follows a recent £21.84m placing, whereby Advance sold 840.1m new shares at a price of 2.6p each. The Company told investors that a portion of the proceeds will be used to fund the drilling of the B-10 appraisal well as well as other related costs at Buffalo.
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) shares fell 2.73% to 263.8p as it reports £776m in outflows
The Group released a trading statement on Tuesday in which it stated that assets under management (AUM) over the three months to 31 March 2021 had increased by £0.1bn, closing the period at £58.8bn despite also reporting net outflows of £776m in the period.
Jupiter said mutual funds saw total net outflows of £848m over the period which was driven by continued lower client demand for UK and European-focused equity strategies. It said these were partially offset by positive flows into Dynamic and Strategic Bond and the Gold & Silver strategy, and a return to positive flows for the Global Equity Absolute Return fund.
"Total AuM was little changed at £58.8bn, a touch below consensus of £59.1bn. Although positive investment performance added £0.8bn, net outflows in the quarter were £776m (consensus was expecting outflows of £0.4bn)," analysts at broker Peel Hunt highlighted.