Carnival Corp (CCL) is bringing back dividend payouts after a record-breaking full year performance.
The group’s 2025 full year results saw a 60% jump in adjusted net income to $3.1 billion, driven by $26.6 billion in revenue, an all-time record high.
Record High Full Year Revenue
The results and the dividend reinstatement pushed Carnival’s share price up nearly 10% the day of the announcement.
It also announced an upcoming change is planned to scrap its US and UK dual-listing. It aims to become a single New York-listed business subject to shareholder approval.
“2025 was a truly phenomenal year,” said CEO Josh Weinstein. “We set new records across our business, achieved investment grade leverage metrics and, as announced reinstating our dividend.”
“We’re always trying to figure out how to make the experience onboard meet and exceed expectations. “We have a tremendously ridiculous price-to-experience ratio gap between what we give to our guests and what you can get in land-based alternatives. That value proposition, I think, is getting clearer and clearer when it comes to how we can market this.”
The fourth quarter adjusted earnings exceeded analysts’ forecasts of $454m, with quarterly revenue at $6.33 billion.
With two-thirds of capacity sold for 2026, the company expects to increase earnings further in 2026 with adjusted net income of around $3.5 billion.
It was the fourth time in 2025 it outperformed guidance thanks to strong last-minute booking volume.
Carnival announced a 15 cents per share dividend is payable in late February 2026.
Carnival Corp CFO David Bernstein said the company structure will be simplified by delisting Carnival PLC from the London stock exchange.
Delisting From UK Stock Exchange
“We believe it will also increase liquidity for stock trades and increase weighting of the stock in major U.S. stock indices,” he said. This means unifying into a single corporate entity listed only in New York.
This will then “streamline governance and reporting, and reduce administrative costs,” Bernstein added. Existing Carnival PLC shareholders would be issued Carnival Corp. shares on a one-for-one basis, making Carnival PLC a UK subsidiary wholly owned by Carnival Corp.
This will be formally proposed at shareholder meetings in April, with an expected completion in the second quarter.
Carnival’s move follows Royal Caribbean (RCL), which reinstated its dividend in 2024 as cruise line across the industry return to shareholder payouts after the pandemic recovery period.
