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Walgreens, Shopify fall; Occidental, Nevro rise

Walgreens: Fiscal 2Q Earnings Snapshot

Australia faces ‘humanitarian disaster’ on board cruise ships 

Australian authorities are refusing to allow almost a dozen foreign cruise ships to dock or repatriate 11,000 crew members in a bitter dispute that trade unions warn risks creating a “humanitarian disaster”. State and federal authorities said on Thursday that bringing crew onshore was too risky because of health concerns after coronavirus was detected on at least three ships. Peter Dutton, Australia’s home affairs minister, alleged on Thursday that some companies had been dishonest about the infection rates on board ships lining up off Australia’s coast.

Carnival/rescue financing: any port in a storm

Lockdowns have curtailed summer holiday bookings and cruise liners now have a grim reputation for becoming quarantine ships. The centrepiece of the financing is a $4bn offering of five-year senior secured bonds priced at just under par with an annual coupon of 11.5 per cent. That juicy implied return attracted enough investors for Carnival to increase the offering from a mooted $3bn. Carnival’s physical assets — its fleet — are valued on its balance sheet at nearly $40bn.

Opening Quote: Call for cash from British business grows louder

Programming note: There will be no Opening Quote tomorrow, April 3. A trickle of company cash calls is turning into a steady stream. Carnival, the Florida-headquartered but FTSE-listed cruise ship operator is the biggest (more on that below).

Britain says Basel bank rule delay will aid response to coronavirus

Delaying remaining elements of new global bank capital rules for a year will give lenders in Britain time to focus on dealing with fallout from the coronavirus epidemic, the Bank of England and Britain's finance ministry said on Thursday. "This will provide operational capacity for banks and supervisors to respond to the immediate financial stability priorities from the impact of Covid-19," the BoE's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and finance ministry said in a joint statement. The PRA and finance ministry said they were committed to the full, timely and consistent implementation of the new rules and "we will work together towards a UK implementation timetable that is consistent with the one year delay".

Cruise operator Carnival pays high price to get credit investors on board

Despite having its cruise ships idled to comply with coronavirus travel restrictions, the company was able to attract enough investors that its capital raising was oversubscribed several times over, albeit at a steep price, sources told Reuters. Carnival priced $4 billion in bonds maturing in 2023 - upsized from the $3 billion originally planned - with a yield at par value of 11.5%, it said in a statement. By comparison, Carnival paid a 1% yield in October, when it borrowed 600 million euros ($657.7 million) in the European debt market.

Day Ahead: Top 3 Things to Watch for April 2

By Kim Khan

UK investors tell companies to rethink bonuses if scrapping dividends

Britain's investment managers would expect banks and other companies to rethink bonuses if they are scrapping payouts to shareholders, the Investment Association said on Wednesday. Top UK banks have scrapped dividends for 2019 and interim dividends for 2020 after being asked to do so by the Bank of England, with other firms also stopping payouts as the economy remains in lockdown. The current situation should, however, not be used to "rebase or reduce" dividends unneccesarily, IA Chief Executive Chris Cummings said in a statement.

British insurer M&G drops plans for 10% job cuts this year-memo