jili golden bank

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO), an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment, and technology platform, announced today that the company received a formal written notice from The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) that LiveOne has regained compliance with Nasdaq's minimum bid price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) and that this matter is now closed. LiveOne's shares of common stock will continue to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "LVO". This confirmation follows the Company’s continued efforts to improve its balance sheet by enhancing shareholder value. About LiveOne Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, LiveOne (Nasdaq: LVO ) is an award-winning, creator-first, music, entertainment, and technology platform focused on delivering premium experiences and content worldwide through memberships and live and virtual events. LiveOne's subsidiaries include Slacker Radio, PodcastOne (Nasdaq: PODC ), PPVOne, CPS, LiveXLive, DayOne Music Publishing, Drumify and Splitmind. LiveOne is available in Tesla vehicles and on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Spotify, Samsung, Amazon Fire, Android TV, and through STIRR’s OTT applications. For more information, visit liveone.com and follow us on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , YouTube and Twitter at @liveone . For more investor information, please visit ir.liveone.com . Forward-Looking Statements All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements,” which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as “may,” “might,” “will,” “will likely result,” “would,” “should,” “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “continue,” “target” or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including: LiveOne’s reliance on its largest OEM customer for a substantial percentage of its revenue; LiveOne’s ability to consummate any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, special dividend, merger, distribution or transaction, the timing of the consummation of any such proposed event, including the risks that a condition to the consummation of any such event would not be satisfied within the expected timeframe or at all, or that the consummation of any proposed financing, acquisition, spin-out, merger, special dividend, distribution or transaction will not occur or whether any such event will enhance shareholder value; LiveOne’s ability to continue as a going concern; LiveOne’s ability to attract, maintain and increase the number of its users and paid members; LiveOne identifying, acquiring, securing and developing content; LiveOne’s intent to repurchase shares of its and/or PodcastOne’s common stock from time to time under LiveOne’s announced stock repurchase program and the timing, price, and quantity of repurchases, if any, under the program; LiveOne’s ability to maintain compliance with certain financial and other covenants; LiveOne successfully implementing its growth strategy, including relating to its technology platforms and applications; management’s relationships with industry stakeholders; LiveOne’s ability to extend and/or refinance its indebtedness and/or repay its indebtedness when due; uncertain and unfavorable outcomes in legal proceedings and/or LiveOne’s ability to pay any amounts due in connection with any such legal proceedings; changes in economic conditions; competition; risks and uncertainties applicable to the businesses of LiveOne’s subsidiaries; and other risks, uncertainties and factors including, but not limited to, those described in LiveOne’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on July 1, 2024, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, filed with the November 14, 2024, and in LiveOne’s other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and LiveOne disclaims any obligation to update these statements, except as may be required by law. LiveOne intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. LiveOne IR Contact: Liviakis Financial Communications, Inc. (415) 389-4670 john@liviakis.com LiveOne Press Contact: LiveOne press@liveone.com Follow LiveOne on social media: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter at @liveone .Carnival Corp. ( CCL 6.33% ) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Dec 20, 2024 , 10:00 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Greetings, and welcome to the Carnival Corporation & plc fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Beth Roberts, senior vice president, investor relations. Please go ahead, Beth. Beth Roberts -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. I'm joined today by our CEO, Josh Weinstein; our chief financial officer, David Bernstein; and our chair, Micky Arison. Before we begin, please note that some of our remarks on this call will be forward-looking. Therefore, I will refer you to the forward-looking statement in today's press release. All references to ticket prices, net per diems, net yields and adjusted cruise costs without fuel will be in constant currency unless otherwise stated. References to per diems and yields will be on a net basis. Our comments may also reference cruise costs without fuel, EBITDA, net income, free cash flow and ROIC, all of which will be on an adjusted basis, unless otherwise stated. All these references are non-GAAP financial measures defined in our earnings press release. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures and other associated disclosures are also contained in our earnings press release and in our investor presentation. Please visit our corporate website where our earnings press release and investor presentation can be found. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Josh. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Thanks, Beth. We had a strong finish to an incredibly strong year. And right off the bat, I'd like to thank the efforts of our hard-working and dedicated team, the best in all of travel and leisure. They have delivered results that consistently outperformed even my own high expectations. Our global portfolio is clearly firing on all cylinders, and I am very proud of what we've been able to accomplish together. We delivered another stellar quarter to close out a phenomenal year. In fact, this was our seventh consecutive quarter achieving record revenues alongside favorable forward indicators, like record booking trends and record customer deposits, indicating a continuation of the strong momentum we've been experiencing for the last two years. Fourth quarter net income improved by over $250 million year over year, coming in over $125 million better than expected. The outperformance was up and down the P&L and driven by strong close-in demand across the portfolio, which pushed yields, per diems, EBITDA and operating income all to new highs this year. Full year revenues hit an all-time high of $25 billion and produced all-time high cash from operations of almost $6 billion. Robust demand delivered a full year 2024 yield increase of 11%, with the majority of the increase attributable to higher prices. Yields finished the year nearly 250 basis points better than our original guidance, driven by a strong demand environment that we elevated throughout the year. Encouragingly, this was broad-based. For 2024, prices were up in all of our major brands and trades between mid-single digit to mid-teen percentages. And on top of this, onboard spending levels actually accelerated sequentially each quarter throughout the year. Additionally, unit cost came in 100 basis points better than our original guidance for the year as we identified and executed upon additional cost savings initiatives and saw the benefit of an easing inflationary environment. All of this translated to an additional $700 million pickup to the bottom line compared to our December guidance and step-change improvements in our two financial metrics that form part of our 2026 SEA Change targets: EBITDA per ALBD and ROIC. After just one year down with two to go, we're already over 80% of the way toward achieving both of these targets, calling for a 50% increase in EBITDA per ALBD from our 2023 starting point and ROIC of 12%, both of which would be the highest the company has seen in almost 20 years. And with ROIC ending 2024 at 11%, comfortably above our cost of capital, we are already delivering long-term value for our shareholders as we lay the foundation we'll build upon in 2025 and beyond. At the outset, and with about two-thirds of the year already on the books, 2025 is shaping up to be another banner year with yield growth exceeding 4%, far outpacing historical growth rates and again exceeding unit cost growth, delivering more than $400 million incrementally to the bottom line. In fact, booking trends even accelerated during the quarter. Despite less inventory for sale as compared to same time last year, 2025 booking volumes over the quarter were actually higher year on year at higher prices for each quarter, including the period leading up to the election. Booking volumes for 2026 also continue to break records, reflecting sustained demand even for further out sailings. The ongoing strength in demand reinforced our record-breaking book position. Both price and occupancy are higher for each of the four quarters of 2025, and we managed to increase both our price and occupancy advantage for our 2025 book position thanks to our outstanding efforts this past quarter. I can actually now report that our North American and European segments are each at their longest advanced booking windows on record. All core deployments are also better booked at higher prices than the record levels we achieved at the same time last year. So with a good amount less inventory to sell for 2025, I cannot stress enough to our customers and trade partners that if you want to sail with us this year, book now while there's still space available. And keep in mind, our 2024 results and booked position for future sailings are being driven by improved operational execution across our brands and are essentially on a same-ship basis. Now don't get me wrong, new ships are great. In fact, we welcomed three amazing new ships in 2024. Carnival Jubilee, the third of five Excel-class vessels for Carnival Cruise Line, is proudly sailing out of the great state of Texas. Sun Princess, Princess Cruises' next-generation flagship, was just awarded Condé Nast Travelers 2024 Megaship of the Year, beating out all other megaships that entered service this year. And last but not least came the spectacular Queen Anne, Cunard's first ship in 14 years and a beautiful addition to Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and the venerable Queen Mary 2. While new ships do command a nice premium, the vast majority of our yield growth was driven by fundamental demand improvements for the existing ships across our portfolio of world-class brands. Even excluding our newbuilds, 2024's yields were still up almost 10% over 2023. That's because we're achieving demand growth well above our modest supply pipeline through ground-up efforts to improve execution across the commercial space. We've been investing in both talent and tools, honing in on each of our brands' unique target markets, crafting marketing campaigns that speak directly to them and in the most effective forums. We're successfully enticing new cruise guests away from land-based alternatives. In fact, both new-to-cruise and repeat guests were each up double-digit percentages this past year. At the same time, our marketing efforts are continuing to deliver growth in web visits, natural and paid search that far-outpace our limited capacity growth, keeping the pipeline of new demand full. Simultaneously with augmenting our performance from top-of-funnel consideration to closing the deal and generating the bookings, we've been sharpening our yield management techniques to optimize our booking curves and drive ticket prices and onboard spending higher. While all of these efforts are already in flight and clearly working, we have even more in store to continue the momentum. We're launching new marketing campaigns across all our brands. Princess, Cunard and Seabourn have already debuted spectacular new creatives this month. In Princess' case, its fresh take on its incomparable Love Boat theme, featuring Hannah Waddingham of Ted Lasso fame, already helped to produce record booking volumes for the Black Friday through Cyber Monday period. And stay tuned for new campaigns from AIDA, Carnival, Costa, Holland America and P&O Cruises in the U.K., all launching shortly to coincide with wave season, our peak booking period. We're aggressively working to increase awareness and consideration for cruise travel globally. We're also actively working on an enhanced destination strategy to provide guests with yet another reason to take a cruise vacation with us, and that is sure to help us continue to excel. While we retain by far the largest footprint in the Caribbean with six owned and operated destinations that captured 6.5 million guest visits in 2024, we believe we have a meaningful opportunity to expand and capitalize on this strategic advantage. These destinations are among our highest-rated guest experiences today, and we have plans to lean into these assets even further. While historically, the marketing of our own assets have really focused on the ships, we have untapped potential to create demand for these amazing destination experiences. I have never been more excited about these prospects as we begin to unfold this multiyear strategy with the opening of Celebration Key in just about six months. This will be by far our largest and most Carnival-centric destination in our portfolio with five awesome portals built for fun, from family friendly to exclusive beach club experiences. Not only will Celebration Key be the closest destination in our portfolio, saving fuel costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the only way you can get to Celebration Key is on one of our cruises. Moreover, we just recently announced a change that signals more about the shift in our destination asset strategy. Half Moon Cay, the highly rated and award-winning exclusive bohemian destination known for beautiful beaches and crystal clear waters, is being renamed RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay to better reflect the experience guests can expect as they are immersed in this tropical paradise. Enhancements will include an expanded beachfront experience, lunch venues, a variety of bars and other features created with intentionality to reinforce this destination's natural beauty and pristine appeal. Ready in November of 2026, a newly constructed pier on the North side will allow ships to dock, including Carnival's Excel-class ships that will be able to visit the private island for the first time. We'll be positioning these jewels of the Caribbean with consumers in a way that will encourage guests to actively seek out these specific destinations offered exclusively by our brands. And many of Carnival Cruise Lines itineraries will feature both RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay and Celebration Key, providing guests with complementary experiences enjoying both the idyllic and the ultimate beach stays. We believe developing and promoting these unique assets will help us cast the net wider and capture even more new-to-cruise demand. We're already in flight with preparation for branding and marketing campaigns for these amazing destinations with more to come in the future. As it is, for 2025, we expect to hit our 2026 EBITDA per ALBD target a full year early while raising ROIC to just shy of our 12% 2026 target. So considering all the progress we've made without this in place, it's clear we have a tremendous amount of headroom remaining to create more demand to cultivate more guest loyalty and capture more pricing for the incredible ship and shoreside experiences we provide our guests. At the same time, we're making meaningful progress on the sustainability front. We achieved about 17.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions intensity versus 2019, on track to achieve our target of 20% by the end of 2026, a goal that was previously pulled forward by four years. Improvement hasn't just been in emission intensity levels. Despite the fact that we're over 9% larger than we were in 2019, we have actually lowered our absolute greenhouse gas emissions by almost 10% over this time. And of course, we're also making huge strides on rebuilding our financial fortress. In under two years, we have paid down over $8 billion of debt off our peak and significantly reduced interest expense, which, coupled with our improving EBITDA, has improved our leverage metrics tremendously. Our current 2025 guidance will put us at 3.8 times net debt to EBITDA, closing in on our expectation to reach investment-grade leverage metrics in 2026. Again, thank you so much to each of our team members who have delivered a step-change improvement in 2024 and set us up for a fantastic 2025 and beyond. And as has always been the case and always will be, thank you so much to our travel agent partners who have contributed immensely to this success. We also appreciate the support we've received from our loyal guests, investors, destination partners and other stakeholders. And let's not forget, these efforts were really all about the main thing: Delivering unforgettable happiness to over 13.5 million people in 2024 by providing them with extraordinary cruise vacations while honoring the integrity of every ocean we sail, place we visit, and life we touch. With that, I'll turn the call over to David. David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Josh. I'll start today with a summary of our 2024 fourth quarter results. Next, I will provide an update on our refinancing and deleveraging efforts. Then I'll finish up with some color on our 2025 full year December guidance. Let's turn to the summary of our fourth quarter results. Net income exceeded September guidance by $126 million as we outperformed once again. The outperformance was essentially driven by three things. First, favorability in revenue worth $77 million as yields came in up 6.7% compared to the prior year. This was 1.7 points better than September guidance, driven by close-in strength in ticket prices, as well as strong onboard spending. Second, cruise cost without fuel per available lower-berth day, or ALBD, came in up 7.4% compared to the prior year. This was 0.6 of a point better than September guidance, which was worth $13 million. And third, favorability in interest expense, other income and expense and tax expense, all of which were partially offset by higher fuel prices netted to a $38 million improvement. Per diems for the fourth quarter improved over 5% versus the prior year, which I would remind you were up over 10% last year with improvements on both sides of the Atlantic, driven by higher ticket prices and improved onboard spending. Strong demand allowed us to once again report records, delivering fourth quarter record revenues, record yields, record per diems, record adjusted EBITDA and record customer deposits. Next, I will provide an update of our refinancing and deleveraging efforts. Our full year 2024 yield improvement of 11% was over three times or 3.5% cost increase. This drove improved margins and cash flow which resulted in a strong EBITDA of $6.1 billion and cash from operations of about $6 billion. All of this propelled us on our journey to pay down debt and proactively manage our debt profile. During 2024, we made debt payments of over $5 billion, which included opportunistically prepaying over $3 billion of debt, reducing secured debt, removing the secured second lien layer from our capital structure and paying off some of our more expensive debt. We ended 2024 with $27.5 billion of debt, over $8 billion off the January 2023 peak. Our leverage metrics continued to improve in 2024 as our EBITDA continued to grow and our debt levels continued to shrink. We achieved a 4.3 times net debt-to-EBITDA ratio, nearly a two and a half turn improvement from 2023, positioning us three-fourths the way down the path to investment-grade leverage metrics in just one year. With the benefit of well-managed near-term maturity towers and improved leverage metrics, we expect to opportunistically capitalize on improved interest rates while proactively managing our maturity towers for 2027 and beyond with various refinancings. Now I'll finish up with some color on our 2025 full year December guidance. On top of 2024's 11% yield growth, we are expecting to deliver strong 2025 yield improvement with our guidance forecasting an increase of approximately 4.2%, worth over $0.60 per share when compared to 2024. The strong improvement in 2025 yield is a result of an increase in higher ticket prices; higher onboard spending; and to a lesser degree, higher occupancy with all three components improving on both sides of the Atlantic. We are well-positioned to drive 2025 ticket pricing higher with significantly less inventory remaining to sell than the same time last year. Now turning to costs. Cruise costs without fuel per ALBD is expected to be up approximately 3.7%, costing $0.28 per share for 2025 versus 2024. We are looking forward to the introduction of our game-changing exclusive bohemian destination Celebration Key in July 2025. We anticipate that Celebration Key will be a smash hit with our guests and provide an excellent return on our investment. However, operating expenses for the destination will impact our overall year-over-year cost comparisons by about half a point. In 2025, we are expecting 687 dry dock days, an increase of 17% versus 2024, which will also impact our overall year-over-year cost comparisons by about three quarters of a point. In 2024, there were several onetime items that we benefited from impacting our overall year-over-year cost comparisons by about a quarter of a point. The remaining 2.2-point increase in cruise costs are driven by inflation and higher advertising expense, partially offset by efficiency initiatives and further leveraging our industry-leading scale. An increase in depreciation expense and lower interest income is partially offset by an improvement in interest expense from our refinancing and deleveraging efforts for a net impact of $0.04 per share. The net impact of fuel price and currency is expected to favorably impact 2025 by approximately $0.04 per share, with fuel prices favorable by approximately $0.09 per share while the change in foreign currency exchange rate goes the other way by $0.05 per share. Let's not forget that the European Union Allowance, or EUA regulation, in 2025 increases to 70% of carbon emissions from 40% in 2024. As a result, we would expect the impact of higher EUA costs on our year-over-year fuel expense to be about $0.03 per share. In summary, putting all these factors together, our net income guidance for full year 2025 is over $2.3 billion, an improvement of more than $400 million versus 2024 or $0.28 per share. Robust demand for our brands and continued operational execution is driving our strong financial results, along with our increased confidence in achieving investment-grade leverage metrics during the next couple of years as we move further down the road, rebuilding our financial fortress, while continuing the process of transferring value from debtholders back to shareholders. Now operator, let's open the call for questions. Questions & Answers: Operator [Operator instructions] Our first question today is coming from Matthew Boss from J.P. Morgan. Your line is now live. Matthew Boss -- Analyst Great. Thanks, and congrats on another great quarter. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Thank you very much, Matt. Matthew Boss -- Analyst So Josh, could you elaborate on the foundation that you've laid over the last two years which you think has positioned you and the company to capitalize on the current demand that you're seeing? And with '25 shaping up to be another banner year, could you speak to initiatives across the organization to take share, optimize yields and drive onboard spending in '25 and beyond? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah, thanks. Thanks for the question, Matt. I guess, if we look back at the last two years, probably the biggest thing was just doing a bit of restructuring, as we've talked about in the past and getting the right leaders in place leading the brands. And those leaders are a fantastic group of people leading fantastic brands. On the commercial focus side, which we've been talking about for the last few years, right? It is scrutiny and expectations around how we're improving in the revenue management space, in the marketing space, considerations at top-of-funnel stuff all the way down to closing the bookings. The amount of advertising that we've ramped up really just to get us closer to where the rest of the market is, I think, is helping to pay dividends. Everything from making sure our brands have great relationships with the trade to investing in our own capabilities. Probably the last thing about the foundation would be the portfolio management. We've been actively managing the portfolio and allocating ships differently, moving vessels, widening up a brand in the case of P&O Australia. I think, it's setting ourselves up to really put the assets where the highest returns are in the immediate term, while we help all the brands, who aren't yet where I think they should be, get to those levels. So with respect to 2025 and what are the things that we've got that are going to continue our progress. At a base level, it's a continuation of all those things in the commercial space and having those great brand leaders really lean in even further. We're investing in our people. We're investing in our tools, our revenue management tools, to make sure that we are utilizing the technology effectively to optimize the yields. The destination strategy that you already heard in the prepared remarks, I think that's going to be a tailwind that continues for a really long time, and we're really looking forward to that. As far as the OBR, onboard spending, we've got runway there. I mean, we've got a good amount of runway to continue the progress we've been making around pulling forward the spend, which, as everybody knows, opens up the second wallet. And the more people spend before they get on the cruise, the more they spend on the cruise. So our brands are, again, working hard to continue that. And we're nowhere near what the cap could be on those types of efforts. So I'm pretty enthusiastic, as you can probably tell. Matthew Boss -- Analyst I can tell. I can tell. And then, David, maybe just quick. If you could just break down net cruise cost ex fuel components in that 3.7% for this year? But I think more so, help us to think about maybe a reasonable spread between yields and cruise costs multiyear. If there's maybe a back of the envelope rule of thumb multiyear? David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. So I did in my notes, talk about the 3.7% because -- just briefly. The expenses relating to Celebration Key were half a point, increase in dry dock days was three quarters of a point. I also said about a quarter of a point was the onetime items that we benefit from in 2024. And then, the remaining 2.2 points really was a combination of inflation and higher advertising that Josh mentioned, partially offset by efficiency initiatives and other leveraging our scale throughout the company. So those are really the four key components that make up the 3.7%. As far as the difference, I don't think there's any rule of thumb here. I really do believe we can continue. As you saw in 2024, it was three times, but that was a recovery story. Our guidance has a half a point difference between a yield improvement and a cost improvement. Keep in mind that a point to yield is worth almost double what a point of cost is, so there is leverage there in and of itself. But we will work hard to continue to maintain our cost consciousness. And as Josh talked about, all the things we're investing in, in advertising and revenue management should help drive yields higher over time, as well as the destination strategy. So we do expect to see a continued improvement in margins. Matthew Boss -- Analyst Great color. Best of luck. Operator Thank you. Our next question is coming from Ben Chaiken from Mizuho Securities. Your line is now live. Benjamin Chaiken -- Analyst Hey, thanks for taking my questions. Celebration Key looks pretty exciting, opening up later this summer. Where do you think you are in the customer awareness of this product? Do you think it's well understood, appreciated by customers? Or is it still -- or is that marketing kind of like an awareness still ramping? And then, I have one follow-up. Thanks. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Sure. Thanks, Ben. Definitely still ramping. I mean, it doesn't exist yet. So we are definitely building momentum there. We're building excitement. We're getting the response that we expected with respect to how the bookings are shaping up, which is good to see. But it's still early days. I think, the really exciting part is once we're in there, really operating and having guests enjoy these experiences and optimizing what we do and how we do it, it takes off from there. Because right now, it's make-believe. So we've got to let everything get in place, and then I think it will help tremendously. Benjamin Chaiken -- Analyst Got it. Understood. And then, in the release and call transcript, you referenced an enhanced destination strategy. Can we open this up a little bit? Does this refer to Celebration Key? Or is this a little bit of a teaser to an additional opportunities to provide guests with differentiated Carnival-owned, operated destinations? I know you mentioned the pier at Half Moon Cay, I believe. Just trying to understand the magnitude and direction of the strategy. Thanks. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah. So let's take a step back from any one particular destination. I think, what I've seen for a long time now for several years, and I think some are doing better than others and better than us, is turning their own destinations into something that not only guests, but non-cruisers look at and decide, that's going to help tilt my vacation decision to take a cruise. Because the destination itself looks amazing, is an amazing experience, and I can only do it on a cruise. And we have not historically, I think, done a good enough job in raising the level of awareness on the amazing destinations that we have and that are in the pipeline. So when it comes to Celebration Key, we're getting a head start because we're doing it before the location exists. When you think about the change to RelaxAway for Half Moon Cay, it is beautiful. It is one of the most stunning destinations in the world. And yet if you're not a cruiser, you don't know anything about it. You're not looking for it. And we're going to change that dynamic. And with RelaxAway, what we're trying to convey to people who don't cruise is really the vibe of the experience that they can get. And the great thing about it is we're leaning into that natural beauty, which is going to be different from Celebration Key. Celebration key, as we said, that is the ultimate beach day, right? RelaxAway away is all about the idyllic, it's being in a tropical paradise. And we're going to be able to marry those two things together. So people on the same cruise will be able to get both experiences that are very, very different and exclusive to us. And so, we're going to raise our game there. And there's more things that we can do without heavy investment with some of the destinations that we own to make that part of that more exclusive collection. So it's early days, but we're pretty excited about it. Benjamin Chaiken -- Analyst Very helpful. Thanks. Operator Thank you. Your next question is coming from Steve Wieczynski from Stifel. Your line is now live. Steven Wieczynski -- Analyst Yeah, hey, guys, good morning. Happy holidays to all of you guys. So Josh or David, if we think about the yield guidance for 2025, just based on the fact that you're two-thirds booked already for next year, it seems like you have strong pricing momentum across pretty much all your geographies. I know you'll hate that I say this, but it seems like the 4% or approximately 4% yield guidance to us might end up being conservative when we have this same call a year from now. So I guess, the question is, can you give us a little color around the makeup of that yield forecast? And maybe does -- it seems like you could be taking a conservative view around whether it's onboard trends, whether it's the close-in pricing opportunity. And if I ask that question another way. I mean, if we think about the -- your initial yield guidance last year, which I think was 8.5% and it ended up closer to about 11%. What did you guys underestimate for 2024? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Steve, well, first of all, we were a little worried you weren't first in the queue. So we were going to literally call 911 to make sure you were OK. So glad to hear your voice. Good, good, good. Look, our goal is to give guidance based on what we know, and it's certainly something that we want to meet and, obviously, work hard to exceed. Last year, I meant what I said in my prepared remarks, I think it was a fantastic year by the whole team. That outperformance was, I would argue, was pretty special. And also, argue the 250 basis points of yield on top of a base of 8.5%, proportionately, is not 2.5% on top of 4.2%. So we have a very good handle, I think, on where we are today, much more so than last year even, because we're already back up in full, already at the full occupancy percentage more or less that we always get. And if you remember, the first half of the year was still in catch-up, which is like five points of our improvement in yields last year was occupancy. So I think we're in a more stable place than we were. Well, the onboard spends have been fantastic, there's no doubt about it. And we're working hard to continue that trend. And when you look at the 4.2%, there's a little bit for occupancy. But it's all price, right? Outside of a little bit of occupancy, it's price. And it is a combination of the ticket side and the onboard side continuing. And we'll work hard to optimize as much as we can. I promise you, our goal is the same as yours, which is get as much revenue as we can. Steven Wieczynski -- Analyst OK. That's good color. And then, Josh, if we look at Slide 17, about SEA Change. You noted your EBITDA per ALBD is going to be hopefully achieved in 2025. But if we look at your ROIC targets, we look at the -- even the carbon reduction target, I mean, it's almost like you're going to hit those -- potentially hit those as well next year. So I guess, the question is, do you -- I know you're going to hate this. But do you start to think about laying out another set of long-range financial targets at some point? To us, it seems like those SEA Change targets really were important pillars and gave the investment community something to really rally behind. So just trying to get a little bit more color as to how you're thinking about the long-term opportunities here. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah. Look, when we get there, I can tell you that we -- whether we do it on the same day or whether we wait a quarter to catch our breath, I can promise you, I like the concept of longer-term targets that we set for ourselves and we set for our investors, so you can understand what we think our trajectory should be. And I can motivate my team internally to rally around what I think we should be expecting of ourselves. So yes, you can expect that to happen when we get there. And look, I'd love nothing more to get to where we were, where we say we were going to be in 2026 SEA Change targets early. We need about $100 million of operating income to get to the ROIC. Carbon will be harder. We have a pretty good understanding of where we are, but getting to 19%, it's pretty good, and we'll see what happens. Steven Wieczynski -- Analyst OK. Gotcha. And real quick housekeeping one. David, is there anything we should think about in terms of cadence of costs? Obviously, we've got the first quarter NCC guide. But anything else through the rest of the year we should think about? David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer So as you can imagine, it is tough in terms of seasonalization between quarters. But the guidance I would give you is that, in the second quarter, we do expect higher dry dock days. So I wouldn't be surprised if the second and third quarter were, call it, one and a half to two points above the full year average, and the fourth quarter is lower. That's about the best initial guidance I can give you. But we, too, will probably see some changes because this guidance presumes we've made every decision on all advertising and everything else between the quarters. So just take it as a forecast. Steven Wieczynski -- Analyst OK. Thanks, guys. David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Happy holidays, too, Steve. Operator Thank you. Our next question is coming from Robin Farley from UBS. Your line is now live. Robin Farley -- Analyst Great. Thank you. Obviously, fantastic guidance here and better than expected. I did want to ask about two things just to get a feel for whether these things are in your guidance or how much they're in your guidance and whether this would be additional upside. First is Celebration Key. You mentioned, obviously, you expect it to be very successful and a driver, but you're not really able to see at this point what it would add really to ticket price or onboard spend. So I'm just wondering if you could help us understand how much really or how little you may have in your yield guidance today for Celebration Key. I know in your cruise cost guidance, it's at 50 basis points. How much is it in your yield guidance at the moment? Thanks. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yes. Thanks, Robin. So it is in our guidance. I'll give you some magnitude of just what touches Celebration Key this year. And it's only 5% of our total sailings in 2025. So it's not that much. When we get to 2026 and we're on kind of a full year run rate basis, you're talking about 15%-plus. So it will be more meaningful for the company overall. Nonetheless, I'm not going to say what it is, but we're happy to say that when we look at our bookings in the fourth quarter for Carnival, we are seeing the premium that we expected to see, which is good to see. Robin Farley -- Analyst OK. Great. And then, also in your EPS guidance, I think that you have $3 billion in debt that's callable next year. I hope I'm getting this number right. But -- and I assume that you're not factoring in the lower interest cost from some of that very expensive debt. If that were redone at maybe what some other things this year have been done at, could that be $0.20 or $0.25 of sort of upside in annual interest expense savings? Is that kind of the ballpark to think about potential upside? David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer So $0.20, $0.25, $0.20 would be $280 million because it's $0.14 per penny. So just keep that in mind. I'm not sure what you were thinking of. I will say that there is opportunity on the refinancings. We do expect to address those two double-digit interest rate debt that you're referring to. They're both callable, as you said, in the first half of the year. There will be some additional savings. We do -- we will look at that throughout the year. We did include just a bit of saving -- interest savings in our forecast, but -- because we're not sure what the market will bring in terms of interest rates to us. So there is, hopefully, we'll have a number of successful transactions this year which will provide some upside -- or we should say, some lower interest expense. Robin Farley -- Analyst OK. Great. Thanks very much. David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Robin. Operator Thank you. Your next question is coming from James Hardiman from Citi. Your line is now live. James Hardiman -- Analyst Hey, good morning. So I wanted to ask maybe a big picture question. Obviously, not a whole lot of capacity being added here. And so, so much of this growth story is organic, obviously. And so, I guess, my first question is, how much of that organic turnaround do you think is a function of sort of factors taking place in the industry, versus, I don't know, self-help, right? You listed obviously, a whole bunch of things that you're doing brand by brand. I'm ultimately trying to figure out sort of the sustainability of this organic growth that we're seeing right now. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah. James, man, I wish I could tell you what the scientific answer to your question is about the industry overall versus us. I think, the industry being more mainstream along with us is certainly a fantastic thing for everybody, and I don't want to discount that. But I meant what I said about same-ship sales. We got almost 10% yields on same ship. And if you look at our history, our historic growth rates on revenue are significantly lower than our cruise competitor set. And when you look -- I don't know what they're going to do next year. But when you look at this year, we're right in the mix and are at the top. So I feel very good that our trajectory is changing for us versus what we had been accustomed to, and it means we've got a pretty good amount of headroom as we look forward because people should be paying more for our experiences. Not only vis-a-vis our cruise competitors, but I'm talking about vis-a-vis the experience gap that exists on what we do versus what land offers, what we call the price-to-experience ratio is just remarkably skewed, and we should be getting a lot more versus what land competitors do. I think, it's probably a pretty good sign that I'm right about that, and the potential when you think about Disney basically saying, "We're going to underinvest in things that we have in the past, but we're going to double down on cruise." They see the value of that as well. So I think we're in good company and we've got a lot of self-help along the way. James Hardiman -- Analyst Got it. And then, I guess, along those same lines, although, I guess, in a lot of ways, I'm asking some previous questions in a different way. But you finished '24 with per diems up north of 5%. The guidance for the year, I guess, yield guidance is 4.2%. There's some occupancy in there. And then, first quarter is 4.6%. So we're going 5%-plus to 4.6% to something lower. I guess, from our perspective, right, Celebration Key, which comes on in the back half, should actually help with some acceleration. I guess, is there anything quantifiable that we should be thinking about that would weigh on per diems as we work our way through the year? Maybe an itinerary geographical mix issue? Or is this just -- you get some version of this question every quarter, right? Is this just sort of conservatism the further out you look? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer I guess, the same answers that we've been giving, right? We're trying to be as transparent as we can be with everyone on the call and everyone who's not on the call. We haven't been through wave yet. We will. Although it's been a remarkable ride for two years, it feels like wave hasn't stopped since summer of 2022. But we haven't been there yet. And so, we'll see what that brings us, and we'll talk again in March. James Hardiman -- Analyst Got it. Appreciate it. Operator Thank you. Next question is coming from Patrick Scholes from Truist. Your line is now live. Patrick, perhaps your phone is on mute. Patrick Scholes -- Analyst Hi. Good morning. Can you hear me? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Go ahead, please. Yes, Patrick. Patrick Scholes -- Analyst Great. Thank you. I'd like to ask a little bit about Mexico for my first question. Some news out there lately regarding additional passenger charges on that. Is you -- Josh, do you think it's a done deal? Or is there any chance that that may not go through at this point? And then, specifically for your folks for your ships, what percentage of your itineraries do make a stop at a port in Mexico? That's my first question. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah. So right off the bat, no, I do not think it is a done deal. We've been dealing with this with the folks in Mexico for the last few weeks. We were not consulted. No one was consulted when this was passed. It's pretty clear to me. I have a lot of respect for the president and what she's doing, but she was misinformed, not informed, and no one was thinking through the ramifications of what they were suggesting. And there's a reason why cruise is in transit historically, as opposed to people who fly into Mexico and stay there for several days. So it's already been pushed off to July 1st. We're not satisfied with that. We want to have good dialogue with the government and explain all the benefits that we bring to Mexico, which are significant, and it doesn't take much to tweak itineraries to effectively erase what the proposed tax is on the industry. And so, I feel -- we are engaged in those conversations. We hope to have more after the new year, but it's definitely not settled. And we have nothing in the forecast for these changes, for the tax. Just so everybody knows. Nothing for the year. As far as what the impact would be for 2025, assuming it did go into place and we made no changes starting in July of 2025, it's less than 5% of our itineraries for the year, for the coming next year. Patrick Scholes -- Analyst OK. Thank you. Certainly, a fluid situation. And then, a follow-up question is on the year-over-year growth rate in your passenger ticket revenues versus year-over-year growth rate in your commissions, transportation and other. The past several quarters, those growth rates sort of moved in line or lockstep. This most recent quarter, you did have a noticeable increase in passenger ticket revenue percentages higher than the commissions paid out. Are you starting to see more book direct, or anything to read in that? David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Patrick, we should talk after the call. I thought it was a pretty close -- it was 10%, 7% or something, its very close -- revenue. Patrick Scholes -- Analyst OK. I came up with a little bit different. We'll talk about that after the call. But anything else to note? Nothing else? David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer No. Nothing now. Consider, I mean, the numbers, as you know, do vary a little bit from quarter to quarter because of currency and the amount of air/sea mix that we have. But nothing significant otherwise. Patrick Scholes -- Analyst OK. Thank you for the clarification. David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Patrick. Operator Thank you. Next question is coming from David Katz from Jefferies. Your line is now live. David Katz -- Analyst Hi. Afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. Covered a lot already. I wanted to get a sense for the cost side of the equation, right? And the variability within there, right? The degree to which, and what would have to happen, for you to turn out a little bit better on the cost increases that you may have built into your guidance? And then, I have a quick follow-up. David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. So the -- if we're talking about the full year, in the 3.7%. The thing that is likely to change over time is most likely to be the efficiencies we find and the magnitude of those efficiencies. We are constantly working hard. We have lots of ideas out there. It is always very difficult to figure out the exact timing. And we did build quite a bit into our guidance and into our forecast, but we continue to work hard to improve on those. And so, last year, we were able to exceed what our expectations were and we'll work hard to try to do better this year. But it's very hard on the timing of all these items. Plus, we built in inflation, something a little bit less than 3%. And trying to get that number perfect, I mean, if you know absolutely in every category what inflation will be in 2025, let me know because we did the best we could. But I'm sure some of those pieces are going to be off. As I always say, there's only one thing I know about every forecast: It's wrong. I just don't know by how much and in what direction. David Katz -- Analyst Well said. I wanted to follow up just on the leverage side of things. When I look back historically at where the company has operated, obviously, making good progress today. But should we be thinking about the two times or better as a long-term aspirational target? Is that still achievable? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Well, I'm a proud former treasurer of the company. it's not a target we have for ourselves right now. Our target right now is get to investment-grade metrics, which is the three and a half times. How strong we want to rebuild that fortress? That's still up for -- that's up for a decision. Do we need to be an A- rated company again? Bordering on A? Which is some of the situations we found ourselves in? I could argue, no, we don't need to. Do we want to be a solid investment grade? Absolutely. So as we get closer to that metric, we're, obviously, going to be having conversations with our board to really set out what we think the right balance is between that balance sheet strength investing in ourselves, investing in our shareholder returns via dividends or buybacks. Well, it remains to be seen what the form will be and when. But that all goes into the mix. But I'd say, nobody should be thinking about two times as the target we're setting for ourselves. David Katz -- Analyst Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yep. Pleasure. Operator Thank you. Next question today is coming from Jaime Katz from Morgan Stanley -- I'm sorry, from Morningstar. Your line is now live. Jaime Katz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst Hey, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. First, I'm hoping that you guys can talk a little bit about wave season. I guess, I'm trying to understand how to think about balancing filling the rest of 2025 with pulling forward more demand from 2026. And whether or not one is a better strategy than the other. Without giving too much competitive information away, is there a way to, I guess, bundle even less than you are bundling now? And maybe promote less in order to optimize pricing? Thanks. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah. Thanks. So it's a little bit of a hard question to answer. We are actively and have been actively selling 2025 and 2026 for some time, as you might have picked up in the prepared remarks. We actually just had a record this past quarter for booking activity for the further year out, so 2026 in this case. So I think our brands are actually, when it comes to revenue management and optimizing the shape of the curve, they're doing a pretty solid job across the board. Which doesn't mean there's not a lot of room for improvement, but a pretty solid job. So everyone's hitting wave in slightly different positions with respect to how much they're booked for 2025 and in what quarters. So I'd say, it's a case-by-case decision about how they're going to be tackling wave. I would say, everybody does promotions in wave. Everyone. It's how you get people interested in cruising during this critical period. But I would remind you, we did promotions last year in wave and we ended up with 11% yields. So the promotional tactics and tools that we use are -- they're healthy and they're part of the process that we go through. Jaime Katz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst Yeah. And then, the other question I have is a little bit of a longer-term strategic question, right? We know what the costs are affiliated with Celebration Key this summer. But I suspect this isn't a one-and-done project. So is there some non-newbuild capex we should be thinking of, like level that we'll be in these brand-building projects longer term that might be higher than it was in the past? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer That's a fair question. I think, if you think about the things that we've been investing outside of the newbuild, Celebration Key, Half Moon Cay, AIDA Evolution, right, which is their midship refurbishment plan. And AIDA is -- much to Carnival's chagrin, AIDA is pretty much neck and neck with Carnival for highest-returning brand in our portfolio. We're making the right investments in non-newbuild to continue the momentum that we have. As far as what the ultimate level is on a run rate basis goes, we don't -- I don't have a number for you that I'd stick to that says, over the next six years or seven years, this is what you should expect. But clearly, we're making these investments on the basis that they're going to support the improved returns that we demand of ourselves. So it's about $600 million for Celebration Key as we've talked about. It's another few hundred million for what we're doing at RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay. And AIDA Evolutions, for any one particular ship that they're going through this process, you're talking about tens of millions. But we think it's tens of millions that really is going to be a boost for a brand that is incredibly high-returning. So I don't know, David, if you want to add any more color? David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. The only thing I'd say is, I mean, you saw in the press release what our number was for 2025. In all likelihood, it's going to be something similar to that going forward. But it's hard to say exactly what it will be every single year because there's so many bigger decisions that we'll be making over time which will make up that number. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer One thing I would say about the destination side is Celebration Key and Half Moon Cay are a little bit unique in the scope and size of what we're doing. The other destinations we have in our footprint, they're amazing, and we will spend some money over time to do some things and make the experience better and better opportunity for us to generate returns. But I don't see -- other than maybe a continued expansion of Celebration Key as we've already been talking about through the end of this decade, I'm not sure I see on the horizon anything that I'd flag for you right now as kind of out of the blue that we'd be talking about in six months or a year. Jaime Katz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst Great. Thank you. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Thanks. Operator Next question -- go ahead, I'm sorry. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah, we'll just take one more question. We're approaching the hour. Operator Sure thing. Our final question today is coming from Brandt Montour from Barclays. Your line is now live. Brandt Montour -- Analyst Good morning, everybody. Thanks for taking my question, and congratulations on the results today. So the first question is on the booking curve, Josh, and I don't know if this is an easy one to answer. But when you try and take forecasting out of it and you just focus in on your booking curve today versus the way -- versus how your bookings looked at the same time last year. Does the pricing look any less robust than this time last year? Perhaps tougher comps or anything else that you would highlight? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Well, I mean, it's certainly tougher comps this year than it was last year. The brands are -- as I said, though, in the prepared remarks, we're basically at a higher occupancy at a higher price point, and that's across all four quarters. So I think the brands are doing a good job of continuing the momentum and optimizing that curve. So it probably doesn't answer the question the way you'd like it to, but we'll see where that shakes out. We gave you our view of yields as of now, and we'll update you as there's things to update. Brandt Montour -- Analyst OK. Great. Thanks. And then, just a quick housekeeping. The Red Sea had a something like a $130 million impact last year. How much of that effectively do you get back in '25? And sort of how should we think about the timing of it and the cadence and where it would kind of show up in the comps? Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah. I think, what it all shook out, it was probably a little less than $100 million at the end of the day as we did our analysis for 2024. I think, the thing about year over year for '25 that people need to keep in mind is it's not a huge spring-back. And the reason why is, if you think about this time last year, we had already sold our world cruises, people were already on them, before the Red Sea became a thing. We had to scramble, we did everything we had to do, it cost us $90 million. This year, we're in a different place, which is we knowingly took Red Sea out of the equation back in February, March for 2025, which meant we had to sell cruises that weren't necessarily as attractive to sell because you can't go through the Red Sea. And so, from a year over year, it's a different kind of pain point that we had to deal with, and we've dealt with, and it's in our numbers. But it means that what you'd love to see is kind of this bounce back and we're a whole and we move forward. I don't think '25 versus '24 is really the year that we'll see that. The normalization is now, and so '26 versus '25 will be on an apples-to-apples basis. Brandt Montour -- Analyst OK. So lower yields offsetting no disruption -- Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Yeah, yeah, more or less. In high level, yeah, that's fair. Brandt Montour -- Analyst All right, congrats again, guys. Thanks. Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer Thanks very much, Brandt. OK. So with that, I think we're over time. So I'd say, happy holidays, and wishing everybody on the call nothing but good health and happiness in 2025. Thanks very much for joining. Operator [Operator signoff] Duration: 0 minutes Call participants: Beth Roberts -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations Josh Weinstein -- President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Climate Officer David Bernstein -- Chief Financial Officer Matthew Boss -- Analyst Benjamin Chaiken -- Analyst Ben Chaiken -- Analyst Steven Wieczynski -- Analyst Steve Wieczynski -- Analyst Robin Farley -- Analyst James Hardiman -- Analyst Patrick Scholes -- Analyst David Katz -- Analyst Jaime Katz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst Brandt Montour -- Analyst More CCL analysis All earnings call transcriptsjili golden bank 。

Best Buy posts another quarterly sales drop while Kohl’s sees slump deepen - The Associated PressJohn Cockerill, Johnson Matthey and ETFuels Announce Strategic Partnership for 120,000 ton Texas e-Methanol Project

Intech Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 15,222 WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS)Alex Pereira warns Jamahal Hill not to look past Jiri Prochazka matchup: ‘Calm down, my son’NSW’s new intercity trains look shiny and smell fresh – but speeds remain stuck in the 20th century

Chicago hosts Columbus after Donato's 2-goal performanceKingsview Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)Nokia Corporation Stock Exchange Release 20 December 2024 at 22:30 EET Nokia Corporation: Repurchase of own shares on 20.12.2024 Espoo, Finland - On 20 December 2024 Nokia Corporation (LEI: 549300A0JPRWG1KI7U06) has acquired its own shares (ISIN FI0009000681) as follows: On 22 November 2024, Nokia announced that its Board of Directors is initiating a share buyback program to offset the dilutive effect of new Nokia shares issued to the shareholders of Infinera Corporation and certain Infinera Corporation share-based incentives. The repurchases in compliance with the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR), the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 and under the authorization granted by Nokia's Annual General Meeting on 3 April 2024 started on 25 November 2024 and end by 31 December 2025 and target to repurchase 150 million shares for a maximum aggregate purchase price of EUR 900 million. Total cost of transactions executed on 20 December 2024 was EUR 3,657,384. After the disclosed transactions, Nokia Corporation holds 218,626,057 treasury shares. Details of transactions are included as an appendix to this announcement. On behalf of Nokia Corporation BofA Securities Europe SA About Nokia At Nokia, we create technology that helps the world act together. As a B2B technology innovation leader, we are pioneering networks that sense, think and act by leveraging our work across mobile, fixed and cloud networks. In addition, we create value with intellectual property and long-term research, led by the award-winning Nokia Bell Labs. With truly open architectures that seamlessly integrate into any ecosystem, our high-performance networks create new opportunities for monetization and scale. Service providers, enterprises and partners worldwide trust Nokia to deliver secure, reliable and sustainable networks today - and work with us to create the digital services and applications of the future. Inquiries: Nokia Communications Phone: +358 10 448 4900 Email: [email protected] Maria Vaismaa, Global Head of External Communications Nokia Investor Relations Phone: +358 40 803 4080 Email: [email protected] Attachment Daily Report 2024-12-20

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC Invests $257,000 in Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (NYSEARCA:VGK)

The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, Inc. Announces Retirement of Thomas J. Herzfeld from the Board of Directors and Named Chairman Emeritus; Names Cecilia Gondor Chairperson; Brigitta Herzfeld Named to the BoardTheir ages vary. But a conspicuous handful of filmmaking lions in winter, or let’s say late autumn, have given us new reasons to be grateful for their work over the decades — even for the work that didn’t quite work. Which, yes, sounds like ingratitude. But do we even want more conventional or better-behaved work from talents such as Francis Ford Coppola? Even if we’re talking about “Megalopolis” ? If Clint Eastwood’s “Juror #2” gave audiences a less morally complicated courtroom drama, would that have mattered, given Warner Bros.’ butt-headed decision to plop it in less than three dozen movie theaters in the U.S.? Coppola is 85. Eastwood is 94. Paul Schrader, whose latest film “Oh, Canada” arrives this week and is well worth seeking out, is a mere 78. Based on the 2021 Russell Banks novel “Foregone,” “Oh, Canada” is the story of a documentary filmmaker, played by Richard Gere, being interviewed near the end of his cancer-shrouded final days. In the Montreal home he shares with his wife and creative partner, played by Uma Thurman, he consents to the interview by two former students of his. Gere’s character, Leonard Fife, has no little contempt for these two, whom he calls “Mr. and Mrs. Ken Burns of Canada” with subtle disdain. As we learn over the artful dodges and layers of past and present, events imagined and/or real, Fife treats the interview as a final confession from a guarded and deceptive soul. He’s also a hero to everyone in the room, famous for his anti-Vietnam war political activism, and for the Frederick Wiseman-like inflection of his own films’ interview techniques. The real-life filmmaker name-checked in “Oh, Canada” is documentarian Errol Morris, whose straight-to-the-lens framing of interview subjects was made possible by his Interrotron device. In Schrader’s adaptation, Fife doesn’t want the nominal director (Michael Imperioli, a nicely finessed embodiment of a second-rate talent with first-rate airs) in his eyeline. Rather, as he struggles with hazy, self-incriminating memories of affairs, marriages, one-offs with a friend’s wife and a tense, brief reunion with the son he never knew, Fife wants only his wife, Emma — his former Goddard College student — in this metaphoric confessional. Schrader and his editor Benjamin Rodriguez Jr. treat the memories as on-screen flashbacks spanning from 1968 to 2023. At times, Gere and Thurman appear as their decades-young selves, without any attempt to de-age them, digitally or otherwise. (Thank god, I kind of hate that stuff in any circumstance.) In other sequences from Fife’s past, Jacob Elordi portrays Fife, with sly and convincing behavioral details linking his performance to Gere’s persona. We hear frequent voiceovers spoken by Gere about having ruined his life by age 24, at least spiritually or morally. Banks’ novel is no less devoted to a dying man’s addled but ardent attempt to come clean and own up to what has terrified him the most in the mess and joy of living: Honesty. Love. Commitment. There are elements of “Oh, Canada” that soften Banks’ conception of Fife, from the parentage of Fife’s abandoned son to the specific qualities of Gere’s performance. It has been 44 years since Gere teamed with Schrader on “American Gigolo,” a movie made by a very different filmmaker with very different preoccupations of hetero male hollowness. It’s also clearly the same director at work, I think. And Gere remains a unique camera object, with a stunning mastery of filling a close-up with an unblinking stillness conveying feelings easier left behind. The musical score is pretty watery, and with Schrader you always get a few lines of tortured rhetoric interrupting the good stuff. In the end, “Oh, Canada” has an extraordinarily simple idea at its core: That of a man with a movie camera, most of his life, now on the other side of the lens. Not easy. “I can’t tell the truth unless that camera’s on!” he barks at one point. I don’t think the line from the novel made it into Schrader’s script, but it too sums up this lion-in-winter feeling of truth without triumphal Hollywood catharsis. The interview, Banks wrote, is one’s man’s “last chance to stop lying.” It’s also a “final prayer,” dramatized by the Calvinist-to-the-bone filmmaker who made sure to include that phrase in his latest devotion to final prayers and missions of redemption. “Oh, Canada” — 3 stars (out of 4) No MPA rating (some language and sexual material) Running time: 1:34 How to watch: Opens in theaters Dec. 13, running 1in Chicago Dec. 13-19 at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.; siskelfilmcenter.org Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

Indiana aims to run its winning streak to five games Friday night when Nebraska welcomes the Hoosiers to Lincoln, Neb. Indiana (8-2, 1-0 Big Ten) has lost the past three meetings with Nebraska after winning seven straight. The Hoosiers are led by center Oumar Ballo, a transfer from Arizona who averages 13.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, and forward Malik Reneau (team-best 15.5 points and 6.4 rebounds). Reneau, according to Indiana, is one of five major-conference players to average at least 10 points per game with a field goal percentage of at least 60 and 80 percent from the free-throw line. Off Indiana's 82-67 home win over Minnesota on Monday, head coach Mike Woodson said there are things to work on going forward. "When you get a team down 15, 20 points, you got to remember how you got them down and continue to do the same things that got you the lead," said Woodson, "and I don't think we did that coming down the stretch." Nebraska's best win this season was over then-No. 14 Creighton in an in-state battle last month. But the Cornhuskers (6-2, 0-1) haven't played a very difficult schedule, and were blown out 89-52 by current No. 21 Michigan State on the road last weekend. The Spartans became the first team in 25 games to make more than 50 percent of their shots against Nebraska, so improved defense will be key for the Huskers. Nebraska was also outrebounded 48-19. "That hadn't been us all year, and that was the disappointing thing," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "The physicality of the game in this league ... we're going to see it every night. I've been pleased with how they've responded, but we'll see how they step up to the challenge Friday night." If Nebraska can turn things around on offense, it is 38-2 under Hoiberg when scoring at least 80 points, including 4-0 this season. Brice Williams is Nebraska's leading scorer at 17.5 points per game. Connor Essegian adds 13.0 ppg and shoots 42.6 percent from 3-point range. --Field Level Media

George Mason University student accused of plotting terror attack on Israeli consulate in NYCP olitics in Romania can be a bloody business, especially on the right. The excesses of the Iron Guard, an insurrectionary, violently antisemitic, ultranationalist 1930s political-religious militia, stood out even at a time when fascist parties were wreaking havoc in Germany, Italy and Spain. Given what is happening in Europe today, the events of that period are instructive. Iron Guard founder Corneliu Codreanu, a ruthless assassin who was himself assassinated in 1938, and his ally turned enemy, the pro-Nazi general Ion Antonescu, who was executed for war crimes in 1946, are back in the news of late. That’s because both men have been lauded as national heroes by Călin Georgescu, shock winner of last weekend’s first round of Romania’s presidential election. No mere throwback, Georgescu is very much a man of our times – a radical, hard-right, pro-Russia populist-nationalist who wants to make Romania great again. His anti-globalisation, anti-Nato, Eurosceptic platform, entitled “Food, Water, Energy”, stresses self-sufficiency, and aims to return the country to its rural roots. He does not belong to a conventional political party. Instead he uses TikTok to reach millions of followers. A sustainable development specialist described, appropriately, as a “toxic waste expert”, Georgescu claims to speak “for those who feel they do not matter and actually matter the most”, as he puts it. Inflation, debt, corruption and security are the big issues as the country heads into parliamentary elections this weekend, followed by a presidential runoff due on 8 December. Georgescu’s first round winning margin was narrow: 22.9%, against 19.17% for the centrist candidate, Elena Lasconi – and Romania’s constitutional court has ordered a recount , throwing the result and the timing of the runoff into doubt. If and when it goes ahead, the Liberal party and voters on the left are expected to switch support to Lasconi in a concerted bid to block Georgescu. This unprecedented turmoil is dramatising another pan-European worry: Russian hybrid warfare and, specifically, election interference and disinformation campaigns via social media. Georgescu’s feat in coming from nowhere to win raised red flags about “preferential treatment” and under-the-radar influence operations. An inquiry has been launched amid calls for TikTok to be suspended. Yet even if Georgescu is ultimately thwarted, the evident appeal of his hard-right, sovereigntist agenda could shift the next parliament to the right and profoundly affect Romania’s future direction. Nato has particular reason to worry. Earlier this year the alliance announced a $2.7bn expansion at its Mihail Kogalniceanu base in Constanta, on the Black Sea coast. When complete, it will be the largest Nato military base in Europe. Its presence underscores Romania’s vital role in maintaining supply routes to Ukraine, facilitating Kyiv’s grain exports, and holding the frontline in the west’s deepening confrontation with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Yet if he has his way, Georgescu would cut aid to Ukraine and limit Romania’s collaboration with Nato, which he believes makes the country a target. He is critical of the deployment of US anti-missile batteries at Deveselu, in southern Romania, which he deems unnecessarily provocative of Moscow. All this is sending shivers across a Europe that already feels itself under siege, internally from extremist political parties, and externally from a subversive Russia and its anti-democratic allies . Instability along the EU’s south-eastern frontline, exacerbated by economic discontents, is increasing. Fear of what Russia might do next, after Ukraine, is driving support for Kremlin appeasers and conciliators. Elections in Moldova, Romania’s neighbour, in November provided additional chilling insights into these shared challenges. Maia Sandu, the country’s pro-western president, narrowly won re-election in the teeth of a covert, Russian-inspired and funded campaign to oust her. Sandu defeated Moldova’s version of Georgescu, the Kremlin-friendly outsider Alexandr Stoianoglo. A referendum on EU integration in October was also illicitly targeted by Moscow. ] Across the Black Sea, Georgia’s voters are embroiled in a political nightmare after the ruling party, Georgian Dream, stole October’s parliamentary elections. The EU has rejected the outcome, highlighting “significant irregularities”, bribery, impersonation and violence. Adding insult to injury time, a former Manchester City footballer, Mikheil Kavelashvili , looks set to be installed as president. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion Georgian Dream’s authoritarian drift is blamed for a breakdown in EU accession talks. The party is viewed as increasingly influenced by Russia, which was once again reportedly at work behind the election scenes. Passionate opposition street protests , continuing last week, and a boycott of parliament have failed to overturn the result. Brussels has expressed dismay. US president Joe Biden said he was “ deeply alarmed by the country’s democratic backsliding” – but little has been done to help. Score that one to Moscow, too. The story is not so very different elsewhere in south-eastern and central Europe. In Serbia, Bosnia, Hungary and Slovakia, right-leaning political leaders pay court to Putin and challenge the EU values they profess to uphold. Even in France and Germany, heartlands of the European project, the rightist Russian-incited rot has set in. Where Angela Merkel once ruled, Marine Le Pen and Alice Weidel now strut. Nationalist-populist parties feeding off anger over cost of living, migration and cultural tensions, and encouraged and funded by a hostile Russia waging hybrid and cognitive warfare – these are the twinned foes disrupting , dividing and weakening European democracies. None is immune. None has yet worked out how to turn the tide. And now a third negative force is at work. Romania’s are the first national elections to be held in a western democracy since Donald Trump triumphed in America. Is there a Trump effect? His cynical populism, me-first economics, pro-Russia stance and disdain for democratic norms and values exemplify – and spuriously validate – all that is going wrong across Europe today. Recalling the 1930s, some say Codreanu’s Iron Guard-style fascism is returning. Maybe, maybe not. Whatever name you give it, it’s frightening. Simon Tisdall is the Observer’s Foreign Affairs Commentator

Is a phone for your kid on the holiday shopping list? Read this firstRepublicans Could End Up Owning A Jump In Health Care Premiums

Nvidia is gearing up to transform the tech landscape with its revolutionary Blackwell chip, projected to be the standout story of 2025. According to Morgan Stanley, this next-generation GPU is set to alleviate investor concerns and fuel a 20% stock surge. In a recent report, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its “overweight” rating on Nvidia, designating it as their “top pick” for the coming year. The bank’s optimism springs from Blackwell’s expected triumph — a cutting-edge chip with advanced AI capabilities. Analysts propose a future stock price of $166, marking a 23% increase from its current value of $134.82. The bank’s strategists suggest that, while Nvidia faces transitional challenges, by mid-2025, conversations will likely revolve solely around Blackwell’s impressive capabilities. Investor confidence is already on the rise, with Blackwell’s slated launch in early 2025. Nvidia’s stock experienced a boost after CEO Jensen Huang highlighted the unprecedented demand for Blackwell, further elevating Wall Street’s profit forecasts. Nvidia’s promising new chip could also quell short-term anxieties surrounding the stock. For instance, a slowdown in the production of its current-generation AI chips, Hopper, is viewed as a temporary issue by Morgan Stanley. Despite concerns over staggered shipments of Blackwell’s variants, analysts expect full sales coverage throughout the year. By the latter half of 2025, Nvidia’s Blackwell is anticipated to be the driving force behind significant revenue growth, potentially dispelling any lingering investor worries. Nvidia’s Blackwell Chip: The Game-Changer in Tech for 2025 Nvidia is poised to make headlines with its revolutionary Blackwell chip, projected to be the pivotal tech innovation story of 2025. This next-generation GPU is not just a beacon of technological prowess but also a major catalyst for Nvidia’s expected stock resurgence. Morgan Stanley’s analysis suggests a remarkable 20% increase in Nvidia’s stock, attributing this rise primarily to Blackwell’s capabilities. Features and Specifications While specific technical specifications for Blackwell remain under wraps, industry insiders expect it to feature state-of-the-art AI capabilities that will far surpass current-generation GPUs. This new chip is predicted to offer superior computational power, energy efficiency, and enhanced processing speeds, catering to an ever-growing demand for more robust AI and machine learning applications. Innovations and Predictions The Blackwell chip is at the center of Nvidia’s strategy to maintain its dominance in the semiconductor industry. Speculative reports suggest that it will incorporate advanced semiconductor technology, leveraging recent innovations in chip manufacturing. This could include smaller process nodes and new materials, which might set new benchmarks for performance and efficiency. Market Impact and Investor Confidence Morgan Stanley’s analysts have shown unwavering optimism regarding Nvidia’s prospects, reaffirming an “overweight” rating and heralding it as the “top pick” for 2025. Investors seem increasingly confident, as evidenced by a heightened interest following Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s commentary on the unprecedented demand for Blackwell. Their strategic predictions include a future stock price of $166, indicating a potential 23% increase from the present value of $134.82. Use Cases and Applications The Blackwell chip is expected to revolutionize various sectors by driving technological advancements in artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, and gaming. These sectors are predicted to benefit significantly from the chip’s enhanced processing capabilities, potentially leading to groundbreaking innovations and applications. Comparisons: Blackwell vs. Hopper Compared to Nvidia’s current Hopper chip, Blackwell is anticipated to provide substantial improvements in performance and efficiency. While the Hopper has been a strong player in AI processing, the Blackwell chip aims to resolve existing bottlenecks related to speed and power consumption. This transition highlights Nvidia’s commitment to continuous innovation and adaptation to market needs. Challenges and Limitations Despite the promising outlook, Nvidia faces potential challenges related to production and supply chain dynamics. The recent slowdown in Hopper chip production serves as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of semiconductor manufacturing. However, analysts at Morgan Stanley view these challenges as temporary, expecting the full rollout of Blackwell to rectify these issues by late 2025. Conclusion: The Future of Nvidia with Blackwell Nvidia’s Blackwell chip is poised to be a transformative force in the tech industry, underpinning significant advancements and potentially leading to substantial revenue growth. By overcoming transitional hurdles and capitalizing on Blackwell’s potential, Nvidia is well-positioned to maintain its leadership in the evolving landscape of technology. For more information on Nvidia and its latest innovations, visit Nvidia’s official site .

First-ever athlete and fan-owned network boasts 2,200 Fan Owners and 70+ superstar athlete investors and partners by the likes of Chris Paul , Travis Kelce , Dwayne Wade , Chiney Ogwumike, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard , Natasha Cloud , Alysha Clark , Carmelo Anthony , and many more LOS ANGELES , Dec. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- PlayersTV , the first athlete and fan-owned media company, today announced the acquisition of Cloud Media Center , an AI-driven sports adtech and media distribution company. This strategic year-end move boosts PlayersTV's reach to a total of 500 million monthly ad impressions, solidifying its position as a trailblazer in athlete-driven lifestyle entertainment while broadening its ability to connect with advertiser and inventory networks. PlayersTV empowers athletes to control their narratives while giving brands access to engagement opportunities with an expansive global audience. It is known for its groundbreaking athlete-fan ownership model, supported by more than 70 high-profile athlete investors and partners across the NFL, NBA, WNBA, and MLB, and a community of more than 2,200 Fan Owners (shareholders in the company). The network features high-profile athletes, including Travis Kelce , Chris Paul , Damian Lillard , Dwyane Wade , Chiney Ogwumike, Carmelo Anthony , Allen Iverson , Natasha Cloud , Kyrie Irving, Ken Griffey, Jr. , Vernon Davis , Austin Ekeler , DeAndre Jordan , CJ McCollum, AJ Andrews, Angel McCoughtry , Alysha Clark , and more. PlayersTV currently reaches more than 300 million households via OTT and CTV via DirecTV, YouTube TV, Sling TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Philo . Its proprietary ad network called Players360 generates an additional 500 million monthly ad impressions. Through the acquisition of Cloud Media Center, PlayersTV now owns technologies responsible for more than 1 billion combined monthly ad impressions. "This is a transformative moment for PlayersTV and the future of sports media," said Deron Guidrey , co-founder of PlayersTV. "The acquisition of Cloud Media Center catapults us into a new era of innovation, expanding our reach to an astounding 500 million monthly ad impressions. With cutting-edge AI technology now at the core of our operations, we are setting the gold standard for athlete-driven media, revolutionizing how athletes connect with fans and how brands engage with audiences worldwide. This is more than an acquisition, it's a declaration of our vision to lead the global sports media industry." PlayersTV Co-founder Collin Castellaw added, "This acquisition is a monumental step forward for our organization. By integrating Cloud Media Center's AI-driven tech we're significantly expanding our reach while revolutionizing how athletes and sports content is created, distributed and consumed. This is an exciting time for our company and the future of athlete media and sports media." Cloud Media Center's innovative platform brings state-of-the-art AI technology to PlayersTV, enabling more precise audience targeting, dynamic content distribution, and scalable adtech. With this acquisition, PlayersTV is poised to deliver highly personalized and impactful content experiences, meeting the growing demand for athlete-centered stories and authentic fan connections. About PlayersTV PlayersTV is the first-ever athlete-owned media network and content provider. As the premier athlete lifestyle content destination, PlayersTV empowers athletes to own their stories while engaging fans with authentic and meaningful connections, bridging the worlds of sports, lifestyle, and entertainment. PlayersTV's 24/7 channel can be found on DirecTV, YouTube TV, Sling TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Philo . See more at https://playerstv.com/ . About Cloud Media Center Cloud Media Center (CMC), based in Ponte Vedra, FL , sells digital advertising inventory through a cloud-based, analytically driven distribution platform that seamlessly connects advertisers with content providers and publishers. The result maximizes collaboration — unleashing next-level ad campaign synergies. CMC's next-gen platform and best-in-class dashboards — built by next-generation premier developers — provide AI-based microtargeting on the frontend, and real-time, easy-to-understand analytics on the back end. Content producers, advertisers, and publishers will have all the tools and data needed to optimize campaigns — and do it with speed and granular accuracy. Visit the CMC website at https://cloudmc.us/ . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/playerstv-acquires-cloud-media-center-integrates-sports-ai-ad-technology-to-surpass-1b-monthly-impressions-302337699.html SOURCE PlayersTVLOS ANGELES, Dec. 20, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Renovaro Inc. (NASDAQ: RENB) , a pioneer in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics powered by artificial intelligence, today announced that it has received a notice from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) notifying the Company that it has regained compliance with the minimum bid price requirement under Nasdaq Listing Rule, 5550(a)(2). The Company’s security will continue to be listed and traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market and this matter is now closed. Renovaro previously received a notification letter from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department on September 12, 2024, notifying the Company that, over the previous 30 consecutive business days, the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock had been below the minimum of $1.00 per share required for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). About Renovaro Renovaro https://renovarogroup.com/ aims to accelerate precision and personalized medicine for longevity powered by mutually reinforcing AI and biotechnology platforms for early diagnosis, better-targeted treatments, and drug discovery. Renovaro Inc. includes RenovaroBio with its advanced cell-gene immunotherapy company and Renovaro Cube. Renovaro Cube has developed an award-winning AI platform that is committed to the early detection of cancer and its recurrence and monitoring subsequent treatments. Renovaro Cube intervenes at a stage where potential therapy can be most effective. Renovaro Cube is a molecular data science company with a background in FinTech and a 12-year history. It brings together proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) technology, multi-omics, multi-modal data, and the expertise of a carefully selected multidisciplinary team to radically accelerate precision medicine and enable breakthrough changes in disease agnostic decision support. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature are forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions based on current information and expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the success or efficacy of our pipeline, platform and fundraising. All statements other than historical facts are forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “aims,” “intends,” “potential,” or similar expressions. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in any of such statements due to various uncertainties, including as set forth in Renovaro’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement, and Renovaro Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise or update this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. Investor Relations Chris Tyson Executive Vice President MZ Group - MZ North America 949-491-8235 RENB@mzgroup.us www.mzgroup.us For media inquiries, please contact: karen@Renovaro Cube.com and STarsh@Renovarogroup.com

Trump offers a public show of support for Pete Hegseth, his embattled nominee to lead the Pentagon