Carnival is maintaining its share repurchase programme by giving another green light to its latest drive to rebuy $1bn in shares.

The Arnold Donald-led company's board has approved re-authorisation of up to $1bn in share repurchases covering both Carnival Corp common stock and Carnival plc ordinary shares.

"There was 25% of the authorization still available under the prior repurchase, so it made sense as to re-up the authorization," spokesman Roger Frizzell said.