Dampskibsselskabet Norden A/S

CSE:DNORD

Earnings Call Transcript 2018-Q1

[Jan Rindbo, Chief Executive Officer]

Our continuous efforts to make the most of the markets resulted in a decent start to the year. In a Dry Cargo market characterized by normal seasonal weakening and an unusually weak winter Tanker market, NORDEN generated an adjusted result for the period of $9 million. Including profit from vessel sales, this corresponds to an EBIT result of $18 million. This is an improvement compared to the same period last year, where the result was at break-even level. Our Dry Operator business unit was once again able to generate positive margins by combining vessels and cargoes. The profit was driven by logistical optimization of trading patterns and an increased number of voyages performed on third-party vessels.The Dry Operator activities generated an adjusted result for the quarter of $3 million. The positive result was generated while investing in positioning of vessels into the Atlantic at the end of the quarter, which we expect to benefit from in the coming months. Good access to cargo and a localized service to customers are important elements in our Dry Operator business model. During recent years, NORDEN has opened offices in Melbourne and Santiago, and this quarter, we opened a new NORDEN office in Vancouver, Canada. And the office has had a good start, contributing to an overall increase in the activity in the Dry Operator.So all in all, Dry Operator is delivering a solid performance, and our focus continues to be on both improving the profitability of each vessel day as well as positioning the organization for further growth. Our Dry Owner business unit benefited from the overall improving conditions of the Dry Cargo market. Even though the market declined as usual during the first quarter, average rate levels were significantly higher than a year ago. The average Baltic earnings for Supramax vessels were around $1,900 higher than in the first quarter of 2017, while Panamax rates, as shown, were $2,500 higher. The improvements were driven by stronger global economic activity, combined with lower fleet growth. With many open days, Dry Owner was able to generate an adjusted result for the period of $5 million.During the quarter, Dry Owner continued to optimize the fleet. This included the sale of a Handysize vessel as part of the ongoing efforts to concentrate the ownership on Supramax and Panamax vessels. It also entailed taking delivery of 3 new buildings and expanding the time charter portfolio with contracts for 2 Panamax, 1 Supramax and 2 Handysize vessels, all with the duration of 2 to 3 years, including purchase and period optionality.The increase in capacity influenced NORDEN's net commitments, which increased during the quarter to approximately $780 million. The financial position of NORDEN continues, nonetheless, to be quite solid with cash and securities amounting to just around $200 million. To this should be added substantial undrawn credit facilities. In Tankers, winter is usually a season of improving rates as the demand for oil increases. This year, however, the seasonal improvement in the market did not happen. Instead, the market was characterized by low demand for transportation and, consequently, low rates. This, at a time where the market is still suffering from the excessively supply growth in recent years.Our Tanker business was, however, once again able to outperform the market. NORDEN's Handysize tankers generated average daily earnings of just over $12,000, while average earnings for the MR tankers amounted to $13,700. Compared to the average 1-year time charter rate during the last 12 months, NORDEN outperformed the market by 7%, which corresponds to extra earnings of more than $800 per day for every vessel.Despite this performance, the adjusted result for the period ended at breakeven. NORDEN utilized the weak market to continue the gradual build-up of time charter capacity, and almost 2,000 days in forward capacity was added to the time charter portfolio during the quarter.NORDEN has more than 25,000 open days in 2019 and '20, and to this should be added around 4,500 optional days. NORDEN is therefore well positioned to benefit from the improvement in rates if the tanker market recovers towards the end of the year as expected.As for the Dry Cargo market, we expect the rest of the year to offer low fleet growth, which should enable a gradual improvement in rates compared to last year. This, despite expected lower growth rates in Chinese imports. However, the uncertainty for demand growth has increased in recent months due to rising global trade tensions. Agility and flexibility is key to succeed in such markets. And with agile business units and skilled employees, NORDEN has that. On that basis, we maintain our expectations for the year to an adjusted result of $10 million to $50 million. Thank you for watching.