Dampskibsselskabet Norden A/S

CSE:DNORD

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Jan Rindbo, executive]

Welcome to the presentation of NORDEN's Q1 results. NORDEN started the year with a remarkable result of $117 million based on very strong performances in both business units. Besides the strong first quarter result, we have also increased our expected profit for the year in the range of $270 million to $350 million based on significantly improved tanker markets and good regional positioning.

Assets and logistics delivered a profit of $41 million. The business unit has continued to profit on the strong dry cargo market by realizing sales gains of $28 million. This active trading approach is a core part of how assets and logistics generates value. In addition to vessel sales, the business unit has [indiscernible] into profitable timeshare out contracts on dry cargo vessels. Despite vessel sales, the market value of both owned and leased vessels remained close to $1.3 billion. In addition, the market value of owned vessels exceeded the book value by over $100 million.

Assets and logistics also profited from good dry cargo cover contracts secured at very high market rates. This has made the business unit further extend its forward cover on dry cargo vessels for 2023. It is important to also note that the portfolio of leased vessels includes a substantial amount of extension and purchase options with 10-year high price levels on dry cargo vessels and recently increased tanker rates, our extension options are becoming profitable to declare.

This means that NORDEN has access to considerable vessel capacity in rising markets at lower rates. As also mentioned in our annual report in March, the business unit has entered into its first major logistics contract. We have now commenced operations of a 10-year transshipment agreement of Sogebank in Africa, supporting the loading of large dry cargo vessels. This is an important step in helping our customers achieve substantial efficiencies in both cost levels and CO2 emissions.

Moving to freight services and trading, which groups our 2 former units, dry and tanker operator together. The business unit generated a profit of $76 million, which is significantly above normal seasonal results for the first quarter. Trade services and trading operates as a [indiscernible] business [indiscernible] vessel day of over 1,800. Business unit secured these strong margins by utilizing a high level of market volatility. This was achieved by increasing exposure on vessel types that were in high [indiscernible] in the dry cargo.

With a high level of volatility across regions, the business unit has also made use of regional arbitrage opportunities between the Atlantic and Pacific basins. Over the past quarters, the business unit has increased exposure to the fast-rising product tanker market, which means increased forward values for the rest of the year. Leading into the second quarter, MR tanker rates in the U.S. Gulf region spiked to very high rates above $50,000 per day before returning to lower but still elevated levels.

The European routes also increased, and Asian routes followed suit and gained strength, reaching over $30,000 per day. This type of market volatility at a regional level is exactly what freight services and trading is able to act on. The business further benefited from having added tanker vessel capacity last year and in the early part of this year in expectation of improved market rates.

Summing up, NORDEN started the year with a strong result and a great performance across both business units. In late April, we increased our full year guidance in line with significantly improved tanker market rates and good regional positioning of our vessels. We expect profit for the year to be between $270 million and $350 million.

Looking ahead, the volatile markets that NORDEN is operating in are characterized by additional uncertainty and disruptions following the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia. The impact continues to unfold week by week, yet NORDEN's business is well equipped to navigate market volatility. Thank you for watching.