Dampskibsselskabet Norden A/S

CSE:DNORD

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q2

[Jan Rindbo, executive]

Welcome. For the second quarter of 2023, NORDEN generated $108 million in profit and a return on equity of 30%. For the first half of 2023, NORDEN has generated $258 million in profit.

During the quarter, we delivered profitable margins across both market segments in our asset-light freight business. In addition, we benefited from high cover earnings and vessel sales gains in our asset trading business. NORDEN remains well positioned to navigate the volatile market segments that we operate in, where we can adapt our short-term and long-term exposure while benefiting from large optionality. And this agility is important for NORDEN particularly in the dry cargo market, where lower congestion levels have led to an increased supply of vessels, which has kept rates low. However, the dry cargo market shows good fundamentals as demand remains solid and the vessel order book is historically low.

In the tanker market, the strong market conditions continue but at slightly lower rate levels. This is because tonne-mile demand continues to be supported by longer distances and low fleet growth. So with a great first half of 2023 and a solid base to our earnings, we are narrowing our full year guidance for net profit.

Let's take a closer look at the business units. Freight Services & Trading achieved a result of $34 million with a margin of $840 per vessel day. The result reflects that we are moving towards more normalized margins as the cost base on our charter tanker vessels increase, and we are operating in a weaker dry cargo market. The business unit generated strong tanker earnings by actively trading the rate volatility across regions, moving vessels towards the Pacific at premium rates. In addition, we are actively using the high time charter rates to secure future earnings, extending into '24 by chartering out vessels while gradually easing spot market exposure.

In dry cargo, we delivered profitability in a difficult trading environment. The business unit benefited from having more cargo than tonnage, which enabled us to charter ships at lower rates to meet our cargo commitments in weak market conditions. And we have extended this position into Q3 as we expect rates to remain subdued.

The acquisition of the Thorco Projects activities was completed at the end of June and will provide NORDEN with access to new customer segments, including break bulk, steels and wind energy. This activity will become part of Freight Services & Trading and is expected to contribute positively to margins going forward.

Turning to our other business unit. Assets & Logistics generated a profit of $74 million with sales gains of $27 million. The net asset value of the business unit was $1.7 billion at the end of the quarter, equivalent to DKK 347 per share. This was due to the combined effect of lower values on lease dry cargo vessels and returning cash to shareholders through dividends. The business unit has full dry cargo cover for 2023 and already very high cover for 2024. This protects earnings in an uncertain dry cargo market. Meanwhile, we have added leased and owned newbuildings to the fleet from 2025 onwards when we expect better market conditions.

In tankers, we've taken advantage of the strong market to lock in cover contracts and reduce our overall tanker exposure. This means that we have a high degree of earnings visibility with tanker cover rate for 2023 and '24 at very profitable levels. Overall, Assets & Logistics has already secured substantial earnings for 2024 across the combined portfolio of dry cargo and product tanker vessels.

So to sum up, NORDEN achieved good earnings in both business units, generating $108 million in Q2 and $258 million for the first half of 2023. Based on these results and a strong net cash position, NORDEN will pay out an interim dividend, and this is part of our annual dividend policy of paying out minimum 50% of the full year profit. In addition, NORDEN will initiate a new share buyback program, which will run until the end of October. So based on active management of our portfolio and high cover, we expect good earnings despite an uncertain dry cargo market, which is why we have raised the lower end of our full year guidance.

Thank you for watching.