Grindrod Shipping Holdings Ltd
NASDAQ:GRIN
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Grindrod Shipping Holdings Ltd
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Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Grindrod Shipping Holdings Limited Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results Call. We have with us, Mr. Stephen Griffiths, Interim Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Carl Ackerley, Chief Operating Officer of the company. [Operator Instructions] I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today.
I will now pass the call over to one of your speakers, Mr. Griffiths, please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Welcome, everyone and thanks for joining our call today on the second quarter and first half 2022 financial results. Let me please refer you to Slide 2 with the forward-looking statement disclaimer.
On this call, we will make certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our future financial and operating performance. These statements include information regarding future time charter contracts, outlook for the drybulk market and other operating matters. These statements are based on the beliefs and expectations of management as of today. Our actual results may differ materially from our expectations. Investors should clearly read the risks and uncertainties described in Slide 2 of this presentation and in yesterday's press release as well as the risk factors included in our annual reports and our other filings with the SEC. We assume no obligation to revise or update our forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, during the call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. For additional disclosures relating to these non-GAAP financial measures including reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please see yesterday's press release and Pages 23 to 25 of the slide deck which was posted on our website and our filings with the SEC.
Please turn to Slide 4 for an overview of our second quarter and first half 2022 financial results. Grindrod Shipping reported another record quarterly performance with a strong second quarter of 2022, reflecting a resilient market in our handysize and supramax, ultramax drybulk various segments.
For the second quarter 2022, our gross profit, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income increased materially year-over-year, achieving $64.6 million, $73.9 million and $53.3 million or $2.81 per ordinary share, respectively. For the first half 2022, our gross profit, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income increased to $105.3 million, $124.1 million and $83.1 million or $4.42 per ordinary share, respectively. As of June 30, 2022, we had cash and equivalents of $160 million and restricted cash of $9.7 million, an increase from December 2021 due to our strong results. I will go into more detail on our financials later in the presentation.
Please now turn to Slide 5 to look at our operational highlights and recent developments. On June 1, 2022, we sold a 2016-built medium-range product tanker in Matuku for gross price of $30 million. This was the last tanker in our fleet and the sale represented an opportunity moment to complete our exit from the product tanker sector as asset prices strengthened in this sector.
On May 10, 2022, we exercised the purchase option on the chartered-in 2015-built Supramax bulk carrier, the IVS Pinehurst, for an amount of $18 million with delivering to us on July 25, 2022. The vessel remained chartered-in at the original contract rate until delivered to us. Grindrod Shipping has four remaining purchase options which you will find on Slide 22 of this presentation and which provides information on our long-term charter-in vessels and associated purchase options.
On May 12, 2022, we agreed to extend the long-term charter on the 2014-built supramax bulk carrier, IVS Crimson Creek, for a period of 11 to 13 months at a charter rate of $26,276 per day commencing May 1, 2022. On August 17, 2022, our Board of Directors declared an interim quarterly cash dividend of $0.84 per ordinary share payable on or about September 19, 2022, to all shareholders of record as of September 9, 2022. The dividend is our highest to date since we initiated our policy in Q3 of last year and we are pleased to continue returning material capital to our shareholders in these robust markets.
Now, I will go over to the financial highlights and performance for the second quarter and first half of 2022. Turning to Slide 7. In the second quarter of 2022, revenues increased to $161.6 million compared to $109.8 million for the same period of 2021. Revenue increased due to improved market conditions in the drybulk business which was slightly offset by a reduction in short-term operating base and the sale of the medium-range product tanker, Matuku, in the second quarter of 2022 [indiscernible] continuing operations for the same period 2021.
Gross profit increased to $64.6 million in the second quarter of 2022 compared to $35.6 million for the same period in 2021. Net profitable -- sorry, net profit attributable to owners of the company increased to $56.8 million or $2.99 per ordinary share in the second quarter of 2022 from $22.8 million or $1.18 per ordinary share in the second quarter of 2021. For the first half of 2022, revenue increased to $271.9 million compared to $178.3 million for the same period 2021. Gross profit increased to $105.3 million in the first half of 2022 compared to $48.2 million for the same period 2021. Net profit attributable to owners of the company increased to $85.8 million or $4.56 per ordinary share in the first half of 2022 from $25 million or $1.30 per ordinary share in the first half of 2021.
Turning to Slide 8. We have placed a priority on building a strong balance sheet and have maintained a healthy cash position while repaying [indiscernible] of our debt in the second quarter of 2022, partly as a result of the sale of Matuku and its associated finance lease. This strategy has significantly reduced our net debt to $39.6 million while leaving us well positioned to pursue our growth and capital return strategy.
On Slide 9, we provide our bank loans and other borrowings repayment profile at June 30, 2022. We continue to have limited debt maturities until 2025 which combined with a conservative amortization profile provides us with balance sheet flexibility going forward. Overall, we maintain low leverage and this is even lower when you take into consideration the market value of our fleet which is comprised mainly of modern Japanese-built eco vessels.
And turning to Slide 10. We will now briefly discuss our drybulk operational performance for the second quarter and first half of 2022. Handysize TCE per day was $27,479 per day for the three months ended June 30, 2022, versus $18,104 per day for the same period 2021. Supramax/ultramax TCE per day was $31,021 for the three months ended June 30, 2022, versus $21,916 per day for the same period 2021.
For the first half of 2022, handysize TCE per day was $24,990 for the six months ended June 30, 2022, versus $15,285 per day for the same period 2021. Supramax/ultramax TCE per day was $27,604 for the six months ended June 30, 2022, versus $17,606 per day for the same period in 2021.
As of August 10, 2022, we have contracted the following TCE per day for the third quarter of 2022. For our handysize, we contracted 1,020 operating days at an average TCE per day of $25,127. For supramax/ultramax, we contracted 1,524 operating days at an average TCE per day of $26,766. The average long-term charter-in costs per day for the supramax\ultramax fleet for the third quarter of 2022 is expected to be approximately $14,921 per day.
Now turning to Slide 11. The sale of the rise in the drybulk freight rates is easily demonstrated versus our historical results. During the second quarter 2022, approximately 90% of our fleet was predominantly trading either on index-linked cargo contracts, short-term time charters, or in the spot market, leaving our company well positioned to take advantage of the strong freight rate environment. To put this into context with every $1,000 change in TCE per day equated to approximately $10.8 million of TCE revenue during the full year 2021. And that’s for the core fleet. As you can see on the graph, our pictures for the third quarter are slightly lower than the second quarter but well above spot market benchmark indices.
Now turning to Slide 12. It shows the core fleet cash breakeven analysis for the first half 2022. Breakeven per vessel per day was as follows: the long-term charter-in which includes net G&A, the cost was $15,336 per day. For owned fleet, it was $11,801 per day. And the combined average total for the core drybulk fleet was $12,583 per day. The cash breakeven rate per day increased operational expenses, net G&A, interest expense and debt repayments. You can contrast these figures to the daily TCE rates in the previous slide to assess the robustness of our profitability.
With that, I would like to turn the call over to Carl to discuss the drybulk market.
Thank you, Steve. Now if you can please turn to Slide 14 to look at the fundamentals of the drybulk sector and how they've been developing against the current market environment.
War in Ukraine has negatively impacted flows of certain drybulk commodities, particularly in the grain and fertilizer sectors, while weaker economic conditions in China have reduced steel demand, a key driver to global drybulk trade flows. The demand hit is being partially offset by longer required voyages as replacement cargoes continue to be sourced from further afield. This is demonstrated by the ton-mile demand expectations that are still expected to increase by 1.2% in 2022 whilst actual tons transported are projected to be flat year-over-year. The primary examples of this trade route substitution are in the grain and coal markets, where buyers are sourcing alternatives to Ukrainian grains and European buyers are seeking alternatives to Russian coal, whilst Russia finds new export markets for its commodities.
Please turn to Slide 15. As the slide depicts, grain trade is expected to contract in 2022, primarily due to the loss of Ukrainian export cargoes, whilst the coal trade has been impacted as well due to some buyers avoiding Russian coal cargoes and also increased domestic coal production in China. Lockdowns in China have added uncertainty, further weakening steel demand in 2022 which has negatively impacted the iron ore trade. Congestion [ph] is also releasing more ships into the market. Minor bulks, the key cargoes for our vessels, are expected to remain the lone bright spot exhibiting positive cargo growth during 2022. Recontainerization is also still a factor, albeit somewhat reduced from the peak of 2021. For 2023, expectations are for a return to growth in all the major drybulk cargo categories.
Turning to Slide 16. The drybulk order book continues to shrink to multi-decade lows and is estimated at only 7.1% of fleet. This potential growth or lack of it is quite favorable, especially considering approximately 23% of the drybulk fleet is 15 years or older and approximately 12% of the drybulk fleet 20 years or older, measured by deadweight tons.
We would also draw attention to the high fleet growth from 2008, peaking in 2012 and 2013. These ships will start to go over age from 2023 onwards, indicating an aging fleet. Despite strong market conditions, new ordering remains constrained by uncertainty relating to cost, practicality in terms of trading patterns and new fuel availability, engine technology and emissions regulations pertaining to EEXI and CII. For 2022 and 2023, drybulk is forecast to be 2.7% and 0.7%, respectively, from the handysize and supra/ultramax order books which are the smallest in the drybulk fleet.
Turning to Slide 17. Whilst handysize/supramax spot TCE rates have been volatile this year, they remain at healthy levels. Looking ahead, although the impact on the dry powder market has been minimal, we remain prudent in our approach to risk management, given the potential uncertainty.
Looking at the chart on the right-hand side. Handysize/supramax asset prices are flat relative to the end of the first quarter 2022, down slightly from their most recent highs in late June.
I would now like to turn the call back over to Steve.
Thanks, Carl. Finally, let's turn to Slide 19 for our conclusion and strategy. Let's start with our achievements in 2021 -- sorry, 2022 -- sorry about that. As reported earlier, the second quarter 2022 results were the strongest in over a decade, as drybulk markets remain strong with nearly a 4x year-over-year increase in our adjusted net income.
Our commercial strategy continues to demonstrate its potential with material profits generated from both our long and short-term charter-in vessels, while we opportunistically exercise the purchase option on the IVS Pinehurst at very attractive levels using cash on hand. On the liquid side, we continued our flexible dividend and capital return policy in the second quarter, materially rewarding shareholders with a cash dividend of $0.84 per share, our highest since we commenced our dividend policy in Q3 2021.
Now looking ahead, the war in Ukraine is disrupting the grain trade and other commodity flows due to the impact of Russian sanctions, though shipping demand has remained more resilient due to replacement cargoes being sourced from longer distances, increasing ton-miles. The smallest newbuilding order book in decades continues to support market strength in medium term, due to constriction in vessel supply growth as uncertainty over engine technology and emissions hampers newbuilding orders, particularly in the smaller vessel segments. Newbuilding orders in other sectors such as LNG and container shipping has limited the shipyard spare capacity, meaning that most new orders could not hit the water until mid-2024 at the earliest.
To the extent that ton-mile demand continues to grow, the lack of available supply growth, combined with EEXI environmental regulations in 2023, is expected to lead to an attractive potential multiyear window for the drybulk market. With that, thank you all for joining our call today and look forward to reporting further progress on Grindrod.
With that, we'd like to open for questions. Operator?
[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Poe Fratt with Alliance Global Partners.
Still with the macro if you wouldn’t mind, sorry -- if we could start with the macro and you did a nice job of outlining what’s going on currently and just the positive impact on ton miles even though volume is fairly flat. Can you look at 2023? You said it’s a year of growth. Can you just highlight some of the risk factors that you’re looking at in 2023?
Carl, do you want to take that?
Steve, yes. I think you mentioned the macro factors. And obviously, we don't know what's going to happen with the Ukraine-Russian situation and how that plays out. I think obviously, a major factor will be inflation and what impact that's going to have on interest rates and people's spend ability. But this will be offset somewhat by the new regulations on steaming the EEXI and CII. and the analysts indicate they expect that there will be a return to drybulk seaborne fleet growth which over the years, historically, on a 1% to -- 2.5% to 3.5%, 4%. And we've been flat this year. So I think the expectations are that it will pick up.
Also, I think we must obviously talk to China. And again, it's very difficult to know what comes out of that. But all the China watchers are expecting the country to stimulate the measures that are apparently already in place for that to happen with the presidential reelection due in November and you'll probably want to start on a positive platform.
Great. And then if we can talk about just the supramax and the handy’s, the relative rate strength has been pretty striking for several quarters and especially in recent months. Can you just talk about some of the factors that you’re seeing there on -- I think previous calls, we talked about congestion helping. It sounds like that may be easing a little bit. But container market tightness had pushed some cargoes on to -- into the drybulk market. Do you see a lessening of that impact too? And can you just talk to currently where you’re booking both sectors and sort of what we should expect for the rest of the third quarter and then into the fourth quarter?
At the moment, the Atlantic is quite flat. The Pacific in the minor bulk trades, we're starting to see quite a significant pickup in the last few days. And after the -- what this year has been a somewhat lull and quite a lot of uncertainty, it does seem that trade is picking up. And again, we talked to potential China stimulus. And I think overall, we say positive. Yes, the congestion may come out at least in the short term, that may build up again. And there is a bit of steam coming out of the container market. I think overall, I mean, whilst we see the FFAs for next year, it's still heavily backwardated, we're confident that we will be in a profitable scenario. And I think it will be above -- personally above where the FFAs showing us for calendar '23. And you can see that in the period market, if we wanted to put out ships on period. It is quite significantly above where the FFA markets for calendar '23.
Okay, sounds good. And then if we could just talk about operating costs. Some other companies have talked about higher operating costs. Your costs have moved a little bit but not anywhere to the extent that the rest of the industry is seen. And can you just talk about operating costs? And then also, it looked like G&A was a lot lower than what I expected. And could you just talk about SG&A over the rest of the year?
Okay. Carl, here, I'll jump in here. So OpEx, I mean, we have internal target of bucket from -- on the basis of trying to be over time $5,000. We're still -- we're still above that. So we have come down from Q1, it was probably come down about $300, $400. But yes, we're continuing to have some high staff repatriation costs from COVID issues, expensive plus. One, it's difficult in this period to reduce it but we're continually working on it but we still have to be a little bit lower. The G&A costs, I mean, those are slightly lower than what we had in Q1. The one thing I would point out here is it does include some stock-related incentive costs as a result of our improved bottom line. And these are variable cost and they will reduce significantly if say the market turns and our profitability is not as high as now.
So overall, I'm still looking overall on our cash breakeven to come down from the current levels of $12,600 which is overall pretty much the same. We've got the charter costs that are part of that where conversion of those chartered ships to own vessels when we purchase -- when we exercise the purchase option, it will certainly result in a lower value cash cost. And even more so, we don't take -- there's no financing attached. There's also a possibility that we may pay down some of our debt and that will also reduce costs, not really high on the agenda but potential, it's a potential.
Okay, great. That's helpful. And then, are you -- built in a 6% tax rate. It seems like that’s -- your tax rate is going to be close to 0 or it was over the first half of the year. Is that something I should extend out? Or are you potentially going to have taxes over the second half of the year?
Well, you can expect it to remain so along the trend that we had in the first six months.
Okay. And then the purchase options you highlighted, it looked like the Pinehurst got shifted into the third quarter. So that’s $18 million in the third quarter instead of the second quarter. But the two Japanese , I’m going to butcher these names but the [indiscernible] those continue -- those purchase options continue to go down, especially because the yen-dollar relationship -- yes. When do you start to think about exercising those orderly or doing something to lock-in stretching advantages in exchange rate?
Yes. So absolutely. I mean in terms of our policy to hedge, we wouldn't do that until we push the button and exercise the option. But in terms of timing, as you said, the [indiscernible] was exercised and delivered in July, we have Board approval to do another two. So we're expecting to push a button on those two. And then the other two, we're planning to exercise those late this year, early next year. So you can expect us to move on those pretty [indiscernible].
Another thing that I'd like to add, of course, is we purchase the [indiscernible] And the plan is likely that we'll do all of them debt-free. And this will contribute to our plan to reduce our daily cost on our fleet. There's one thing to bear in mind in terms of where our cash is now, the total cost of those four remaining ships around $86 million. And all those option prices are well below the current market value.
Yes, they look really attractive. So just to be clear that by the middle of next year, all four of those will be bought in?
Likely, that's the bet. Yes. It'll likely be done.
Okay. And that explains some years of cash, especially given that your cash balance is, call it, $170 million, it looks like the -- $170 million that's well above the purchase options. It looks like the fourth quarter -- third quarter, it's going to be flat, just a little bit because of the purchase option on the Pinehurst that you executed. But can you talk about the capital allocation going forward? And also, the stock was a little bit weak, went into the mid-teens? Can you just talk about how you're thinking about stock buybacks versus dividends in the context of the $86 million that you're likely to spend?
Yes, that's absolutely.
With the dividend and capital return policy, it’s always a topic of discussion in our -- at Board level. And of course, we could increase our dividends at some point in the future. But our Board is pretty happy with it as it stands with everything that I’ve spoken about but very much on the agenda. Share buybacks. We didn’t do anything in Q3. But the low point in our share price is really in a close period for reporting. So yes, in the, we may well buyback some share. Of course, it’s share price dependent, for that your share is in a position where we would probably consider buying that. But we’ve got a proof of inflation and we will look at it in the weeks ahead once we go back out [indiscernible].
[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Francis Daniels with Anibok Investment.
I wanted to get a little bit more color on two things. First was on your comment about new orders not coming -- hitting the water until mid-2024. What are you expecting post 2024 -- mid-2024 as the new orders come in? Do you expect that the supply will be greater than demand or not? And I'm asking because of the impact of excess supply on shipping values. And then my second question relates to how to read the significance of the declining Baltic Dry Index number. It's been declining since the last -- mid to end of May. I don't know if you have any thoughts on what that means for you?
Steve, shall I answer to this?
Yes. You go ahead, Carl.
Yes. As far as the newbuilding orders, there are plenty of ships being built but not in the cargo [ph] sector, I mean, with the stats in there in terms of the order book on the handysize and the supra/ultras. The main -- there are two main reasons for that. One is that the yards are quite full with the sort of ships that can do new fuel or dual fuel engines. The more liquid at the build, the easier to get financed for and they tick the ESG boxes because they perceived as being the right way to go in terms of decarbonization or reducing your carbon footprint. So until the technology comes along to make it attractive for the financiers to finance for the people who obviously, big companies who are governed by ESG policy and we're all looking at ESG policy but big companies with the deep pockets are very much governed by it these days. Until there's new fuel technology comes along that can fit into the handy/ultra-sector, it's difficult to see or predict that there's going to be a big uptake of new building when we're still building them with the old -- the carbon using engines. Of course, the economy is always getting better on those ships. They're getting more eco. But as of yet, no one has come up with the magic bullet on how you can afford to put on an expensive engine on to what is a fairly inexpensive ship? And what was the next question.
I’m sorry, it seems his line has disconnected. I will -- our next question comes from the line of Poe Fratt with Alliance Global Partners.
I think the second question that he had was that can you talk about your -- what you're seeing in the market for the ultras and supra’s and handy’s relative to the BDI weakness, the Baltic Dry Index weakness?
Yes. The BDI is largely governed percentage-wise by the cape market. And the cape market is pretty fully built and it's driven almost entirely by iron ore and to a lesser degree, coal. And at the moment, China appetite for growth in the iron ore imports is not there, partly because they're leveling out in their steel production also because they now produce plenty of scrap which means there is less grants on iron ore. And they also, of course, they still produce their iron ore. So from that perspective, we don’t perceive that the cape market is going to have any big strength in the near term. And as I say, it governs the BDI, the BDI is much more representative of that market, whereas the minor bulk sizes have a smaller percentage of BDI. We believe that for all the reasons I think we’ve already said that the minor bulk [ph] sector will retain its strength. And we can see that sector has outperformed all markets this year.
Great. That's really helpful. I just had a couple of additional follow-on questions. One is, can you talk about the dry docking schedule over the second half of the year? It looks like 166 days that you're anticipating? And then looking at '23, you're looking at 2,000 -- or I'm sorry, 220. Can you just talk about how firm that dry docking schedule is and what -- maybe why the second half is heavier than the last couple of quarters?
Yes. Look, in terms of the second half, it’s -- Yes, there is going to be more money expense in the second half than what we have in the first, H1. Yes, it is quite materially higher. And what we spend in the second half is -- sorry, in 2023, it’s also high. It’s just that in a way of the timing and the scheduling, it has been pretty low in the first half of this year. So we can expect it to be roughly 6x, 7x higher and then slightly higher than that in 2023.
Okay. I mean -- I think it's worth adding here that we dry dock the ships every 2.5 years and the special survey is every 5 years which is you have to dry dock for the special survey, you don't have to dry dock in the immediate one. But we do just because we believe we got a better running ship like that. We paint the holes -- we paint the hole which is an environmental requirement. It helps ship go faster and stops hole growth. So we dry dock them when the schedule comes around on each ship but we do it every 2.5 years.
Yes. I just...
Sorry. Something to add on that we have had some scheduling in the first half of this year but there have been delays in China. So that’s also been a cause of there not being a sort of consistent flow through the year. So we are a bit late more than we would be in the second half of this year. And in ‘23 is obviously the expectation there is pretty much the same as what we spend over the course of 2022.
And then historically, you haven't looked at scrubbers. There's some in the industry that they're saying that the drybulk [indiscernible] company is going to start to look at scrubbers. Has your view on scrubbers changed at all?
Well, I mean we -- yes, we -- we didn’t go through scrubbers. I mean let’s leave the environmental arguments to one side as to whether they’re a good thing or bad thing. You get different kind of opinions on that. But the main reason why we didn’t get the scrubbers is because it’s really over capitalizing on what is a very nice Japanese modern eco fleet. On the Ultramaxes, for example, everything that we have is 2014 onwards with when the new engine came in which gives greater efficiencies on your speed and consumption. So to go and spend $2 million, $2.5 million on scrubbers and then all the costs of the scrubber maintenance to keep them working was -- we felt -- and still feels that’s not a necessary expenditure.
Okay. And then just one, if we could look at just the working capital flow, it looks like working capital flow changes were fairly positive in the second quarter. I calculate about $20 million according to sort of the way I calibrate working capital within your cash flow, just you're reporting it's a little different but that's what I backed into. Can you just talk about what working capital should do over the rest of the year? Was there just -- was the second quarter reversal of the first quarter working capital? Deficit -- just if you could help me understand what's going on with working capital?
Poe, absolutely. It's very, very difficult to estimate what it's going to be at a point in time. You may be caught with a big outlay on voyage expenses or at the end of right just before the end of the quarter or you may have a time charter that's going to be paid for up to two weeks just before. It's very, very difficult to predict. But you're 100% right in terms of it was a reversal. We got about a $15 million reversal in Q2, most of which went the other way in Q1. We do our best to manage that and close to the quarter end, we look at all of our outflows and our inflows and see what you can do but some of them are just not -- they're unavoidable. It's just in terms of timing, you have to pay certain costs on a certain date. But if you have a look over a long period of time, the levels should be pretty much the same. But I manage this as best as we can.
Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our time allowed for questions. I'll turn the floor back to management for any final comments.
Thanks, everyone, for joining us -- for taking the time to join our results call. And yes, you’ll have from us again in the next quarter.
Thank you. Bye.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.