Thanks to a buoyant tanker market as a result of low oil prices, and a corresponding boost in spot rates, Euronav’s tanker division flipped from a $5.8m loss in Q1 2014 to profits of $72.7m in Q1 2015.
Spot rates for Q1 increased to $50m from $34m in 2014 for VLCCs and $41m from $27m for suezmaxes. The results include a gain of $2.1m from the sale of 315,981 dwt VLCC Antarctica. Further, the group took delivery of two 302,550 dwt VLCCs – Hirado and Hakata.
The group’s floating storage (FSO) segment also reported a modest increase to $8m in Q1 2015 versus $7.2m previously.
Commenting on the increases in Euronav’s share price to $0.55 from $0.02 in Q1 2014, ceo Paddy Rodgers emphasised: “With the oil price down and demand up, tankers are benefiting. Ships on the water now can pay dividends now to reward shareholders for the support and confidence”.
In January this year Euronav successfully completed a $229m initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and is now dual listed in New York and on Euronext Brussels in Europe.
Euronav remained confident on the outlook for the second quarter. "The second quarter has continued the trend of the first quarter with a high degree of volatility but with good support for tanker rates through higher demand. In particular the number of ballast sea miles is going up which absorbs ship supply significantly," it said.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.
