Finance cost shot up more than eight-fold to $143,000 as interest costs soared mainly due to new bank borrowings for the purchase of two new supramaxes.
The company blamed the low turnover on poor market conditions in dry bulk rates, as well as low fleet utilisation due to lower demand from commodity trading and seasonal factors in the first quarter such as the Chinese New Year holidays in January and February when there was a slowdown in China shipments.
The purchase also caused a $1.9m fall in cashflow but the group remains in a net cash position with about $14.7m in cash and bank balances as at March 31.
Courage Marine is exploring opportunities to diversify its income base to reduce its dependence on freight income, including possible trading activities to complement current chartering activities. However the group still expects financial performance this year to be "adversely affected by the current challenging economic conditions and uncertain outlook".
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