Navios Maritime Holdings has returned to a loss after paying a $24m fee on $550m in loans that it took out in January to pay off millions of dollars in debt coming due later this year.
The owner and operator of 36 bulkers on Thursday posted a $5m loss attributable to shareholders for the first quarter due to the upfront charge, versus a $163,000 profit for the same period last year.
As a result, the New York-listed company, which also owns barges and product tankers under Navios Maritime South American Logistics, recorded a $0.28 loss per share attributable to shareholders for the period, compared to a $0.08 loss per share a year earlier.
Excluding the loan fee, Athens-based Navios Holdings reported $19m in adjusted shareholder earnings against a $5.23m adjusted loss a year ago, which did not include financial impacts from affiliated companies.
These adjusted results led to adjusted earnings per share attributable to shareholders of $0.62 versus an adjusted loss per share of $0.50 for the first three months of 2021.
Despite starting 2022 in the red, Navios Holdings earned $128m in revenue for the quarter partly due to higher time-charter equivalent (TCE) rates for its bulkers, beating the top-line figure by $11m a year earlier.
The revenue consisted of $68.6m from the bulker fleet, which earned average TCE rates of $21,767 per day but saw operating days drop 24% to 3,121 days from a year ago.
Navios Logistics’ 359 barges and eight tankers brought in the remaining $59.2m in revenue.
“The dry bulk market is healthy as evidenced by our charter rates for the first quarter of 2022, which are over 50% higher compared to the first quarter of 2021,” chief executive Angeliki Frangou said in a statement.
“There are, however, significant geopolitical headwinds, including the war in Ukraine, China’s zero-Covid policy and rising interest rates and inflation.”
Navios Holdings has made $664m in bond repayments so far this year, including paying off $614m in 7.375% first priority ship mortgage notes that would mature this August.
It also redeemed $50m in 11.25% senior secured notes that mature in August, leaving $105m in notes outstanding.
