Eagle Bulk Shipping has slipped to a fourth quarter loss, but a lack of major vessel impairments meant the result was much improved on a year ago.
The US-listed supramax specialist lost $16.6m in the last three months of 2017 versus a loss of $142.4m reported 12 months earlier.
The performance was impacted by a non-cash charge of $16.5m related to debt extinguishment, restructuring and vessel impairment charges.
Revenue in the fourth quarter showed a year-on-year increase of nearly 83% to $74.6m, the company said in figures released after the close of trading.
“The increase was primarily due to an increase in charter hire rates as well as an increase in the size of the owned fleet resulting from the purchase of 10 ultramaxes vessels offset by the sale of four vessels as well as an increase in the chartered in vessels in 2017,” Eagle said..
Eagle said its fleet earned a time charter equivalent (TCE) of $10,452 for the quarter, or an increase of 73% year-on-year.
“During the fourth quarter, our active management operating model drove outperformance of the benchmark Baltic Supramax Index for the fourth consecutive quarter, resulting in positive operating income for the first time in seven years,” said chief executive Gary Vogel.
“We believe our results are indicative of a competitive advantage that will benefit us as market conditions continue to improve.”
For the full-year, Eagle reported a net loss of $43.8m versus a net loss of $223.5m for the corresponding period in 2016.
