Greece’s Toro Corp has a huge amount of money on its balance sheet as it weighs its next move.
The Nasdaq-listed owner of four LPG carriers and a product tanker said cash and restricted cash was $192.1m at 30 September.
This is up from $155.6m at the end of 2023, following the sale of an LR2 tanker in January.
Chief executive and controlling shareholder Petros Panagiotidis said markets for LPG carriers remained robust in the period and the company enjoyed positive cash flows.
“We maintain a strong balance sheet with significant cash reserves and no outstanding debt and as we move forward, we continue to seek opportunities that will further drive our growth and strengthen our position in the market,” he added.
The Cyprus-based company’s third-quarter net profit was $1m from continuing operations, compared to $200,000 for the same three months last year.
When ship sales are added in, the profit in 2023 was $35.1m.
Toro sold the 115,300-dwt aframax/LR2 Wonder Sirius (built 2005) to an unaffiliated third party for $33.8m.
The vessel was delivered for a gain of $20.9m in the first quarter.
Vessel revenue from continuing operations was down 18.5% at $5.3m, against $6.5m for the same period in 2023.
This was due to a fall in available days as the fleet shrank.
Rates rising
Ebitda came in at a loss of $100,000, against a profit of $500,000 in 2023.
The daily time-charter equivalent earning figure was $11,426 on average, compared with $10,081 during the same period in 2023.
This increase was mainly due to the employment of the LPG fleet in time charters at $10,091 per day, against just $4,253 last year from voyage charters.
