Oslo-listed Hunter Group is keeping spot exposure high as it pencils in a recovery for VLCCs later this year.
The Arne Fredly-backed shipowner said it had a "positive market outlook".
This has led the company to retain 75% of third-quarter days for the spot market "in order to best benefit from what we believe will be a significantly stronger market", Hunter added.
The shipowner believes the worst of the recent weakness is "now behind us".
The company said rapidly depleting inventory levels and robust demand developments should reverse the massive Opec+ cuts and increase seaborne oil exports.
Profit falls back
Net profit in the fourth quarter dropped to $10.79m, against $16.1m a year ago.
Revenue was $24.9m, compared with $24.4m in 2019.
The annual profit was $61m.
Fearnley Securities has a "sell" rating on the stock.
But the investment bank said fourth-quarter Ebitda of $20m was 33% ahead of consensus, due to higher-than-expected rates on the remaining spot days.
Average daily earnings for the five VLCCs were $40,480 per day in the final three months, with spot ships on $20,820 per day.
The time-charter figure was $55,600 per day.
The cash break-even is $21,500 per day for the fleet.
Charter backlog rises
Hunter confirmed the charter of the 300,000-dwt Hunter Frigg (built 2020) for 12 to 14 months at $28,500 per day.
Earlier this month, TradeWinds reported a deal involving trader Vitol.
The rate is well below the $40,000-per-day hire that the tanker had been earning from Koch Industries in the past six months, but substantially more than the spot market is yielding.
The deal has boosted the charter backlog to 650 days at an average rate of $31,100 per day.
"This means that for the first half of 2021, only $10,000 of earnings per day for the remaining open days is needed to break-even on a cash flow basis," Hunter said.
The owner has fixed 91% of days in the first quarter at an average level of $29,700 per day.
Rates hold for modern ships
The company said spot rates have held up relatively well for its modern scrubber-fitted VLCCs.
This month, Hunter has agreed the sale of the 300,000-dwt Hunter Atla (built 2019) for $84.5m, and TradeWinds reported that the buyer was Adnoc Logistics & Shipping (Adnoc L&S) of Abu Dhabi.
Hunter has returned more than $70m to shareholders following previous vessel sales. The fleet will number four VLCCs after the Hunter Atla is delivered, compared with eight originally.
