Navios Maritime Acquisition has given no new assurances that it will be able to meet its $600m bond repayment by November and fell to a bigger loss in the first quarter of 2021.
The New York-listed shipowner has begun selling vessels to raise cash with which to repay the $600m of ship mortgage notes, but analysts have raised concerns.
In its first-quarter report, Navios reiterated its warning to investors that the situation might not be resolved by the deadline.
"Although we are currently attempting to refinance the outstanding amount of our ship mortgage notes and have also engaged in discussions with the holders of our ship mortgage notes, there can be no assurance we will be successful in such attempts or that any such potential refinancing, sales or other action will be consummated on terms satisfactory to us or at all," the company said.
Quarterly results
Two VLCCs that were originally held as collateral for the bonds, which carry an 8.125% coupon and were issued in 2013, were sold last quarter for a combined $48m.
The company booked a net loss of $9.7m for the first three months, around $2.2m more than its deficit in the previous quarter and way down from the $869,000 profit it recorded in the same period last year.
Chairman and chief executive Angeliki Frangou called the three months "another hard quarter since the start of the pandemic" but remained upbeat.
"While the current market remains difficult, prospects are positive," she said.
"The IMF [International Monetary Fund] projects 2021 global GDP to grow by a virtually unprecedented 6%, and we have experienced modest recovery in the product tanker sector."
Vessel sales
SECOND QUARTER
- The 1,740-teu boxship Acrux N (renamed A Daisen, built 2010).
Buyer: Dalian Zhida Ship Management, China. The 1,740-teu boxship Vita N (renamed A Kinka, built 2010).
Buyer: Dalian Zhida Ship Management, China.The 2,790-teu boxship Ete N (built 2012).
Buyer unknown.The 2,790-teu boxship Fleur N (built 2012).
Buyer unknown.The 2,544-teu boxship Spectrum N (built 2009).
Buyer unknown.
Total proceeds: $73.5m
FIRST QUARTER
- The 3,421-teu boxship Allegro N (renamed GH Pampero, built 2014).
Buyer: Celsius Shipping, Denmark. - The 3,398-teu boxship Solstice N (renamed Celsius London, built 2007).
Buyer: Celsius Shipping, Denmark.
Total proceeds: $24.6m.
- The 298,300-dwt VLCC Nave Neutrino (built 2003).
Buyer unknown. - The 298,700-dwt VLCC Nave Celeste (renamed Anshun II, built 2003).
Buyer: Amarine Ship Management, Singapore.
Total proceeds: $48m.
Meanwhile, Navios Acquisition completed the sale this quarter of all its containerships, which were acquired in 2020 as part of the liquidation of Navios Europe II.
It has raised $98.1m this year by selling seven Chinese-built boxships (see box).
On the tanker side, it has begun taking delivery of VLCC newbuildings on bareboat charters from Japanese owners.
Two VLCCs — the 313,433-dwt Baghdad and 313,486-dwt Erbil — were delivered from Japanese shipyard Imabari in October 2020 and February this year, and two more will be delivered in the second half.
Fleet earnings
Revenue for the first quarter fell year on year by 25.9% to $72.5m, even though Navios had more available vessel days this year.
It said the decrease was due mainly to lower market rates for its tankers.
The fall was partly mitigated by a $9.5m boost in revenue from the containerships acquired from Navios Europe II last June and the delivery of its two bareboated VLCCs.
Navios Acquisition's fleet earned an average daily time charter equivalent rate of $14,854 in the first three months, down from $24,442 in the same quarter last year.
Navios has chartered out 76.8% of its core fleet's available days in the final nine months of the year.
The average base contractual net charter-out rate is expected to be $18,017 per day for the 67.1% of available days that are contracted on this basis.
