Greece’s Okeanis Eco Tankers (OET), an owner of 14 modern VLCCs and suezmaxes, boosted its dividend on the back of its best quarterly profit since listing in Oslo five years ago.
Net income at the Alafouzos family company soared to $51.6m in the first quarter from an already stellar $48.4m in the previous quarter and up 456% year on year.
The decision to leave most of its biggest tankers in the spot market paid off handsomely, as time charter equivalent earnings of its eight VLCCs tripled from the same period of 2022 to $70,800 per day.
Its eight VLCCs were in the spot market 87% of the time in the first quarter and its remaining six suezmaxes 50% of the time, according to a company presentation.
Spot exposure is to remain high in the second quarter as well, at 87% of VLCC operating days — most of which has already been fixed at a TCE of $75,500 per day. Second-quarter exposure of the company’s suezmaxes is rising to 57% of operating days in the second quarter. Most of this has already been fixed, at a TCE of $96,500 per day.
Twelve of OET’s ships were built in South Korea and two in Japan, between 2016 and 2022. They all feature eco designs and are equipped with scrubbers, conferring an additional fuel consumption savings premium.
As a result, OET boosted its capital return to shareholders to $1.60 per share from $1.25 per share in the previous quarter. That is the entirety of the $1.60 per share in earnings achieved in the first three months of 2023.
The Alafouzos family owns 57% of OET. Over the past months, executives including CEO Aristidis Alafouzos have been buying OET shares to demonstrate their faith in the company’s prospects.
OET’s market capitalisation in Oslo is NOK 7.95bn ($745m), still below the net $1bn value of its fleet.
New York calling?
As of 2 May, its next biggest shareholders were State Street Bank & Trust Comp (5.3%), Avanza Bank (3.6%) and Interactive Brokers (2.4%).
The company’s expanded investor base, with 19 shareholders outside the Alafouzos family holding about 28% of the stock, is one factor encouraging it to continue exploring plans to pursue a separate listing in the US.
“We’ve been pretty vocal in the past that we see a potential US listing,” Alafouzos told analysts in a conference call on Friday.
“We’re seriously considering the process along with our advisors … we hope to have some further updates in the latter part of the year.”
