Analysts praised ultramax owner Belships’ third-quarter results, even though freight earnings were weaker than expected.
Fearnley Securities called it a “strong report” and Norne Research hailed “solid results, somewhat lower than we predicted, but far from alarming”.
What particularly pleased analysts is Belships’ forward contract coverage.
It has fixed-rate contract coverage for 80% of ship days in the fourth quarter at about $16,200 per day.
Fearnleys called this a “strong figure” and “slightly better” than reported for the second quarter.
Based on these bookings, the investment bank estimates fourth-quarter Ebitda of $30m, “which is more or less bang on consensus expectations”.
Some 37% of Belships’ ship days in the next four quarters have been covered at around $16,200 per day.
Fearnleys estimates that it has covered 41% of available days during the first quarter of 2025 at $16,300 per day.
Norne Research said the shipowner is well prepared to weather weaker freight markets and fleet renewal.
Norne analyst Mindaugas Cekanavicius said in a note on Thursday: “The company continues to be well contract-covered and prepared for the likely weakness in the ultramax rates in the upcoming quarters, while the long-term period should mark the global failure to replace the ageing fleet and Belships might have a significant advantage with its very young fleet composition.”
Norne is “likely to keep our positive stance towards the stock”, according to Cekanavicius.
Belships’ dividend yield was also of note, particularly while the stock trades at a significant discount to net asset value.
Fearnleys calculates that the Oslo-listed stock is trading at a 0.69 times discount to NAV, with an 11% running dividend yield.
Belships will distribute NOK 0.50 ($0.04) per share in dividends for the third quarter, which is NOK 0.05 less than for the previous three months.
This follows soon after an extraordinary dividend of NOK 1 per share paid in October.
Belships’ net profit for the third quarter was $19.3m, up from $15.3m in the same period last year.
Profit was lifted by a $6.5m gain on two older supramaxes sold earlier this year, plus $10m from the reorganisation of its operating business, Norwegian Bulk Carriers.
The quarterly result came in spite of a fall in net freight revenue, which totalled $67.3m, down from $114.6m a year earlier.
Belships’ shares were trading at NOK 18.64 as of 1pm in Oslo on Thursday, up by 0.43% since the market opened.
