Belships is passing on the proceeds from the sale of two debt-free supramax bulkers to its investors in the form of an extraordinary dividend.
The Oslo-listed ultramax owner sold the 57,700-dwt Belfriend and Beltide (both built 2016) in May for $28.3m each.
It will book a gain of $3m on each ship in the third quarter, with cash proceeds totalling $56.6m.
Shareholders will receive an extraordinary dividend of NOK 1 ($0.09) per share or $24.1m in total.
Belships said the payment is “due to the company’s strong financial position”.
“This brings the total dividend payments to $275m (NOK 10.85 per share) since the new dividend policy announced in 2021,” it added.
US-based Pangaea Logistics was revealed to be the buyer of the two supramax bulkers in August.
The Belfriend has been renamed Bulk Brenton and the Beltide is now known as Bulk Patience.
Both vessels were built at Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu in Japan to the Tess58 Aeroline design and are fitted with ballast water treatment systems.
Their sale marked a new era for Belships as a pure-play owner of slightly larger, more modern ultramax bulk carriers.
Its fleet growth continued unabated during the second quarter. It acquired two 64,000-dwt Japanese-built ultramaxes and signed newbuilding contracts for two more.
Belships also declared a purchase option on another vessel.
Chief executive Lars Christian Skarsgard told TradeWinds that the company intends to do the same with all of the purchase options it has available on its leased ships.
Belships booked a net profit of $18.9m for the second quarter versus $25.1m in the same period last year.
