Soaring bulker values look set to force Saga Shipholding to reverse a big write-down in asset values it made earlier this year.
The open-hatch bulker owner took a NOK 735m ($88.2m) write-down on 10 of its Future Class vessels at the end of its 2020 fiscal year, which closed on 31 March this year.
But since then, the ships have increased in value from about $296m to more than $419m, according to VesselsValue, as freight rates surged.
It means the Japanese-owned, but Norwegian-based, company will likely have to update its balance sheet when the next annual report is filed.
The supramaxes — the 55,807-dwt Saga Faith (built 2019), Saga Flora (built 2018) and Saga Freya (built 2017); the 55,973-dwt Saga Fantasy and 54,930-dwt Saga Fram (both built 2013); the 55,596-dwt Saga Frigg and Saga Fjord (both built 2013), Saga Falcon and Saga Future (both built 2012); and the 56,023-dwt Saga Fortune (built 2012) — are in a market where ships are now earning about $37,800 per day.
Expected rebound
Saga Shipholding reported a pre-tax loss of $75.1m in the year to the end of March, compared with loss of $12.4m loss a year earlier.
Katsuhito Yamane, managing director of Saga Shipholding, told Norwegian finance publication Finansavisen that the company expects to move back into profit this year.
The company, which is owned by Japanese shipping giant NYK Line, owns 28 of its 35 open-hatch vessels.
