Diana Shipping, a US-listed owner of about 40 large and mid-sized bulkers has expanded its recent bet on wind farm vessels.
The Semiramis Paliou-led company confirmed on Friday that a joint venture it has entered recently exercised options and doubled its orderbook for offshore vessels to four.
Diana joined the business in October alongside two German investors and an offshore services provider. The ordered vessels will be built at Fincantieri-owned shipbuilder Vard.
Diana, which has recently also sealed a $92m contract for a pair of methanol dual-fuel kamsarmaxes, is also selling some of its older vessels.
The company announced on Friday its third ship sale since October. The 177,700-dwt capesize Houston (built 2009) will go to an unaffiliated third party for $23.3m, before commissions.
The ship will not join its new, undisclosed owners immediately. Delivery is scheduled to take place by mid-September, at the latest.
Diana is taking all these measures amid relatively weak profitability last year.
Net income remained below $10m for a second consecutive quarter in the three months to December, dropping by 64% year on year to $9.4m.
In the full year of 2023, net income dropped by 58% to $49.8m.
This was mainly due to lacklustre time charter equivalent earnings, which dropped to $15,162 per day in the fourth quarter, the company’s lowest quarterly reading in more than two years.
As a result, Diana cut its dividend by half to $0.075 per share, after having kept it unchanged at $0.15 per share for four consecutive quarters.
The firm’s stock closed trading at $2.92 in New York on Thursday, which gives Diana a market value of $330m. That is much below the $924m in fixed assets as of end-December. The stock is down from about $4.70 in February last year.
Diana is led by chief executive Semiramis Paliou, who is also the company’s largest single shareholder with a 19.4% stake.
Sea Trade Holdings, a US outfit that sold eight ultramaxes to Diana for cash and shares in August 2022, has recently increased its stake in the company to 16.3%.
Diana president Anastasios Margaronis and other company officials and directors hold more than 10% combined as well.
Diana and its principals separately control US-listed spin-off OceanPal, which has a fleet of five older bulkers.
