Declining revenue pushed Diana Shipping’s bottom line downward as the New York-listed bulker owner reported lower charter rates for the period.
The Semiramis Paliou-led company, whose fleet employment strategy is focused on period charters rather than the spot market, reported just $2.1m in net income, just $600,000 of which is attributable to common shareholders.
That’s a decline from $22.7m in net income a year earlier, with $21.3m attributable to common shareholders.
Athens-based Diana said its time-charter revenue fell to $57.6m during the first three months of the year, down from $72.6m in the same quarter of 2023.
“The decrease in time charter revenues, compared to the same quarter of last year, was due to decreased average charter rates and ownership days,” the company said.
The shipowner had 44 vessels at the time of its earnings report for the first quarter of 2023, compared to a fleet list of just 40 this time around.
The profit plunge was not unexpected. The $0.01 in diluted earnings per share was just two penny shy of the average estimate of two analysts polled by Yahoo Finance.
Diana Shipping managed to hold the line on its costs.
Vessel operating expenses came in at nearly $20.9m, compared to $20.2m a year earlier, while first-quarter voyage expenses dropped to $3.27m from $3.81m in the opening three months of 2023.
The company ended the quarter with nearly $162m and equivalents on a balance sheet with $1.16bn in total assets.
Long-term debt stood at $628m as of 31 March, out of $667m in total liabilities.
Diana declared a dividend of 7.5 cents, unchanged from the prior quarter.
