EuroDry, a US-listed owner of 13 midsize bulkers, stayed in the red for a third consecutive quarter, dragged down by relatively weak bulker markets between June and September.
The Athens-based company reported about $532,000 in net losses in the third quarter, down from the $6.2m net profit it had achieved in the same period last year.
The result was driven by a 41% annual fall in time charter equivalent to $12,126 per day.
However, EuroDry’s losses have been relatively modest. The deficit shrunk from $1.2m in the second quarter of 2023 and the Aristides Pittas-led company piled up just $3.3m in net loss between January and September.
The company’s fleet in the third quarter consisted of five panamaxes, two kamsarmaxes, two ultramaxes and one supramax, all of which are on period time charters.
“During the third quarter of 2023, average time-charter rates for these sizes of vessels and related Baltic indices staged a comeback increasing by more than 20% and 75%, respectively, by the end of the quarter,” chief executive Pittas said in a statement.
However, market conditions have deteriorated since.
“Since the end of the third quarter, rates and index values slid down by 5% to 15% depending on rate type and vessel size,” Pittas said.
“These developments partly reflect the seasonal market strength during the September and October months as well as certain constraints imposed by climate-related reasons like the capacity restriction of the Panama Canal due to low freshwater levels.”
Not done growing
Despite inflationary pressures and geopolitical uncertainties, Pittas expressed optimism for the bulker sector, given its “historically low orderbook as a percentage of the fleet and the effect of the implementation of the greenhouse gas regulations on the ability of certain vessels to continue trading”.
EuroDry’s management acted on that optimistic view by bumping up its fleet in September with the acquisition of three ultramaxes from UK-based ship investment company Marine Capital.
As TradeWinds already reported, the sister ship trio changed hands for $65m in total. Much of the funding came from Greek lender Eurobank and investment partners Ness, Risan & Partners, or NRP.
Elaborating on these acquisitions on Wednesday, Pittas said he “took advantage of the softening of vessel prices we witnessed during the summer”.
The Greek owner reiterated that his company was continuing to look for similar transactions and that it would keep repurchasing its own shares.
EuroDry currently has a market capitalisation of $41m compared with a net asset value of $141m as of the end of September.
