Golden Ocean Group has sold two more vessels, exiting the supramax market to become fully focused on panamax, capesize and newcastlemax bulkers.
The Oslo-listed shipowner said it declared a purchase option it had on a supramax and sold it “straight away”, generating $6m in gains that will be recognised next quarter when the ship delivers to the buyer.
The vessel would appear to be the 58,100-dwt Golden Hawk (built 2015), which Golden Ocean has had on charter from Japanese owner Doun Kisen.
No buyer has been revealed for the Japan-built vessel, which is fitted with a ballast water treatment system (BWTS). Brokers reported the sale in September as having been done at $21.1m.
Golden Ocean said it also sold one of its older panamaxes, generating net cash proceeds of about $7.2m and a book gain of $800,000.
This would be the 74,800-dwt Golden Suek (built 2011), which brokers reported sold in July for $11.65m. The ice-classed vessel is fitted with a BWTS and has been renamed Polar Lady by an entity known as Growpa Corp, according to Equasis.
Golden Ocean, which counts John Fredriksen as its largest shareholder, booked a net profit of $28.7m for the third quarter, equivalent to $0.14 in earnings per share.
This is far below its third-quarter result a year ago, when freight markets were much stronger and the company booked $104.6m in net profit and $0.52 in earnings per share.
Interim CEO Lars-Christian Svensen said the “solid” results came in spite of “steady but subdued market sentiment”.
“The actions taken over the last several years to grow and optimise the company’s fleet through vessel acquisitions and sales have reinforced our market-leading position and further increased the competitiveness of our fleet,” he added.
“This has been accomplished without compromising our low cash breakeven levels, which helps to ensure that the company remains profitable during periods of market weakness while maintaining significant operating leverage.”
Total operating revenue shrank by just over 21% to $221.7m from $282m year on year.
This equates to an average time charter equivalent rate of $17,076 per day for its operated fleet of 97 vessels, down from $23,017 per day in the same quarter last year.
The company said its fleet outperformed the market by a margin of $5,300 per day in the third quarter, up from $4,700 per day during the first half of this year.
Golden Ocean has declared a dividend of $0.10 per share for the third quarter, the same as for the previous two quarters.
The company last month renewed its $100m share buyback scheme for a further year. It has already spent around $900,000 in buying back 125,000 of its shares at an average price of $7.20 each.
“Looking forward, the market is well balanced in the near term, supported by evolving trades that are expected to contribute to tonne-mile demand growth,” Svensen said.
“The supply-side picture remains very favourable, particularly in the capesize segment, which supports a positive longer-term market view.”
Around 79% of Golden Ocean’s capesize operating days in the fourth quarter have been fixed at a daily TCE rate of $23,045. It has covered around 83% of its panamax days for the final quarter at an average TCE rate of $17,275 per day.
There is a much lower level of forward coverage for the seasonally weak first quarter of the year.
Twelve percent of available capesize days have been booked at $21,700 per day on average; 23% of panamax days have been covered at an average daily rate of $15,600.
