Japanese bulker owner Uni-Asia Group is to reward its shareholders with a special dividend after net profit for the year surged by 50%.
The Singapore-listed company said net income for 2022 was a record high of $27.9m against the $18.2m achieved 12 months earlier.
It has proposed a final and special dividend of SGD 0.08 ($0.06) per share, which would take the payout for the full year to SGD 0.145 per share.
The company, which is also active in the Japanese real estate market, said charter income increased by 37% to $65.3m last year, driven mainly by higher average daily charter rates.
The average daily charter rate for the company’s owned vessels was $18,841 per day against the average of $13,561 per day seen in 2021.
“Last year was a stellar year for the group, as we benefited from a robust bulk carrier market,” said chief executive Kenji Fukuyado.
“The positive performance has strengthened our financial position and fundamentals, providing the group with reserves to capture new growth opportunities and allowing us to reward our loyal investors with the highest dividend in the group’s history.”
Looking ahead, Uni-Asia Group said that while the bulker market started to weaken in the second half of 2022 due to the softening of seaborne dry bulk trade demand and easing of port congestion, industry experts are cautiously optimistic of an improvement in the bulk carrier market through 2023.
“One of the key factors include the opening up and an improvement in the Chinese economy, which will help to boost demand for seaborne trade, including the bulker market,” it said.
“In addition, supply-demand factors driving dry bulk shipping are expected to be positive, with dry bulk tonne-mile trade demand projected to grow by 2.0% and 2.2% in 2023 and 2024, respectively, while handysize dry bulk supply is projected to decline by 0.2% in 2023 and 1.7% in 2024.
“New emissions regulations could also further reduce supply in the market through slower speeds and retrofit time,” it added.
“While the bulk carrier market started on a soft note for 2023, the group is cautiously optimistic that our shipping portfolio’s performance will improve through the year, underpinned by the favourable supply dynamics for handysize dry bulk ships,” said Fukuyado.
Uni-Asia Group’s fleet comprises 10 wholly owned Japanese-built handysize bulkers built between 2007 and 2016.
It also has stakes of 18% in seven other vessels and a 49% stake in an eighth ship, all of which are built between 2011 and 2020.
