Norden has upped its annual profit guidance for 2022 again on the back of the steadily improving product tanker market.
The Danish owner-operator, which has a fleet of bulker carriers and tankers, on Monday said it expects its full-year result to fall between $420m to $500m.
It was only last month that Norden raised its guidance to a range of $340m to $420m.
“We are benefitting from having shifted our short-term exposure increasingly towards the tanker market,” Norden’s CEO Jan Rindbo said on Monday.
“In addition, we have utilised a strong asset trading environment to conduct profitable dry-cargo vessel sales, while ensuring downside protection in the dry-cargo market by balancing our market exposure for 2022 with cargo contracts.”
Norden said it expects much of the upturn in its financial performance to be concentrated in the second and third quarters of 2022.
It expects most of this improvement to be driven by its asset-light freight services & trading business unit, in addition to better results from its assets & logistics division.
At the beginning of this year, Norden expected its annual result to fall between $210m to $280m.
Brokers have reported that Norden has sold three bulk carriers during May and June.
Last month, the owner was said to have sold its 62,600-dwt, Japan-built ultramax Nord Baltic (built 2018) to Meadway Shipping of Greece for around $36.5m.
Norden is also reported to have sold two China-built kamsarmaxes this month, both of which
The 82,300-dwt Nord Lyra (built 2020) has reportedly been sold this month to Swedish interests for $37.8m.
Its sistership, the 82,300-dwt Nord Lyra (built 2020), is said to have been acquired by Greek interests for the same price.
Analyst reaction
Anders Redigh Karlsen, head of shipping at finance firm Kepler Cheuvreux,
“We would expect to see a positive share price reaction following (yet another) guidance upgrade,” Karlsen said in a note on Monday.
“In prior years, Norden has not included asset sales in its guidance. This was changed for 2022 and we note that the company’s asset manager has been reaping the benefits of timely asset acquisitions made in the dry cargo segment over the past years.”
Kepler Cheuvreux has Norden’s Copenhagen-listed stock designated as a ‘Buy’.
The stock was trading at DKK 247.60 ($35.06) as of 11.45am in Copenhagen on Monday, up by 4.4% since the market opened.
