Safe Bulkers, Polys Hajioannou’s US-listed company, reported another quarter of solid profit and revealed the first share buy-backs under a programme announced last month.
The Limassol-based owner of about 50 bulkers in the water or under construction announced net income of $50.3m for the second quarter, up 55% compared to the same period of last year.
The company also announced that it has bought back and cancelled 1m of its own shares as of 22 July, exactly one month into a programme to buy back up to 5m shares.
Safe Bulkers did not disclosed the price for the share purchases. Its stock closed at $3.78 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
“We believe, our strong liquidity and relatively low leverage will enable us to be flexible with our capital, while still rewarding our shareholders,” company president Loukas Barmparis said in a press release.
Safe Bulkers reiterated a $0.05 per share dividend to shareholders.
Buoyant markets have boosted the company’s liquidity to more than $300m in cash, cash equivalents and untapped borrowing capacity, including a $100m bond issued in the Athens Stock Exchange stood at $433m at the end of June.
That is not much above the $359m of the scrap value of its fleet.
The liquidity has allowed the company to engage in a wide-ranging newbuilding programme of 11 kamsarmax and post-panamax vessels, which it expects to reduce its carbon footprint.
The first of the Japanese-built vessels, built to comply with phase 3 of the Environmental Efficiency Design Index and IMO Tier 3 emissions regulations, was delivered in May.
