US-listed Seanergy crossed into profits in the first quarter of the year, supported by rising iron ore business for its big bulkers.
The pure-play capesize owner reported a net income of $10.2m between January and March, compared with a loss of $4.2m in the same period of 2023.
This was the company’s biggest-ever profit for a first quarter, chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis said before announcing a dividend of $0.15 per share, which includes a special payout of $0.125 per share.
Tsantanis attributed the result “mainly … [to] higher iron ore exports, healthy coal volumes, as well as certain geopolitical events”.
This refers to the ongoing Red Sea crisis, which Seanergy said “has also been marginally constructive for capesize earnings”.
The company expects to continue achieving strong revenue in the second quarter as well for which it forecasts daily average time charter equivalent (TCE) earnings of $26,400 “thanks to… [its] proactive hedging strategy”.
“Keen to secure attractive daily rates”, Seanergy said that it has converted about a third of its ownership days for the second half of 2024 to a fixed daily rate of about $30,000.
Given this optimistic outlook, Seanergy continues growing its fleet. The company revealed on Wednesday that it has agreed to add one capesize to the other 18 ships it has in that size.
The deal, which was concluded in March and cost Seanergy $35.6m in cash and debt, concerns a vessel built in Japan in 2012, which the company did not identify.
Delivery is expected to take place in the second half of 2024.
