United Maritime Corp fell to a loss in the first three months while maintaining its dividend unchanged, in expectation of a growing bulker fleet and the profitable sale of its last tanker.
The New York-listed company unveiled a $4.9m loss on Thursday — its first loss since its creation last July as a spin-off of US-listed capesize player Seanergy Maritime.
The loss was a by-product of United Maritime’s strategic shift away from tankers to bulkers.
It was left with one tanker and three bulkers in the reporting period, after the highly profitable sale of three tankers, which boosted its net income to $36.5m in the fourth quarter of 2022.
United Maritime’s last tanker, the 109,600-dwt LR2 Epanastasea (built 2008), could not help first-quarter results much, as the company put it in for scheduled dry-docking between February and April.
The Epanastasea, however, promises to fetch juicy financial gains in the second quarter.
United Maritime disclosed that it is “actively considering selling the vessel and is currently in advanced discussions with prospective buyers”.
The company booked a $36.1m gain from the sale of its other three tankers late last year.
Promising asset play
Considering that tanker values have not declined since then and United Maritime purchased the Epanastasea as cheaply as the other tankers it has already flipped, a sale of the ship can be expected to produce handsome gains as well.
United Maritime also expects a revenue boost from its bulkers.
Through a recent string of acquisitions worth $126m, its bulker fleet has doubled in size to six vessels. It will soon grow to seven, upon delivery of another panamax between July and October.
United Maritime said these ships are currently earning more than they did in the first quarter.
According to chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis, United Maritime’s time charter equivalent earnings will average about $18,000 per day in the second quarter — 75% more than in the first three months.
As a result, the company maintained its dividend payment at $0.075 per share and may even increase it.
“Considering the favourable fundamentals of the dry bulk market and the solid financial and commercial standing of United, we remain optimistic that the quarterly cash dividend we have paid for the previous two quarters can be sustained or increased during the rest of the year,” Tsantanis said.
