Petros Panagiotidis-led Castor Maritime continued raking in profit in the second quarter, helped by rampant fleet growth last year.
The Nasdaq-listed company said net profit soared to $27.8m from $6.5m in the same period of 2021.
Revenue more than tripled to $67.5m.
In the first half of 2022, Castor’s profit rose by a factor of six to $47.7m from $7.6m in 2021.
“We enjoyed the improvement of the aframax and handysize tanker segments earnings along with another robust [second] quarter in the dry cargo market,” CEO Panagiotidis explained in a statement.
Between its launch in 2019 and December 2021, Castor spent nearly $400m on secondhand tonnage in deals that catapulted its fleet to 29 ships — 20 bulkers and nine tankers.
Many of the acquisitions took place in 2021 and were financed through share sales.
Castor’s fleet shrank to 28 vessels last month after the company completed its first sale, that of the 106,100-dwt tanker Wonder Arcturus (renamed Eternal 8, built 2002).
Panagiotidis reiterated previous statements that his company would “continue to seek attractive acquisition opportunities to further pursue Castor’s growth trajectory”.
An at-the-market common stock offering programme that the company had ongoing expired in June, without Castor making any sales under it this year.
Castor is provided technical, crew and operational management services by Pavimar — a company founded and controlled by Panagiotidis’ sister Ismini. Both are children of Gabriel “Villy” Panayotides.
The cooperation was extended on 1 July, with Pavimar also taking over part of the technical management of Castor’s dry bulk subsidiaries.
