Gram Car Carriers contract backlog is inching towards 10 figures as the company reports another profitable quarter.
The Oslo-listed car carrier lessor was able to boost its contract backlog to $908m during the three months ending on 30 September, thanks to an extra $132m added with a five-year contract for the 7,000-ceu Viking Queen (built 2007) and the acquisition of the 5,000-ceu Mediterranean Sea (built 2010).
“Since [listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange last year], we have signed over $1bn-worth of new contracts with leading operators at attractive day rates and built a record revenue backlog providing long-term visibility on earnings and attractive quarterly dividends,” chief executive Georg Whist said.
The $908m figure is a $132m improvement from the second quarter and up from $563 year over year.
The Viking Queen deal was signed last month with a “a leading European operator” at an average of $62,300 per day, driving $114m into Gram’s backlog.
The remainder comes from the Mediterranean Sea, which the company gained complete control of from investment manager Ness, Risan and Partners in September for a total of nearly $7m.
The agreement added another $18m of contract backlog.
For the third quarter, Gram reported a $25m profit, up from $6.5m for the same period last year.
It brought in $55m in revenue, up from $31.5m.
Its four distribution vessels earned time charter equivalent rates of $20,990 per day for the quarter with 99% utilisation.
Its 11 midsize vessels — its largest segment — brought in $29,970 per day at 100% utilisation and its eight panamaxes $49,410 per day at 93%.
The company said there are effectively no open dates for the rest of 2023 following the sale of the 2,000-ceu Viking Constanza (built 2010) and 1,000-ceu Viking Princess (built 1996) for $43.5m combined, which the company used to acquire the Mediterranean Sea.
Gram said there are 4% of open days left in 2024, 11% in 2025 and 37% left in 2026.
In early trading, the company’s shares were up NOK 4.50 ($0.40) from the open to NOK 214.50.
