Globus Maritime has moved closer to the black side of the ledger, thanks to selling some debt near the end of the first quarter.
The Athanasios Feidakis-led owner posted a $0.47m loss for the period versus a $1.54m loss a year earlier.
Revenue fell 10% to $3.5m, mostly due to charter rates slipping 16% to $6,736 per day per vessel after the 25 January Vale dam breach took millions of iron-ore tonnes from the market.
On 13 March, Globus sold a convertible notes issue worth $5m to a private investor that resulted in a derivative worth $1.4m.
“We are pleased with our performance during the first quarter of 2019; despite the difficulties in the market this period we have managed to reduce our operating expenses while taking steps to strengthen our balance sheet," chief executive Athanasios Feidakis said.
"This has been a very precarious first quarter where rates in the dry bulk sector have taken an unexpected dive."
Staying cautious
Globus expects rates to improve during the second half of 2019 due to ongoing dry-bulk demand from China and IMO 2020 lowering fleet capacity as a result of scrubber retrofits.
“Whilst we remain cautious, we are at the same time more optimistic about the latter part of the year," Feidakis said.
Globus has five dry bulk ships with total carrying capacity of 300,571 dwt.
