GasLog ended the second quarter in the red despite revenue growth as weak rates hit the bottom line.
The Paul Wogan-led LNG carrier owner on Thursday reported a $10.5m loss during the period, reversing a $14m profit in the same quarter of last year.
The red ink came despite a jump in revenue to $154m, up $21.5m from the $133m logged a year earlier.
The company attributed the slump in the bottom line to weak LNG shipping rates while demand growth shot up in Europe, but nowhere else.
“GasLog’s revenues from our year-on-year fleet expansion and our time charter earnings supported our financial performance against a back drop of relatively weak LNG shipping rates in the second quarter, further validating our strategy of maximising our fleet’s multi-year charter coverage," said Wogan.
The quarter saw the New York-listed shipowner exit the Cool Pool and fix two ships to time charters.
During the quarter, GasLog fixed the 155,000-cbm GasLog Shanghai (built 2013) on a three and a half year charter and the 55,000-cbm GasLog Salem (built 2015) on a nine month charter, both to Gunvor.
"We are seeing increasing customer interest in multi-month and multi-year charters, underpinning the long-term growth prospects for LNG and supporting our view that the second quarter weakness in LNG shipping markets is temporary," Wogan added.
"We expect shipping availability to tighten during the second half of 2019 and beyond based on new LNG supply additions, predominantly from the US and almost all of which is secured by long-term off-take contracts, and continued global growth in LNG demand."
In the second quarter, the company also received 2.5 million common shares and an equal number of class B preferred shares, as GasLog Partners cut GasLog's incentive distribution rights and added $75m to its $250m bond.
