Norwegian hedge fund Sissener Canopus put a bet on shares in Oslo-listed Golden Ocean last month.
“We bought the dry bulk shipping company Golden Ocean in February, which contributed well to the month’s return,” the fund said in its monthly report.
However, the fund dropped 0.7% in the month and is down 0.1% so far this year.
Sissener Canopus is most heavily invested in the energy sector.
The fund's biggest holdings are Norwegian insurance company Storebrand and France’s TotalEnergies.
The fund has about 5% invested in shipping.
“We see many of the same tendencies in dry bulk as in other shipping segments, where low orderbooks for new ships and longer sailing distances tighten the market balance and lead to higher rates for the shipping companies,” the fund said.
Golden Ocean reported results for the fourth quarter last week.
The shipowner raised the quarterly dividend to 30 cents per share, having paid out just 10 cents for each of the preceding three quarters.
“The company delivered a strong fourth-quarter report and reported solid contracted rates for the first and second quarters, which are seasonally weak due to Chinese New Year,” the fund commented.
“This bodes well for earnings in the second half of the year when the market tends to be stronger, and we believe that this is not reflected in the share’s current pricing.”
Yesterday at the DNB Energy & Shipping Conference in Oslo, Golden Ocean chief executive Lars-Christian Svensen said the company is well positioned for the upturn in the bulker segment.
“We’re focusing on low cash breakeven to be able, like we did in Q1, to have zero cover going into Q1. We believed that the market was going to be strong. We were able to tilt the whole fleet in the spot market to fully capture it,” he said.
“That’s a strategy we’re quite comfortable with. And we will continue with it going forward,” Svensen said.
