Scorpio Bulkers has fallen deeper into the red, thanks to a multimillion-dollar loss related to its investment in Scorpio Tankers.
The New York-listed owner posted a $7.4m net loss for the fourth quarter versus a $1.1m deficit a year earlier.
The latest quarter's results were mainly due to a non-cash loss of $7.7m and cash dividend income of $0.5m from Scorpio Bulkers' equity investment in Scorpio Tankers.
The negative number included a write-off of deferred financing costs for refinancing of existing debt.
Scorpio Bulkers headed down?
The bulker specialist registered an $0.11 loss per share, which on an adjusted basis, came in at $0.03, below Wall Street consensus of $0.09, Stifel analyst Ben Nolan noted.
"The miss was largely the result of rates coming in lower than our expectations for both kamsarmax and ultramax vessels," he wrote in a note to clients.
"Going forward, while we do expect demand to grow and supply is relatively benign, we do not believe there are likely to be any major catalysts to cause more than a modest improvement in vessel earnings."
Shares fell 9% to $4.84 within the half-hour after today's opening bell.
Nolan said the company's ability to earn a premium from the IMO 2020-driven scrubber installation may help but shares will probably trade down given the still significant miss and bad news on the Vale dam break.
Revenue totaled $65.2m, up from $51.1m a year earlier.
$100m to Scorpio Tankers, another $42m to scrubbers
As previously announced, Scorpio Bulkers in October bought 54.1 million Scorpio Tankers shares for $100m that turned into 4 million units after a January one-for-10 reverse split.
In November, Scorpio Bulkers put down $41.9m for 19 scrubbers this year and another 18 the next.
