UK shipping fund Tufton Oceanic Assets has said its value has increased over the third quarter thanks to booming boxship markets.
The London-listed shipowner, which is backed by Tufton Investment Management, revealed an estimated unaudited net asset value (NAV) of $0.95 per share as of 30 September.
That's an increase on $0.93, which equated to $238m, on 30 June. The stock was trading at $0.85 in London on Thursday.
"The fleet had a fair value gain of $0.015 per share, primarily driven by the strong improvement in the containership market," the company said.
The total NAV return per share for the quarter was up 4.1%.
Operating profit lower
Operating profit was $0.023 per share for the three months ended 30 September.
Tufton Oceanic posted operating profit of $0.03 per share over the three months to 30 June. This was equivalent to an operating result of $7.7m, based on Tufton's more than 255m shares.
Tufton Oceanic also said an unnamed containership has had its charter extended for a year to the end of 2021.
During the quarter, the company had zero void time across the fleet.
Full results are due on 26 October.
Fleet expanded
Last week, the company expanded its fleet again with a move for two product tankers.
Tufton said the unnamed vessels are costing $23m and bring the fleet to 18 ships.
Both tankers have fixed-rate time charters for three to five years to a major commodity trading and logistics company.
The company produced a strong portfolio operating profit of $29m in the year to 30 June, but this was outweighed by a $30m non-cash fair value loss as asset values fell in line with demand.
The net loss in the year to 30 June was $1.22m, compared to a profit of $16.42m in the previous 12 months.
