Dorian LPG has reported a higher fourth quarter profit that came in largely in line with Wall Street forecasts.
New York-listed Dorian booked a profit of $20.2m in the three months to the end of March to finish its financial year with a bottom line of $129.7m. This is up from $8.8m and $25.2m respectively in the previous 12 months.
Fleet growth aided the company with the final ship in what was a 19 strong newbuilding programme now on the water.
Dorian finished the quarter with an adjusted profit of $0.60, a penny behind what Wall Street had charted.
The company now has a fleet of 22 vessels, of which four are on time charter. Its 18 spot ships are in the Helios LPG Pool, run alongside MOL's Phoenix Tankers.
Dorian launched a $100m share buyback programme last August and picked up $10.9m worth of stock in the fiscal fourth quarter. The buyback has $79.1m to run.
It explains LPG trade was strong in the opening five months of 2016, with over half of US LPG exports heading to the Far East.
"VLGC utilization has remained high (above 90%) for most of this year. With more than 80 million tons of seaborne LPG trade expected in 2016, we believe most of the vessels in the fleet will remain well utilized," it said,
It added: "We expect that, during the third calendar quarter of 2016, the seasonal restocking programme will commence in the West, requiring rebuilding of stocks that invariably result in increased activity for LPG markets.
"While these factors support good fundamental demand for LPG and LPG shipping, there can be no assurances that such trends will continue or that future freight rates, export capacity, export volumes, or the effects of the New Panama Canal will materialize."
