Navigator Holdings has reported a stronger than expected set of third quarter results and is making progress on the funding of a terminal project.
Navigator booked a profit of $600,000 for the three months to the end of September, ahead of the $1.1m loss in the corresponding period last year.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.01, beating the $0.03 per share loss expected by consensus on Wall Street, according to Donald McLee of Berenberg.
Ben Nolan of Stifel says the $2m in additional revenue due to improving petrochem spot rates drove the bottom line past market expectations.
Navigator says it inked two new time charters for niche LPG trade along the west coasts of South America and Africa in the quarter.
It also secured a new charter for the transportation of two west coast Australia LPG cargoes to South East Asia and a one-year contract renewal with Algeria’s state oil company Sonatrach which included a 30% rate boost.
“We believe these additional time charter commitments indicate a firming in utilization in the near term, as the market tightens and sentiment improves,” Navigator said.
Navigator this month bagged $72.5m from the bond market to help finance for its ethylene export terminal JV with Enterprise Product Partners.
“Both the source of capital (Norwegian bond market) and pricing (3-month NIBOR+600) were a bit of a departure from expectations of Navigotor’s potentially securing more attractive financing terms from infrastructure funds,” McLee said. “That said, we view the financing as a net positive development.”
