Greek shipowner Stathis Topouzoglou has said investments in shipping are “not favourable at all” due to the current shipping environment.
The chairman of Singapore-listed First Ship Lease Trust (FSL Trust) described the current situation as “highly challenging and increasingly risky”.
Topouzoglou, who is also the boss of Greek shipowner Prime Marine Management, blamed “historically high” price levels for both secondhand vessels and newbuildings, combined with uncertain developments still evolving around emissions targets and future fuels.
He said that during the last year, FSL Trust had been focusing on selectively identifying and thoroughly assessing new project opportunities to create accretive value for its unitholders but to no avail.
“In the absence of any meaningful investment opportunities in the foreseeable future, we have decided to return the bulk of the trust’s unrestricted cash holdings to our unitholders by way of a distribution and to accelerate repayment of debt,” he said.
Topouzoglou’s comments came as FSL Trust reported an 83.3% decline in second-half profit to $1.8m from the $11m achieved 12 months ago. Full-year profit was down 72.3% to $3.67m.
Profit in 2022 was boosted by the sale of three tankers, which contributed $9.2m, the shipowner added.
Revenue for the second half of last year was down nearly 60% to $4.4m, while revenue for the full year was down nearly 65% to $8.5m.
At the end of the fiscal year, FSL Trust had a fleet of eight vessels operating under fixed-rate period charters to UK shipowner James Fisher.
FSL Trust, which ends the year debt-free, said it has contracted and optional future revenue of $18.8m and $5.8m, respectively.
“The second half of 2023 continued with stable fixed rate employment for the remaining eight vessels in the fleet,” said FSL Trust CEO Roger Woods.
“The Trust additionally benefited from the profit share on one vessel, which gives a small exposure to the market upside.”
