US-listed Navios Maritime Partners is not on the hunt for more newbuildings, according to chief executive Angeliki Frangou.
The giant Greek shipowner has 16 vessels worth $1.5bn on order, comprising LR2 tankers and post-panamax and panamax container ships.
The owner confirmed 11 older bulkers and tankers have been sold off over the past three months in deals raising $214m, in a bid to lower the fleet age.
“So we already have the backlog of the vessels we need to renew,” Frangou told a conference call.
“And this is basically in positions we already have taken. And we already have ordered the ones we wanted to do,” she added.
Frangou said Navios Partners had entered 2023 well-positioned.
The fleet of 176 vessels is split roughly equally into tankers, bulkers and boxships.
“In addition to achieving diversification, we have been actively managing our portfolio to maintain a [younger] more technologically advanced fleet as we believe the newer technologies are a competitive advantage when compared to the older vessels,” the CEO told the call.
“Our business model allows us to take advantage of opportunities when a segment is experiencing difficulties such as when we acquired tankers in 2021,” she added.
“The cost of acquired assets can be offset by attractive long-term creditworthy charters,” the CEO said.
Reducing loan levels
Frangou explained the company has a net loan-to-value (LTV) of about 45%.
“Our goal is to reduce leverage so that our net LTV would be in the range of between 20% and 25%.
“We believe that this leverage is an appropriate range for the full cycle, while allowing to expand our balance sheet should opportunities develop,” she added.
“Also in the current charter rate market, this should happen naturally given our expected class base,” the CEO told the call.
Navios Partners’ fourth quarter net income remained broadly stable at $117.5m, from $118.3m in the same period of 2021.
Investment bank Fearnley Securities called the results disappointing and investors reacted by selling off stock, causing a 10% drop in the share price to $25.73.
But Fearnley analysts argued investors should look beyond quarterly numbers for now, as the shipping company is a long-term play and still has a way to go to streamline and optimise its setup following recent fleet acquisitions.
The investment bank also pointed out that more than 20,000 of 27,000 open days in 2023 are in the bulker sphere, making the owner an interesting play on dry bulk.
