Okeanis Eco Tankers slightly increased its third-quarter profit year on year but saw it fall from the record highs achieved in the previous quarters.
The Oslo-listed owner of 14 modern, scrubber-fitted VLCCs and suezmaxes, which is set to switch its main listing to New York, posted net income of $19.5m — up 2.9% from the same period last year and down 63% quarter on quarter.
Profitability still increased by an impressive 247% in the first nine months of the year at $124.6m.
The quarter-on-quarter slowdown is due to the softer VLCC earnings. The company’s eight VLCCs, which are all employed in the spot market, earned a time charter equivalent of $57,900 per day in the third quarter — up 100% year on year but down 19% from the second quarter of 2023.
Higher finance costs in the wake of rising interest rates also weighed on results, climbing at an annual pace of 57% in the third quarter to $15.7m.
As a result, the company cut its dividend back to $0.60 per share, down from $1.50 per share in the previous quarter.
OET boasts a modern fleet. The company’s six suezmaxes, which traded in the spot market 62% of the time in the third quarter, were built between 2016 and 2020. Its VLCCs are even younger, having all been constructed after 2019.
OET’s stock in Oslo has soared by more than 110% over the past 12 months, up to a record high of NOK 336.5 ($30.1) per share.
This has catapulted its market capitalisation to NOK 10.87bn ($973m), which is just a shade below the net $1bn value of its fleet.
The Alafouzos family, which is led by brothers Ioannis and Themistoklis Alafouzos, jointly own 57% of OET. As of 1 November, the company’s next biggest shareholders were State Street Bank & Trust Comp (4.3%), Avanza Bank (3.7%) and Interactive Brokers (2.6%).
OET’s expanded investor base, with 19 shareholders outside the Alafouzos family holding about 28% of the stock, was one factor prompting it to pursue a separate listing in the US.
The company announced earlier this month that it was looking to switch its main listing to the New York Stock Exchange, while maintaining its existing one in Oslo as a parallel, secondary listing, in an effort to broaden its investor reach.
OET estimates the process will be completed by mid-December.
