Robert Bugbee was in a chipper mood during the Fearnley Securities tanker webinar.
Cheered by strong product tanker rates, the Scorpio Tankers president signed off with a trademark quip about the failed merger between Frontline and Euronav.
Both crude tanker owners had earlier given separate presentations, featuring plenty of slides about future market prospects.
At the end of Bugbee’s later question and answer session, Fearnley Securities analyst Oystein Vaagen told the webinar: “I think we have to round things off due to time and also your time, Robert.”
Bugbee responded: “I just can’t resist it. I’ll just mention I can really understand the synergies now if Euronav and Frontline were to merge, because they would save on slides.”
The session ended with Vaagen laughing and saying: “That’s true.”
Vaagen had earlier asked the executive what he thought analysts like him were missing in the valuation of the Scorpio Tankers stock.
Bugbee said: “I’m not sure I should tell you. We’re quite happy with the situation. I increase my percentage in the company quite often at the moment.”
But he added: “I think what’s missing is for all of the peer group in the products is just how strong the product market really is.”
Missing the volatility
The president explained there are plenty of new buyers in the sector who compare rates now to the peaks earlier in 2023.
“And [they] enter and think, oh, the market is down, as opposed to looking at what the market is really generating,” Bugbee pointed out.
Investors are asking when rates are going to recover, he continued.
And he called this “really weird for anyone who’s in the business because it’s like, hold on a minute, it’s early September and the rates are really strong right in the face of winter”.
“That’s what’s been missing. It’s an idea of volatility,” Bugbee concluded.
