Oslo-listed Stolt-Nielsen cancelled a dividend payout and saw its share price plummet on Monday.
The chemical tanker owner, which also has terminal and tank assets, announced its board voted to withdraw the second and final payout for 2019 previously announced in late February.
A dividend of $0.25 per share had been scheduled to be distributed on 6 May upon shareholders’ approval.
Chief executive Niels Stolt-Nielsen said: “While the coronavirus pandemic has had a modest impact on our markets to date, we believe this precautionary measure to cancel the final dividend for 2019 is a financially prudent decision, given current external circumstances.”
Share price of Stolt-Nielsen dropped by 13.2% to NOK 77.2 ($7.52), the lowest in a decade.
Defending the U-turn in payout, the CEO said the earlier decision for a final dividend was based on “the fundamentally solid position of the company”.
Having distributed an interim dividend of $0.25 per share on 11 December, the company still had over $500m in available liquidity as of end-February, according to Stolt-Nielsen.
In early February, Stolt-Nielsen raised NOK 1.3bn via selling senior, unsecured bonds that will expire in 2024.
The company recorded a net profit of $19.1m for the financial year ended on 30 November, down from $54m in the previous year.
Revenue decreased to $2.04bn from $2.13bn.
Subsidiary Stolt Tankers, which had more than 120 tankers, saw its operating profit fall to $56.7m from $66.6m.
The company has maintained its optimistic outlook over the chemical shipping market, with firm product tanker earnings.
However, with the coronavirus pandemic hitting global petrochemical demand, Clarksons Research has adjusted down its forecast of seaborne chemical trade growth for 2020 to 2.6% from 4.2%.
With the collapse in oil and gas prices amid the price war among energy producers, their researchers warned of lower US exports of chemical feedstocks due to less shale production.
