Evangelos Pistiolis outfit Top Ships eked out a profit last year, helped by falling costs and robust charter income from its young eco-fleet.
The owner and manager of 10 tankers, none of which is older than three years, reported net income of $8.6m for the year compared with a $22.8m loss in 2020.
This is the company’s best annual performance, said president and chief executive Pistiolis.
Top Ships’ 2020 results were saddled with a $12.3m accounting charge from the sale of vessels, which the company did not repeat in 2021.
Finance costs also dropped by two-thirds to $7m. Operating expenses fell by 25% to 15.7m.
At the same time, revenues declined at a much slower pace amid weak tanker markets, by 6.7% to $56.4m.
The company has a secured fixed revenue backlog of about $360m, Pistiolis said. The years 2022 and 2023 are already fully booked and the time coverage ratio for 2024 stands at 76%. Some of the company’s long-term charters reach to 2026 and beyond.
That is in large part due to Top Ships’ newbuilding programme, which saw the company take delivery of its entire current fleet over the past three years fresh from the shipyard.
That newbuilding programme has been now completed, Pistiolis said, after delivery on 4 March of the 157,300-dwt scrubber-fitted suezmax Eco Oceano Ca (built 2022) from Hyundai Samho in South Korea.
The vessel has been financed through a $48.2m sale-and-leaseback deal with “a major international financier” and has already commenced a 15-year time charter with private Pistiolis outfit Central Tankers Chartering.
The Eco Oceano Ca apart, the Top Ships fleet is on multi-year charters with oil traders and majors Clearlake, Trafigura, Cargill and BP Shipping.
It consists of three MRs, five suezmaxes and two VLCCs with an average age of 1.4 years.
Top Ships recently sold two MR newbuildings to Norden — the 50,200-dwt Eco City of Angels and Eco Los Angeles (both built 2020) for $36.5m each.
