Tsakos Energy Navigation, an owner of more than 70 tankers and LNG vessels on the water or under construction, posted the best annual results in its 30 years as a listed company.
The New York-listed firm announced on Wednesday a net income of $300.2m in 2023, up 47% from the previous year.
Excluding $33.4m in payouts to holders of preferred shares that include the Tsakos family, net income attributable to common shareholders climbed 58% to $266.7m.
Fourth-quarter results, however, were weighed down by $26.4m in impairment charges. As a result, net income in the period continued hovering at about its lowest level in seven quarters at $31.8m, down 69% year on year.
TEN has been renewing its fleet with a slate of newbuildings. The company has taken delivery of four LNG dual-fuel aframaxes since September and is set to take delivery of seven more in 2025 and 2026 — from MRs to aframaxes, suezmaxes and DP2 shuttle tankers.
This includes one DP2 shuttle tanker that TradeWinds reported about early this month and that the company confirmed on Wednesday.
Three of these firm newbuildings have already been fixed forward to medium- to long-term time charters.
In addition to these firm orders, the company has options for a further three newbuildings — another shuttle tanker and a pair of LR tankers due for delivery in late 2026.
TEN is also expanding with secondhand ships. In January, it confirmed the purchase of five modern Viken tankers.
“All these are highly accretive acquisitions, the results of which are not included in today's results but will definitely contribute very positively going forward,” board chairman Takis Arapoglou told analysts in a conference call after the earnings.
In February, the company was also linked to the purchase of the 297,700-dwt TRF Horten (built 2018) for $102m.
TEN, however, did not mention any VLCC deal on Wednesday, which suggests it may not be the ship's buyer.
As a result of its positive earnings, the company hiked its semi-annual dividend payment to $0.60 per share.
The company’s stock dropped slightly after the results to close at $25.48 per share in New York on Wednesday, down from a multi-year high of $26.50 per share in early February.
This gives TEN a market value of $752m, which compares poorly to the $2.6bn net value of its fleet as of the end of December.
Members of the Tsakos family are the company’s single biggest shareholders.
According to the company’s latest available annual report, the clan owns about a third of the company’s common shares and less than a 10th of its preferred ones.
