| DHT reports strong improvement in 1Q15 |
| DHT Holdings, the New York-listed crude oil tanker company managed from Oslo, has reported a strong improvement in result in the first quarter of 2015 (1Q15) on a firmer market and bigger fleet. Group net profit amounted to USD23.2 million in 1Q15 compared with a loss of USD0.5 million in the same period last year. Freight revenues rose to USD95.6 million from USD24.5 million. The company, which is domiciled in Bermuda, said its 14 VLCCs operating on the spot market earned on average USD60,000 per day in the quarter. It did not provide a comparison. DHT arranged financing for two remaining VLCC newbuildings it has on order at Hyundai in South Korea during 1Q15. This covered about 50% of the contract price and it was agreed at London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) +2.2%. This is slightly lower than the 2.4% margin for the USD290 million that covers 50% of the contract price of all the six newbuildings. The company announced a quarterly dividend of USD0.15 per share. Commenting on the figures, Erik Nikolai Stavseth and Kurt Waldeland, shipping analysts at Arctic Securities in Oslo, said the USD0.25 earnings per share had fallen slightly short of their estimate of USD0.29. The quarterly dividend of USD0.15 per share translates as an annual dividend yield of 7.5%. “We had hoped to see a more definite dividend strategy going forward and were expecting to see close to 100% payout. Hence, the announced dividend came in below our USD0.26/share estimate. DHT’s current 60% payout ratio could indicate that management is still looking for investment opportunities,” the two analysts said in a market report. DHT has a fleet of 14 VLCCs, two Suezmaxes, and two Aframaxes , plus six newbuildings on order. |