Costamare Inc. yesterday reported unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012.
Financial Highlights • Voyage revenues of $100.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012.
• Voyage revenues adjusted on a cash basis of $100.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $67.1 million for the three months
ended March 31, 2012.
• Net income of $24.5 million or $0.40 per share for the three months ended March 31, 2012.
• Adjusted Net Income of $25.2 million or $0.41 per share for the three months ended March 31, 2012.
New Business Developments
- Agreed to sell two 1984-built vessels and purchase two 1998-built vessels. The newer vessels will replace the vessels sold under their respective charters, and the older vessels will be sold for demolition. In particular, the Company has agreed the following:
i. To purchase the 1998-built, 3,842 TEU containership Bunga Raya Dua (to be renamed Koroni)
ii. To purchase the 1998-built, 3,842 TEU containership Bunga Raya Satu (to be renamed Kyparissia)
iii.To sell the 1984-built, 2,922 TEU containership Gifted
iv. To sell the 1984-built, 2,922 TEU containership Genius I
The total acquisition cost for the two vessels is approximately $24.9 million and will be partly funded with debt drawn from a currently committed and undrawn credit facility. The total sale price for the Gifted and Genius I is approximately $12.3 million. The newly acquired vessels are expected to be delivered within May 2012 and will replace the Gifted and Genius I in their respective charter party agreements. At the same time, the Company and the charterers have agreed to extend these two charters for period of approximately 18 months, starting from November 2012, at an average daily rate of approximately $11,150.
• Entered into an agreement, in March 2012, to time charter the 2010-built, 8,531 TEU containership Hyundai Navarino to Evergreen Marine (Hong Kong) Ltd. ("Evergreen") for a period of approximately 18 months at a daily rate of $30,950. The vessel commenced its charter with Evergreen in April 2012.
• Entered into an agreement to sell the 1984-built, 2,922 TEU containership Gather for demolition for a sale price of approximately $6.1 million. The vessel was delivered to its buyers on March 19, 2012. The Company further agreed with Evergreen to substitute the 1992-built, 3,351 TEU containership Marina in the time charter of containership Gather. In addition, the time charter with Evergreen has been extended as from November 9, 2012 for a further period of approximately 6 months at a daily rate of $8,000.
-Entered into agreements to extend the following three time charters:
i. The time charter agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Company, S.A. ("MSC") for the 1995-built, 1,162 TEU containership Zagora has been extended as from May 1, 2012 for a further period of approximately 12 months at a daily rate of $5,500;
ii. The time charter agreement with TS Lines Limited (HK) for the 1996- built, 1,504 TEU containership Prosper has been extended as from March 15, 2012 for a minimum of two and a maximum of four additional months at a daily rate of $6,000;
iii.The time charter agreement with Sea Consortium Pte Ltd for the 1991-built, 3,351 TEU containership Karmen has been extended as from April 1, 2012 for a minimum of two months and a maximum of four months, at a daily rate of $6,900.
Follow-On Offering
• In March 2012, the Company completed a follow-on public offering of 7.5 million shares of its common stock at $14.10 per share. The gross proceeds from the offering before the underwriting discount and other offering expenses were approximately $105.8 million. Members of the Konstantakopoulos family, who in the aggregate own a majority of the common stock of the Company, agreed to purchase 750,000 shares in the offering.
Dividend Announcements
• On April 19, 2012, the Company declared a dividend for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012, of $0.27 per share, payable on May 9, 2012 to stockholders of record at the close of trading of the Company's common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on April 30, 2012. This was the Company's sixth consecutive quarterly dividend since it commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Gregory Zikos, Chief Financial Officer of Costamare Inc., commented:
"During the first quarter of the year, the Company continued to deliver positive results.
"Since the beginning of 2012, we have been prudently renewing our fleet by taking advantage of attractive steel prices and charter-free values. At the same time, we have reduced our re-chartering risk with only four vessels coming out of charter during the year, excluding two vessels for which the charterer has the option to extend. The charters for those four vessels account for less than 2% of our 2012 contracted revenues.
"In March, we completed a follow-on public equity offering with net proceeds of approximately $ 100 million. The Konstantakopoulos family participated by buying 10% of the shares. We will be selective in our investments, as we have been in the past. We remain returns-oriented and will not seek growth at unjustified prices by assuming excessive market risk.
"Finally, on April 19, we declared a dividend for the first quarter of $ 0.27 per share. Consistent with our dividend policy, we continue to offer an attractive dividend, which we consider to be sustainable based on the quality of our charterers and the prudent amortization of our debt.
"Going forward, we value optionality. Our contracted cash flow, combined with our conservative capital structure, put us in a position to execute quickly, should attractive opportunities arise in a down market, or to remain firm and benefit from the upside of a healthy market environment."
Three-month period ended March 31, 2012 compared to the three-month period ended March 31, 2011
During the three-month periods ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, we had an average of 46.5 and 45.5 vessels, respectively, in our fleet. In the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, we accepted delivery of the secondhand vessel MSC Ulsan with a TEU capacity of 4,132, and we sold the vessel Gather, with a TEU capacity of 2,922. In the three-month period ended March 31, 2011, we accepted delivery of eight secondhand vessels with an aggregate TEU capacity of 17,458. In the three-month periods ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, our fleet ownership days totaled 4,227 and 4,099 days, respectively. Ownership days are the primary driver of voyage revenue and vessels operating expenses and represent the aggregate number of days in a period during which each vessel in our fleet is owned.
Voyage Revenue
Voyage revenue increased by 16.3%, or $14.0 million, to $100.0 million during the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, from $86.0 million during the three-month period ended March 31, 2011. This increase is mainly due to (i) increased average number of vessels in our fleet during the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 compared to the three-month period ended March 31, 2011 and (ii) decreased off-hire days of our fleet, resulting from the decreased number of vessels that were dry-docked during the three-month period ended March 31, 2012 compared to the three-month period ended March 31, 2011. Voyage revenues adjusted on a cash basis (which eliminates non-cash "Accrued charter revenue"), increased by 6.9%, or $6.5 million, to $100.5 million during the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, from $94.0 million during the three-month period ended March 31, 2011. The increase is attributable to the increased ownership days of our fleet, to the decreased off-hire days, resulting from the decreased number of vessels that were dry-docked.
Source: Costamare Inc.