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Euronav reports 2009 results |
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Wednesday, 20 January 2010 |
 The executive committee of Euronav NV yesterday reported its preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2009
The company had a net result of USD -31.1 million (4Q08: USD 36
million) for the 3 months ended 31st December 2009 or USD -0.62 per
share (4Q08: USD 0.72 per share). EBITDA was USD 32.1 million (4Q08:
USD 130.1 million).
For the year ending 31 December 2009, the net results before deferred
tax are USD -25.2 million (2008: USD 402.5 million) or USD -0.50 per
share (2008: USD 8.04 per share).
The average daily time charter equivalent rates (TCE) obtained by the
company’s fleet in the Tankers International (TI) pool was
approximately USD 25,500 per day (fourth quarter 2008: USD 59,000 per
day) and for the full year, USD 33,000 per day (2008: USD 95,700 per
day). The time charter equivalent earnings of the Euronav Suezmax fleet
which was mostly fixed on long term time charters, including profit
shares when applicable, was USD 29,500 per day for the fourth quarter
(fourth quarter 2008: USD 41,700 per day) and USD 31,750 per day (2008:
USD 41,650) for the full year.
The result of the fourth quarter is affected by the following non-recurring items:
- revaluation at marked-to-market levels of non cash items (unrealized)
such as hedge instruments on interest rates for a total of USD 4.5
million and rate of exchange differences for USD 1 million.
- provisions of USD 8.7 million for claims and penalties that are
likely to become payable in the course of the first quarter 2010.
Tanker
On November 28th 2009, the company took delivery of the newbuilding
Fraternity (2009 – 157,714 dwt) from Samsung Heavy Industries, Koje
Island, South Korea and delivered the vessel immediately on time
charter for a period of 15 months.
The first quarter of 2010 started at higher levels than those in the
fourth quarter 2009 and VLCC rates continued to improve significantly
over the last two weeks up to around USD 100,000/day at the moment.
Also, Suezmax rates are very robust with average rates gaining 30% over
the last week to USD 70,000/day.
It is difficult to predict whether the current upswing in the market
will last throughout the year or not. The global economy is emerging
out of the recession which should, in turn, lead to a stronger demand
for oil and consequently its transportation. China’s economy, in
particular, has bounced back rapidly and imports of crude oil have
followed the same trend. The shortage of quality tankers is decreasing
as newly constructed vessels are delivered and single hull vessels are
being scrapped, but in total, this year the world fleet of VLCC could
face its first negative growth since 2003. Management is therefore more
optimistic for the outlook of 2010.
Euronav will consequently maintain its position as a top quality
operator of modern double hull large crude oil tankers and continue to
balance the employment for its young fleet between fixed rate (time
charter contracts) and variable rate (spot market). At the start of
2010, 19 vessels were contracted on period charter out of 44 owned or
time-chartered in vessels. The VLCC spot are all traded in the Tankers
International pool and the Suezmax spot are directly operated by
Euronav spot desk.
FSO
As announced previously on January 5th, the FSO Asia, a Floating
Storage and Offloading (FSO) service vessel, has been successfully
hooked-up at the Al Shaheen oil field. The commissioning period of up
to 120 days is well under way.
The conversion work on the FSO Africa is progressing well but the
mechanical completion has been pushed back by a few weeks. The FSO
Africa was therefore not able to commence its services before 19
January 2010 (today). Maersk Oil Qatar could, in the extreme case,
exercise its right to terminate one or both FSO service contracts as
from midnight today. However, as previously mentioned, management is
confident that both FSOs remain a critical part of a multi-billion
dollar field expansion at Al Shaheen as they will not only increase the
provision of Floating Oil Storage and Offloading services but also
provide accommodation, transport and storage space for the other
facilities in the field.
Euronav is also pleased to announce that Mr. Egied Verbeeck, General
Counsel, has joined the Executive Committee of the company effective as
from 1 January 2010.
Source: Euronav
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