On the back of a stronger performance by its Tanker business, Norden has presented its first quarterly adjusted profit since 2015.
Norden realised an adjusted result for the period of 1 mill. $ ( Q1 2016: – 5 mill. $). This corresponds to an EBIT of 0 mill. $ ( – 1 mill. $). Nord[ds_preview]en’s tanker activities generated an adjusted result for the period of 10 mill. $ ( 15 mill. $), corresponding to an EBIT of 10 mill. $ ( 16 mill. $).
The tanker result was generated in an overall challenging market that, however, also offered significant local spikes in clean product rates. In the dry cargo market, the steady increase in rates that began in the fourth quarter of 2016 continued and rates were significantly higher than in the first quarter of 2016. However, the dry cargo result for the first quarter has not benefited from the increase in market rates, as Norden entered the quarter with more than 100% cover and the adjusted result for the period ended at – 9 mill. $ ( – 20 mill. $), corresponding to an EBIT of – 9 mill. $ ( – 17 mill. $).
CEO Jan Rindbo says: »On the back of strong performance by our Tanker business in a challenging market, we present our first quarterly adjusted profit since 2015. In Tankers, we were able to make the most of regional and temporary market spikes and benefited from the decision to increase our chartered fleet at relatively low costs at the end of 2016. In Dry Cargo, we did not benefit from the improving rates in the first quarter, but they have increased the value of Norden’s forward position in a year that overall still looks challenging in both segments.«
Expectations for the adjusted result for the year are maintained at -20 to +40 mill. $ with a dry cargo market that is expected to offer rates a little higher than in 2016 and a tanker market that still looks challenging throughout 2017.
