Scorpio Tankers has reduced its dividend for the fourth quarter at the same time as moving to boost its balance sheet with a sale-and-leaseback of three MR tankers.

The moves were announced as the owner laid out further progress with new loans and reported a smaller than expected fourth quarter loss.

Robert Bugbee, president of Scorpio Tankers, says management has set the company up so it can deal with whatever it has to before a return of "great earnings".

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