Safe beats bets on Wall Street

Safe Bulkers says profits slipped by 48% in the first-quarter but the company's president appeared upbeat about period.

Safe boss Polys Hajioannou

NYSE-listed Safe pocketed $32.1m in the three months to 30 March, against $62m banked a year ago.

The results amounted to $0.58 in earnings per share, beating analysts' average estimate of $0.44 per share.

Revenue fell to $34.3m slipping nearly 30% compared to $46.9m generated in the same period of 2009.

Safe operated 13 vessels on average during the first quarter earning a time charter equivalent rate of $29,415 per day compared to the $41,486 earned per day last year.

Vessel operating expenses jumped by 4.2% to $5m during the latest reporting period.

On a positive note, Safe said it has 92% of its operating days tied-up for the remainder of 2010, 61% for 2011 and 53% for 2012.

President Loukas Barmparis used Monday's earnings release as an opportunity to reiterate the successes the company enjoyed during the first-quarter.

"During the first months of 2010, we took delivery of two newbuild vessels which we believe will be accretive to our earnings, we successfully concluded our equity offerings, which brought us approximately $74.8m in net proceeds, and further increased our cash position, and we have ordered two additional newbuilds at attractive prices as we closely monitor markets for selective acquisitions," he said.

As TradeWinds has reported, the Athens-based drybulk outfit penned two kamsarmax newbuildings in China less than a month after raising nearly $80m from shareholders.

The Athens-based shipowner controls 15 drybulk vessels plus six newbuildings.

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