Herbjorn Hansson’s Nordic American chose to highlight its own recent refinancing success after a failure to plug a funding gap contributed to the bankruptcy of the once great OSG yesterday.
“Nordic American Tankers Limited is pleased to point out that its financial position has been further strengthened by the establishment of a non-amortizing credit facility that extends to the autumn of 2017,” its quarterly report began.
It continued:” The new credit facility has been made at a time when the tanker industry is facing financial challenges.
“NAT is strong and the new credit facility is one more reason why NAT should be differentiated from some other tanker companies which are in deep trouble.
“Our objective is always to have a strong balance sheet, allowing the company to navigate wisely into the future and at the same time support its shareholders with dividends.”
It was a break from the formulaic earnings reports which flow out every quarter, with the company’s philosophy and prospects laid out in prose across the first few pages.
While its spin-doctors may have captured the mood in the sector after OSG followed fellow A-listed Genmar into Chapter 11, Nordic American’s own numbers were weaker than expected.
Its loss in the three months to the close of September was $23.34m, stronger than the $37.67m reversal carded at this juncture in 2011.
Earnings per share came in at negative $0.44, deeper than the $0.33 red number analysts had feared, according to the consensus.
As has been the way with Nordic American in recent quarters, it continues to pay a dividend even when running at a loss.
Investors will collect a payout of $0.30 per share for the quarter, which will take $15.87m from the owner’s bank account.
NAT, which has now paid a dividend for 61 successive quarters, has consistently defended its decision to keep handing out cash in a weak market.
It said today: “We pay our dividend from cash on hand. NAT has a cash break-even level of about $12,000 per day per vessel which we consider low in the industry.”
