Nordic American Tankers (NAT) shareholders may be wondering which end is "up" after another quarterly earnings loss from Herbjorn Hansson's company, but at least they can cling to their dividend.

The dividend has been sliced to a penny per share at a time when NAT again lost money for the quarter and juiced the balance sheet by selling $17m of stock through an at-the-market (ATM) programme, but it is the 96th consecutive quarter for the payout.