Tanker operator Diamond S reports strong second quarter

Written by Nick Blenkey
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Diamond S Shipping President and CEO Craig H. Stevenson Jr.

Greenwich, Conn.-headquartered Diamond S Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSSI) has reported results for the second quarter of 2020 that included booking a net income of $45.7 million or $1.15 per basic share, compared to a net loss of $8.5 million for the second quarter of 2019 or $0.21 basic and diluted loss per share. Net revenues (voyage revenues less voyage expenses), were $134.2 million for the second quarter of 2020 compared to $83.4 million for the second quarter of 2019.

Still, you can’t please everyone, and financial site Seeking Alpha reports that earnings per share missed the consensus of analysts’ estimates by $0.13, while revenue was $31.56 million short of analysts’ expectations.

The company said the increase was primarily related to improved tanker market conditions in both the crude and product tanker segments. Reporting on recent events, Diamond S said that, as of August 12, 2020, it had fixed approximately 59% of Crude Fleet revenue days operating in the spot market at an average rate of approximately $25,700 per day and approximately 55% of Product Fleet revenue days operating in the spot market at an average rate of approximately $11,000 per day in the third quarter of 2020.

“We are pleased with our performance in the second quarter, which is reflected in our strong financial results,” said President and CEO Craig H. Stevenson Jr. “Our primary focus is on positioning Diamond S to deliver outstanding cash flows in normalized market conditions. For this reason, we continue to lower our leverage, thereby improving our already competitive breakeven levels. We allocated excess capital in the quarter to paying down our debt by reducing exposure on our revolving credit facilities. These amounts may be redrawn in the future to provide liquidity or capital for opportunistic strategic moves. We remain positive in our long-term market outlook and we strongly believe the current market price of our shares does not reflect the underlying value of our vessels.”

Diamond S operates a 16-vessel crude oil transportation fleet and a 50-vessel refined petroleum product transportation fleet. The crude fleet consists of 15 Suezmax vessels and one Aframax vessel. The product fleet consists of 44 medium range (“MR2”) vessels and 6 Handysize (“MR1”) vessels.

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