Star Bulk reports Q3 net profit of $5.8 million
Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (the "Company" or "Star Bulk") (Nasdaq and Oslo: SBLK), a global shipping company focusing on the transportation of dry bulk cargoes, on November 20 announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the third quarter and the nine months ended September 30, 2019.
According to its financial statement net profit of Star Bulk for the third quarter 2019 reached $5,815,000 versus $26,054,000 in the same period a year before. Net profit for the nine-month period ended Sept 30, 2019 was $39,700,000 (2018 - $46,682,000).
Petros Pappas, Chief Executive Officer of Star Bulk, commented: “Star Bulk returned to profitability during the third quarter 2019, reporting TCE Revenues of $131.3 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $72.2 million and a Net Profit of $5.8 million. The average TCE increased to $14,688/ day per vessel despite our fleet being affected by the repositioning to the Pacific due to ourscrubber installation program. Daily Opex and Net Cash G&A expenses per vessel were reduced to $3,693/day and $828/day respectively.
We continued making significant progress in executing our scrubber retrofit program, having installed 88 towers, 50 of which are certified as of today. We are expecting to complete the certification process for the vast majority of our vessels by the end of the year aiming to realize commercial and operational benefits from the scrubber investment.
On the basis of the above results and our scrubber investment, we are pleased to announce a cash dividend for the quarter of $0.05 per share. We are also establishing a transparent dividend policy, under which the Company will distribute dividends once our cash balance has reached set thresholds. We believe the policy safeguards our strong balance sheet, whilst creating value by returning cash to our shareholders.”
