Ardmore Shipping Reports Net Loss of $12.5 Mln
Tanker owner Ardmore Shipping Corporation reported a net loss of $12.5 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, or $0.37 basic and diluted loss per share, as compared to a net profit of $3.7 million, or $0.12 basic and diluted earnings per share, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2016.
The company acquired the Ardmore Sealancer, a high-quality 47,500 Dwt MR product tanker constructed at Onomichi Dockyard Co. Ltd. in Japan in 2008. Ardmore took delivery of the vessel on January 23, 2018.
Anthony Gurnee, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Ardmore continues to execute on its strategy in spite of soft charter market conditions. Throughout 2017, we achieved a number of key accomplishments that we believe position Ardmore to benefit from long-term trends driving the market for MR product and chemical tankers."
He added, " The charter market was soft overall for 2017, in spite of some strength during the summer months. Nevertheless, we believe that underlying fundamentals will prevail in 2018; oil demand growth remains firm as the global economy continues to strengthen and oil inventories have declined to more normalized levels, enabling trading activity to resume and re-introducing an additional layer of tonne-mile demand for MRs. Meanwhile, MR supply growth is less than 1%, setting the stage for a potential strong and sustained charter market recovery."
"With a strong balance sheet, modern fleet, low cost structure and revenue days set to increase again in 2018, we believe Ardmore is well positioned to take advantage of the anticipated charter market recovery and thus generate strong returns and value accretion for our shareholders," Anthony concluded.
The company has 28 vessels currently in operation including the Ardmore Sealancer, comprising 22 Eco MR tankers ranging from 45,000 Dwt to 49,999 Dwt (15 Eco-Design and seven Eco-Mod) and six Eco-Design IMO 2 product / chemical tankers ranging from 25,000 Dwt to 37,800 Dwt.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, the Company had 21 Eco MR tankers trading in the spot market or in pools. The Eco MR tankers, earned an average of $12,131 per day in the fourth quarter of 2017.
