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Earnings call: DHT Holdings announces robust Q1 2024 financials

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DHT Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:) announced strong financial results in its first-quarter 2024 earnings call, with revenues reaching $106.3 million on a Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) basis and net income totaling $47.1 million, or $0.29 per share. The company boasts a solid balance sheet, low leverage, and significant liquidity, ending the quarter with $289 million in total liquidity.

A quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per share is set to be paid out on May 31. DHT Holdings highlighted its upcoming VLCC newbuilding projects and its strategy to finance them without issuing new capital. The company remains committed to delivering first-rate operations and financial results.

Key Takeaways

  • DHT Holdings reported Q1 2024 revenues of $106.3 million on a TCE basis.
  • Net income for the quarter was $47.1 million, or $0.29 per share.
  • The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per share.
  • Total liquidity stood at $289 million, including $73 million in cash.
  • DHT plans to finance four new VLCCs through operations, liquidity, and mortgage debt.
  • The company maintains a 100% ordinary net income dividend policy.
  • DHT Holdings has a positive outlook on the robust and improving market.
  • No new capital will be issued for financing newbuilding projects.

Company Outlook

  • DHT Holdings is focused on maintaining strong financial performance and operational excellence.
  • The company expects a shrinking fleet size in the coming years but remains optimistic about market conditions.
  • DHT Holdings projects a discretionary cash flow of $79 million for 2024.

Bearish Highlights

  • The spot market for VLCCs has softened recently, though it is beginning to strengthen again.

Bullish Highlights

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  • DHT Holdings is optimistic about the market, which is robust and gradually improving.
  • The company has seen a shift in VLCC trade patterns that could benefit operations.

Misses

  • DHT Holdings decided not to exercise four options for new orders due to other priorities and the long delivery timeline.

Q&A Highlights

  • There was discussion about the change in VLCC trade patterns, including diversions around Africa and new trade projects from Vancouver, Canada.
  • Ship owner sentiment has improved, with some focusing on newbuilds and others on LNG ships.
  • The charter market is thin, but DHT Holdings expects more end users to enter as the market evolves.
  • DHT Holdings prefers longer-term charters to build more fixed income for the company.
  • Prices for new VLCCs are high, with Korean yards asking over $130 million and top Chinese yards around $123 million, excluding scrubbers.
  • DHT Holdings is not engaged in illicit trading, and the company commented on the high returns from compliant markets compared to the gray or black fleet.

DHT Holdings continues to navigate the shipping industry with a strong financial foundation and strategic foresight. The company’s emphasis on not issuing new capital for its newbuilding projects and maintaining its dividend policy reflects a commitment to shareholder value. With a focus on longer-term charters and a positive market outlook, DHT Holdings is positioning itself for continued success in the competitive world of maritime transportation.

InvestingPro Insights

DHT Holdings, Inc. (DHT) has been navigating the maritime transportation industry with a robust financial strategy, as reflected in their recent Q1 2024 earnings report. To provide further context to the company’s performance and outlook, here are some insights based on real-time data and InvestingPro Tips.

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InvestingPro Data metrics reveal that DHT Holdings has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion and is trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.3, which aligns with the industry’s average. The company’s revenue for the last twelve months as of Q4 2023 stands at $560.56 million, indicating a growth of 18.35% compared to the previous year.

Still, it is worth noting that quarterly revenue growth for Q4 2023 shows a decline of 14.6%. This could be a point of concern for investors looking at short-term performance but may be balanced by the company’s long-term prospects.

An InvestingPro Tip highlights that DHT Holdings has maintained dividend payments for 17 consecutive years, which is particularly relevant to the article given the company’s declaration of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per share. This consistency in returning value to shareholders is a testament to DHT’s financial resilience and commitment.

Another InvestingPro Tip points out that the stock price often moves in the opposite direction of the market, which could be of interest to investors seeking diversification in their portfolio. This counter-cyclical behavior might be a strategic advantage during market downturns.

For readers interested in a more comprehensive analysis, there are additional InvestingPro Tips available on the InvestingPro platform. For example, analysts have revised their earnings downwards for the upcoming period, and they anticipate a sales decline in the current year. These insights, along with others, can be accessed at https://www.investing.com/pro/DHT, and users can use the coupon code PRONEWS24 to get an additional 10% off a yearly or biyearly Pro and Pro+ subscription.

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In total, there are 12 InvestingPro Tips listed for DHT Holdings, Inc., which can provide a deeper understanding of the company’s financial health and market positioning. These tips, combined with the real-time data, enrich the narrative of DHT Holdings’ strategic operations and financial planning in the dynamic shipping industry.

Full transcript – DHT Holdings Inc (DHT) Q1 2024:

Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2024 DHT Holdings, Inc Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Laila Halvorsen, CFO. Please go ahead.

Laila Halvorsen: Thank you. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome and thank you for joining DHT Holdings’ first quarter 2024 earnings call. I am joined by DHT’s President and CEO, Svein Moxnes Harfjeld. As usual, we will go through financials and some highlights, before we open up for your questions. The link to the slide deck can be found on our website, dhtankers.com. Before we get started with today’s call, I would like to make the following remarks. A replay of this conference call will be available at our website, dhtankers.com, until May 22. In addition, our earnings press release will be available on our website and on the SEC EDGAR system, as an exhibit to our Form 6-K. As a reminder, on this conference call, we will discuss matters that are forward-looking in nature. These forward looking statements are based on our current expectations about future events as detailed in our financial report. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements. We urge you to read our periodic reports available on our website and on the SEC EDGAR system, including the risk factors in these reports. For more information regarding risks that we face. We will start the presentation with some financial highlights. We maintain a very strong balance sheet represented by, low leverage and significant liquidity. At quarter end, financial leverage was 17.8% based on market values for the ships, and net debt was $13.5 million per vessel. The first quarter ended with total liquidity of $289 million, consisting of $73 million in cash and $260 million available under our revolving credit facilities. Now over to the P&L, we achieved revenues on TCE basis of $106.3 million, and EBITDA of $83.7 million. Net income came in at $47.1 million equal to $0.29 per share. We continue to show good cost control, and operating expenses for the quarter were $19.2 million, and G&A was $4.7 million. We are pleased with the result for the quarter and the vessels in the spot market achieved robust earnings, with $54,000 per day, and the vessels on time charters made $39,500 per day. The average TCE achieved for the quarter was $50,900 per day. And then over to the cash flow highlights. We started the first quarter with $74.7 million in cash, and we generated $83.7 million in EBITDA. Ordinary debt repayment and cash interest, amounted to $15 million and $35.5 million was allocated to shareholders, through a cash dividend, while $3.9 million was used for maintenance CapEx. We prepaid $24 million on the ING revolving credit facility, while $7.2 million was related to changes in working capital. And the quarter ended with $73 million in cash. Switching to capital allocation, DHT has a defined and predictable capital allocation policy and in-line with our policy, we will pay $0.29 per share as a quarterly cash dividend, which is equal to 100% of ordinary net income. The dividend will be payable on May 31, to shareholders of record as of May 24. This marks the 57th consecutive quarterly cash dividend, and the shares will trade ex-dividend from May 23. On the left side of this slide, we present an update on estimated P&L and cash breakeven rates for 2024. P&L breakeven for the full year is estimated to $27,500 per day for the fleet, while cash breakeven is estimated to $18,300 per day, resulting in $9,200 per day per ship in discretionary cash flow after dividends. So assuming the vessels are in P&L breakeven, this means about $79 million in discretionary cash flow for the year. On the right side of the slide, we illustrate the quarterly cash dividend we have returned to shareholders since we updated the dividend policy in the second half of ’22. This amounts to a total of $1.70 per share. And with that, I will turn the call over to Svein.

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Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: Thank you, Laila. This slide compares DHT’s spot market performance over the last 12 months with a quoted TD3c index. The TD3c index is the most prominent index representing the largest VLCC trade, namely loading in Saudi Arabia and discharging in China. The green lines and the numeric ledgers illustrate our spot earnings for each quarter in the period, and the orange lines show the index earnings. Several reports refer to the index when assessing the VLCC market. As one could clearly see from these numbers, the index is not an appropriate reference for DHT’s spot earnings. The earnings power of the ship used in the index calculation is inferior to our average vessel, but this does not represent the whole delta. The other part reflects our customer base and related trading patterns, and what we actually get out of the market. The average delta during this period is about $15,000 a day. On this slide, we have an additional reference to DHT producing competitive spot earnings, and that is when compared to peers. The peer group consists of the usual suspects listed in the U.S., all with similar trading policies with respect to geographical areas, and origin of oil. One of the four in the peer group is yet to report, for the first quarter of this year. We illustrate quarterly spot earnings for each peer over the same period as the previous slide, and the numbers speak for themselves, with DHT coming out on top. And now to the outlook for the second quarter. As per usual, we provided our business updates on 10 days into the current quarter. The spot market softened a bit following our update, but is now on a strengthening path again. Of the total estimated spot days for the second quarter, we have booked 72% at $51,000 per day. You should see this number in relation to the spot P&L breakeven for the second quarter being estimated at about $25,300 per day. As stated in the report, the freight market continues to show steady and reassuring conduct. The slumps in the market are grinding higher, with recent lows leveling out above $40,000 a day, for an Eco-vessel fitted with exhaust gas cleaning systems. We assess the current spot market for the three main routes on average to be in the mid-to-high 50s for DHT’s average type weighted fleet. U.S. Gulf to the Far East is currently a tad behind Arabian Gulf, South America and West Africa, but is likely on the rise. The North Sea to Asia has been absent for close to two years, but is now back in the market with a couple of cargoes per month. We understand that VLCCs are gaining market share, now about 50% of seaborne transportation, underscoring end users increasing focus on cost per unit transported. This is in particular for the long haul trades, but is also now a result of the Red Sea challenges, with parts of the Ag to Mediterranean trade having moved from Suezmaxes to the VLCCs sailing around Cape of Good Hope. There’s limited time charter activity for periods in excess of one year. However, we currently estimate the three-year time charter market, for a good ship to be in the mid $50,000 per day. And there is one client in the market now like asking for bids on this. And there is a field of owners offering on this, although higher than our estimated markets. In sum, we are increasingly confident about what is ahead of us. The discussion of fleet development and demographics might be repetitive. We have here a presentation of the development with a somewhat different illustration. We have applied some key market observations and assumptions. One, over 90% of the ships now older than 20 years of age are engaged in the shadow markets. Two, this fleet’s productivity is estimated to be some 50% of its nominal capacity. This is largely due to these ships rarely holding ports, but often during transshipments of cargoes involving numerous ships and hence delaying the delivery of cargo. And three, we assume ships will disappear from the shadow trade when they reach 25 years of age. As we’ve stated on numerous occasions, we expect the fleet to shrink over the coming years. The blue bars represents the fleet that has been, or is below 20 years of age. This part of the fleet is employed in the compliant markets, and its sizeable, its size probably peaked in 2021 with some 768 ships. When applying our observations and assumptions, we estimate the sub 20-year old fleet to shrink, to less than 730 ships by the end of 2027. As most of you well know, this happens at the time of growing oil demand and expanding transportation distances. The ships in the shadow trades, are serving a purpose in A market, but with a significant haircut in its productivity. We also take note that following the recent contracting of VLCCs, the activity has receded with apparently limited interest from shipowners in contracting large tankers, now, we are being told that interest is being directed to other ship types and classes. The VLCC order book now stands at some 5% of the sailing fleet supporting our constructive market. On that note, we will discuss our newbuilding projects. As announced, we have contracted four VLCCs all for delivery in 2026. They are contracted at what we deem to be the top quality shipyards for large tankers. The ships will be of super equal designs, implying premium earnings power and related reduced emissions. These ships will have a new engine model that is different from what is being adapted to most of the other newbuilding orders that have been reported over the past few months. Further, our newbuilding orders are of larger carrying capacity, both in deadweight and cubic terms, again when compared to most of the other orders that have been placed. This is expected to offer better economics, for both customers and DHT. For sake of clarity, we have no plan, to declare the options for the additional vessels. Our next priority would be, second on acquisitions, should we be able to identify opportunities attractive to DHT. As stated, we do not intend to issue any new capital in relation to this newbuilding project, and our financing plan consists of cash flow from operations, available liquidity and new mortgage debts. With respect to new mortgage debt, our base case assumes about $60 million per vessel, with a DHT-style financing structure. And importantly, the projects and our strategy assume that the dividend policy, with 100% of ordinary net income shall remain in place. This last slide is familiar, so we will wind up by saying that our markets are robust, providing good support and are steadily, all by gradually, improving. Our team is doing a great job in getting the most out of what the markets have to offer, delivering premium earnings for our ships. Contracting on new ships seems to have receded and supporting the highly constructive supply outlook, and we’ll stick to our meeting with a focus on first rate operations, and related financial results in anticipation of increasingly rewarding times ahead. And with that operator over to you.

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Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line Frode Morkedal from Clarksons Securities. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Frode Morkedal: Thank you. Hi Svein.

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: Hi Frode.

Frode Morkedal: I had a question on the VLCC and trading patterns. I feel like the smaller tankers we all know have been benefiting from diversion around Africa and longer ton miles. But what do you see on the VLCC trade pattern? I think you mentioned briefly that VLCC, is not taking Suezmax cargoes. Maybe you can elaborate on that. And are you seeing any other changes?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: It’s really related to the Red Sea, as I stated, that some of that Suezmax trade that typically went through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, are now being sort of put together on large ships on the East seas and thereby sailing around South Africa. So this is a smallish part of the market that is nevertheless sort of adding distances, if you like. So – I would say this is the primary change in the current environment. And we have one trade that is – on the door step of evolving, and that is the TMX project out of Vancouver, West Coast, Canada, where we expect a meaningful portion of that crude oil to head further south for transshipments over to VLCCs, and then to head to Asia, China in particular. And based this partly on the fact that one of the two Chinese state-owned oil companies, they own a quarter of the equity in this project. And – they have been discussing this with us and I’m sure with others, and expect that trade to evolve. So that is an interesting addition to VLCC, to the VLCC market. Beyond that, it’s just a general trend of really, there’s more barrels coming from the Atlantic. Petrobras is increasing production. Guyana will also, at some point, get more involved in the East seas. So and as I mentioned, the North Seas seem to be back, although sort of only with a couple of cargoes a month. But there’s some new incentives in Korea in particular, we understand, that will maybe stimulate that trade to potentially grow.

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Frode Morkedal: Okay, that’s interesting. That’s good color on the newbuild. You mentioned that they are super echo. Can you quantify the fuel consumption versus you know existing fleet? You have?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: The simple answer is no. So we know what it is, obviously, and we will be in detailed discussion with some of our key customers that are interested in these ships, on those particular sort of features. But it is a marked improvement from the five ships that we have that were all built in 2018, which is sort of the last class of these large vessel ships. So it’s a marked improvement. So they’re very excited about getting these assets into the water and get to see what they can deliver.

Frode Morkedal: Yes, so it will be interesting to know those facts when they arrived. My last question is on asset sentiment I feel like in the stock market at least, the investor sentiment has improved a lot recently, basically switching from let’s say, cautious approach to basically reflecting the fair fundamentals as we see at least. But how do you see the sentiment among ship owners in the physical world, so to speak? What’s the mood right now?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: I think some of the traditional tanker owners have, at least a couple of three of them have sort of made their bets on the newbuilding side, and they seem to be sort of content with what they have done. There seems to be still interest in the medium age to maybe older spectrum on the product side, but I’m not the authority on that market, so it’s not our market, so you should challenge other people on that. The asking prices for modern ships are quite on. The large tankers are quite elevated, and there are some interest around in particular from a couple of state-owned actors, so one being Bahri, which is Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:)’s ship holding arm. And I think that’s an encouraging significant, because they’re of course, very close to a significant state-owned oil company, who plays a very important role in the oil market in general. So if they are in need of more ships, I think that might be an indication of what their expectations are. They’re focusing on modern secondhand ships.

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Frode Morkedal: Perfect. Great, thanks. That’s all for me.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Omar Nokta from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Omar Nokta: Thank you. Hi, guys. Good morning. Good afternoon. Just wanted to just ask about the VLCC’s you mentioned and we’ve seen that the market for new orders has kind of cooled from other shipowners. You decided not to exercise the four options, and just wanted to ask just in terms of. I guess perhaps maybe on sentiment, but maybe just in general, big picture, why do you think there’s been a cooling in terms of new orders? And then also, is that cooling has a transition towards DHT, or was the plan all along not to really exercise those options?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: Well, that cooling has nothing to do with DHT. I think we stand independently in making our decisions. So this is sort of a coinciding event. I think there’s a couple of other markets that maybe now are looking attractive for some reason or another, and this is maybe a market that I’m not following so much. So, I can’t give you all the details on that, but that seems to be the case. But I think also at the get go now, there were not sort of a big horde of owners ready to order ships for a variety of reasons. I think they had other maybe projects and ambitions or priorities when it came to allocation of capital. So LNG seems still to suck up a lot of capital from the ship owning industry. And as you all know, those ships cost at least twice as much as VLCC. So yes it’s probably a mix of reasons. I think lastly, deliveries now are really four years. No, three years out at least. So looking into ’27, I think that could also be a bit of a turn off for most people. They would like to have ships earlier delivery, which is why we were a bit sort of keen to get our deal done quickly, because we had deliveries, which is now the first ships is less than two years to deliver. So we found that attractive. So it’s probably a mix of things.

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Omar Nokta: Okay, thanks, Svein that was very helpful.

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: But just to add, so, our decision is more that when you go to yard, you typically are offered options. And of course, you would like to have them. If we had a long-term project for several of these ships, then we would probably have gone ahead with one or several of them. But that is maybe not realistic in the short time. And this newbuilding project is north of $0.5 billion. It’s already a big commitment financially for the company. So to sort of double up on that, we think it would be too big a commitment on this point. Hence, the priority would be secondhand if we can find it. And there’s a big if on that, because it’s not a given.

Omar Nokta: Yes, no, clearly it makes sense. And maybe, you know what, I’ll just one quick follow-up. Just you mentioned, which I thought was interesting, the discussion of the vessels that are over 20 years of age having 50% productivity. Is that an assumption you’re making on perhaps the future, or is that something you’re actually seeing now? And is that. Is there anything similar for maybe vessels over 15 also in line with that?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: For the ships over 20, as we mentioned, over 90% of those ships are in the shallow trade. And this is what we see now. This is happening, because many of these ships are not fit to go into many of the load and discharge ports that is being used. So there’s a lot of transshipment, from smaller and into smaller ships. And this all takes a lot of time. It’s very inefficient. So that fleet, very quickly is not as productive as its nominal capacity would suggest. When it comes to ships between 15 and 20, the utilization is the same as for younger ships. We have four ships in this category, and there is no difference in utilization and productivity. The only thing is, from time-to-time, the freight rate that you are offered for a ship that is between 15 and 20, is then mostly at the marginal discount to what a more modern ship would achieve. But there’s no change in the productivity or efficiency.

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Omar Nokta: Okay, very good. Thank you, Svein.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Nolan from Stifel. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Benjamin Nolan: Yes, thanks. Good afternoon. Actually, I wanted to follow-up on the question about the options that Omar was talking about. It was just curious how long you have those options, or assuming that they’re still outstanding. Just trying to think about sort of the possibilities, as if, would it be possible to maybe flip those, should they get becoming the money and you can place the order and then resell it at higher price? Or is there any way to potentially monetize that? Or is the option duration just not probably long enough?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: We did not communicate the timeline of those options, so they had various declaration times and sort of a staggered schedule. So, we will leave it at that. I think the options would be in the money today. If you say that. I think realistically, to sort of resell those contracts or berths, you would have to declare them and make them a firm contract, for that to really be realistically possible. So it’s hard to sort of sell that paper and think you can sort of get, a few million in between. So I think that’s not an unrealistic case. And if we were to sort of pursue that avenue, it meant we had to commit to the contract first, right. And as I mentioned, we have other priorities if we are going to invest additional money now going forward, than to add new buildings at this point.

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Benjamin Nolan: Okay, that’s helpful. I appreciate it. And then just secondly, on the time charter contracts, you mentioned that the charter market was especially thin, which it seems it’s a little bit surprising given the, to me at least, the discount between where the spot market has been trading for a while and the kind of rate that you put out there, is that something you expect the margin to narrow, or especially as we move into the back half of the year and things normally get tighter and just sort of. How are you thinking about where you would like the fleet to be positioned from a spot versus contract standpoint?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: I think one aspect here is that shipowners with in-house operations, quality ships that are, so to say, eligible for these term businesses, they have quite solid expectations for the future. So the bid ask spread is quite wide. There is currently one project in the market where, companies looking for a three-year charter for one or more ships, all the bids, came in at average, let’s call it around 60, we believe, although we don’t have the details, but we believe so asking prices. And I think a project like that might clear in the mid-50s. That’s where the market probably is. So let’s see if this project will happen. So I think it’s a result of bid ask, but I think eventually there will be more end users coming to the market to try to secure tonnage, because as this market evolves, it will be attractive for them to secure ships for three years, also five years I would think so, but it’s a bit early in upcycle for that to truly evolve.

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Benjamin Nolan: And how are you thinking about sort of where you would like to be positioned from a percentage of your fleet?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: So, as you stated before, we have a clear ambition of building more fixed income for the company, but we prefer that fixed income to be of longer term nature. So, we are not entertaining, say, inquiries for one-year charters or two-year charters. And we also, of course, looking for the right money for the right ship, so there are finer details there for us to do things. But – so our customer base involves customers that typically will look for term charters. So assuming that we are right in this market evolving, then you should expect us to work hard to try to put some of that to bet.

Benjamin Nolan: All right, great. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll now move on to our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Petter Haugen from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Petter Haugen: Thank you. A quick question from me on prices here. In the newbuilding markets. We’ve been told that, there are discrepancies between geographies, obviously, but could you please Svein, help us quantify what it would actually mean now if you were to not with options, but coming fresh to the yard ask for a VLCC. And also then what timing of the liberation one should expect?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: If you go to Korea, the yards are asking north of $130 million, and that is for essentially for 27 delivery. Those ships will be of 300,000 ton designs, so i.e. smaller than the ships we have ordered. And the headline price also excludes scrubber. So this, of course, will all be basis for negotiation, right. But I would think it would have to start with a one-three handle, sort to make it happen. If you go to China, to the top yards in China, I call that three of those yards. They will be asking 123-ish, I think today also for 27 delivery. That is also a smaller ship. And also, typically the asking price excludes the scrubber, but it will be again down to negotiations. So that is the price delta and the delivery. Some of the top yards in China are running out of space for 27. So they actually have a tighter backlog than at least one of the Korean yards, whereby all the two other big Korean yards seem to be more content to their backlog and not really entertaining inquiries – with any excitement. So….

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Petter Haugen: Okay, that’s very helpful. Thank you. And just as a quick follow-up in the gray fleet or black fleet, if you will, what sort of TCE equivalents would, you retrieve, if you were to do illicit trading these days?

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: We’re not venturing into that, so we’re not even trying to smell it. So it’s – but of course, we are being told a little bit what it is. And some of the lump sum freights that are being paid are, call-it sort of twice what is being done in the compliant markets. And then it’s sort of down to how long time does it take to deliver cargo and so forth. But the capital, of course, invested in those ships are very different to what sort of the big public companies and the leading Greeks are running. So, I guess the returns are quite attractive, which is why they’re doing it.

Petter Haugen: Okay. No, that’s all from me. Thank you. Thanks so much.

Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. So I’ll hand the call back to Svein for closing remarks.

Svein Moxnes Harfjeld: Well, thank you very much to everyone who’s been on the call and listening to us, and thank you for staying tuned to DHT, wishing all a good day ahead. Bye-bye.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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Stock Markets

S&P 500 hovers near record high as Trump says he’ll demand lower interest rates

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Investing.com – The S&P 500 remained close to record highs Thursday as investors digested more corporate earnings  and remarks from President Donald Trump at Davos in which he said he would demand interest rates be lowered. 

At 12:47 ET (17:47 GMT), the rose 303 points, or 0.7%, while the  index was 0.2% higher, and the dropped 0.3%.

Trump says he’ll demand Fed drops interest rates at Davos

Trump delivered a speech remotely to the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland, touching on range of topics including interest rates, the US-China trade relationship, and domestic energy policy. 

On interest rates, Trump said he would

“demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise they should be dropping all over the world.” 

 

The remarks come ahead of the Fed meeting next week, with many on Wall Street expecting the central bank to hold rates steady, 

 

The rate sensitive 2-year Treasury was largely unchanged, however, as he Fed like many other world central banks is independent. 

 

The president did, however, pressure oil prices after saying he would ask Saudi Arabia to lower the price of oil and he reiterated a pledge to accelerate U.S. energy production. 

American Airlines slumps, EA falls on guidance cut; Ge Aerospace shines 

The quarterly corporate earnings season continues Thursday, with more senior companies releasing their results.

GE Aerospace (NYSE:) stock rose 7% after the aircraft engine supplier forecast a stronger full-year profit as demand for its high-margin parts and services got a boost from airlines flying older jets to sidestep a persistent shortage of new aircraft.

American Airlines (NASDAQ:) stock slumped 8% after the carrier’s first-quarter earnings outlook on Thursday fell short of expectations, forecasting an adjusted loss per share of 20 cents to 40 cents for the first three months of 2025, breaking from a more upbeat outlook from its rivals.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:) slumped 17% after the video game maker slashed its guidance for net bookings due to sluggish performance of its soccer titles.

“The drastic cut to Global Football’s near-term outlook does not provide a hard reset that investors looked for. Relative to a Battlefield delay, declines in Global Football are more alarming,” Oppenheimer said in a note. 

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:) stock rose 4% after fourth-quarter results showed improved operating margins, while Alaska Air (NYSE:) gained 4% after fourth-quarter results topped estimates on the top and bottom lines.

Labor market remains solid

Data released earlier Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing rose marginally last week, suggesting that solid job growth likely continued in January.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 223,000 for the week ended Jan. 18.

However, freezing temperatures that have gripped large parts of the country and fires in Los Angeles could boost claims in the coming weeks.

(Peter Nurse, Ayushman Ojha contributed to this article.)

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GenSight Biologics Reports End-of-Year Cash Position and Provides Business Update

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  • Capital increases in late 2024 provide sufficient working capital until expected resumption of early access program in February.
  • Review of LUMEVOQ ® dossier ongoing, following submission of responses to questions from the ANSM.

PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Regulatory News:

GenSight Biologics (“GenSight Biologics” or the “Company“) ( Euronext (EPA:): SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible), a biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, today reported its cash position as of December 31, 2024, and provided a business update.

Our recent bridge financing operations have provided us with operational flexibility as we await regulatory clearance for the resumption of our early access program, noted Jan Eryk Umiastowski, Chief Financial Officer of GenSight Biologics. We remain focused on prudent cash management while working closely with ANSM to restart our program. The potential restart of the early access program represents an important milestone that would significantly strengthen our financial position and support our continued development efforts.

Cash Position as of December 31, 2024

GenSight Biologics’ cash and cash equivalents totaled €2.5 million as of December 31, 2024, compared to €3.4 million on September 30, 2024.

The Company completed successful offerings in November and December 2024, through capital increases for gross amounts of approximately €2.8 million and €1.5 million, respectively, reserved to specialized investors. GenSight continues to work on optimizing cash management while ensuring a sustainable future.

To date, the Company does not have sufficient net working capital to meet its obligations over the next 12 months but only until late February 2025 when the first payments in connection with the potential resumption of the early access program (Autorisation d’Accès Compassionnel or AAC) are expected. With the potential indemnities generated by the resumption of AAC, the Company anticipates that it would have sufficient net working capital to meet its obligations over the next 12 months.

In November 2026, the Company will have to pay the annual rebates on the 2025 AAC program which will amount to around 50% of the AAC indemnities generated over the year. Consequently, the Company may need to seek other sources of debt or equity financing or achieve partnering or M&A opportunities, in order to supplement its working capital requirements and fund its operating expenses before the second half of 2026.

Regulatory Update

The French medicines safety agency ANSM (Agence Nationale de Sécurité des Médicaments et des produits de santé) is continuing its review of the LUMEVOQ ® quality dossier LUMEVOQ ® following the submission, on January 10, of the Company’s responses to the questions received from the agency in late December. GenSight teams, along with those of the treating center 15-20 National Hospital, are mobilized to act quickly on next steps once the ANSM’s green light is received.

Preparations for the new Phase III trial RECOVER and the planned submission to the UK’s MHRA are ongoing.

Number of outstanding shares

As of December 31, 2024, the Company’s share capital is composed of 124,774,445 shares.

Financial Calendar 2025

The Company’s financial calendar for 2025 is as follows:

Information

Date

2024 Full-Year Financial Update and Statements

March 19, 2025

2025 Q1 Cash Position

April 7, 2025

Annual General Meeting

May 12, 2025

2025 Q2 Cash Position

July 8, 2025

2025 Half-Year Financial Update and Statements

September 19, 2025

2025 Q3 Cash Position

October 7, 2025

2025 Q4 Cash Position

January 8, 2026

This financial calendar is provided for information only and may be subject to changes. The Company’s updated financial calendar is available on the corporate website.

About GenSight Biologics

GenSight Biologics S.A. is a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders. GenSight Biologics’ pipeline leverages two core technology platforms, the Mitochondrial Targeting Sequence (MTS) and optogenetics, to help preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from blinding retinal diseases. GenSight Biologics’ lead product candidate, LUMEVOQ ® (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec), is an investigational compound and has not been registered in any country at this stage; a marketing authorization application is currently under review by the EMA for the treatment of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease affecting primarily teens and young adults that leads to irreversible blindness. Using its gene therapy-based approach, GenSight Biologics’ product candidates are designed to be administered in a single treatment to each eye by intravitreal injection to offer patients a sustainable functional visual recovery.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding product development prospects and financial projections. These statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. A further list and description of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements in this press release can be found in GenSight Biologics’ regulatory filings with the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements and estimates, which speak only as of the date hereof. Other than as required by applicable law, GenSight Biologics undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release.

GenSight Biologics
Chief Financial Officer
Jan Eryk Umiastowski
jeumiastowski@gensight-biologics.com

LifeSci Advisors
Investor Relations
Guillaume van Renterghem
gvanrenterghem@lifesciadvisors.com
+41 (0)76 735 01 31

Source: GenSight Biologics

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UK teenager jailed for minimum of 52 years for Southport girls’ murders

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By Sam Tobin and Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – A British teenager who killed three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event was jailed for at least 52 years on Thursday, for an attack Prime Minister Keir Starmer called one of the most harrowing moments in Britain’s history.

Axel Rudakubana, 18, admitted killing the girls and stabbing 10 others last July in the northern English town of Southport, an atrocity that shocked Britain and was followed by days of nationwide rioting.

Prosecutor Deanna Heer told Liverpool Crown Court that Rudakubana was obsessed with violence and genocide, and two of his victims suffered such terrible injuries they were “difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature”.

Judge Julian Goose said Rudakubana should serve a minimum of 52 years. He said he could not impose a full life sentence as Rudakubana was 17 when the attack took place but he was unlikely ever to be released.

Twice during Thursday’s hearing, Rudakubana was removed from the dock after shouting he was unwell. He refused to return to court to hear his sentence.

The court was shown harrowing video footage of screaming girls fleeing the building. One bloodied girl collapsed outside, provoking gasps and sobs from the court’s public gallery.

“He targeted us because we were women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey,” Leanne Lucas, 36, the yoga teacher who organised the event and was stabbed five times, told the court.

Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, were killed. They were among 26 children attending the summer vacation event.

Two suffered at least 85 and 122 sharp force injuries Heer said, saying it appeared he had tried to decapitate one of them.

After his arrest, Rudakubana told police: “I’m glad those kids are dead, it makes me happy.”

Images and documents found on a computer at his home showed a long obsession with violence, killing and genocide, Heer said.

Rudakubana also admitted possessing an al Qaeda training manual and producing ricin, a deadly poison which the judge said it was likely the teenager would have used.

MURDERS NOT CONSIDERED TERRORISM

Heer said the murders were not considered terrorism as Rudakubana was not inspired by any particular political or religious ideology. Material mocking religions including Islam, Judaism and Christianity had been found on his devices.

“It is not possible to identify any particular terrorist cause,” Heer said. “Rather, the evidence suggests that the defendant’s purpose was the commission of mass murder as an end in itself.”

Rudakubana had been diagnosed with autism but his lawyer, Stan Reiz, said he did not have a mental disorder that explained his actions and there was little he could offer in mitigation for “such wickedness”.

Heer said Rudakubana had in 2019 contacted a helpline for children and asked: “What should I do if I want to kill somebody?”

Soon afterwards, he was expelled from school after admitting bringing in a knife 10 times, and was arrested with a knife in his backpack after returning and attacking a pupil with a hockey stick, Heer said.

Rudakubana had been referred to a counter-radicalisation scheme, Prevent, after researching school shootings, uploading images of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to Instagram and researching an attack in London, but no action was taken.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A prison van believed to contain suspect Axel Rudakubana, arrives under escort at Liverpool Crown Court in Liverpool, Britain, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

The government has ordered a public inquiry, saying there were grave questions to answer.

“After one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history we owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve,” Starmer said.

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