Monday, August 28, 2023
Dear Shareholders and Investors,
Please see HIGHLIGHTS and the enclosed report for first half of 2023.
Highlights:
- The net income for the first half of 2023 is in excess of $100 million higher than for the same period last year. The net income for the first six months of 2023 totaled $73.7 million compared to the net loss of -$30.9 million during the first six months of 2022. The direction of NAT is unquestionably on the upward path. The numbers for the second quarter of 2023 are included later in this report.
- It has been decided that the dividend for the second quarter of 2023 will be 13 cents ($0.13) per share, up from a 3 cent dividend in the same quarter last year. The dividend is payable October 5, 2023 to shareholders of record as of September 14, 2023. So far in 2023 NAT has declared 43 cents in dividends per share. Higher earnings will result in higher dividends.
- The average Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) for our spot vessels (15) during the Second quarter of 2023 came in at $43,200 per day per ship. Including vessels on term contracts (4), the total average NAT TCE was $39,300 per day per ship. During the same quarter last year the TCE was $20,080 per day per ship. This is one of the strongest second quarter TCE’s ever achieved in NAT’s 28-year history.
- Bookings for the third quarter are also on track, indicating a historically strong third quarter. About 57% of our spot voyage days for the third quarter of 2023 have now been booked at an average TCE of $34,800 per day per ship. There is a scarcity of our type of ships, leading to better results and higher dividend.
- Oil demand continues to be strong. Higher interest rates combined with higher oil prices have kept oil inventories low and leaves a limited buffer ahead of the winter. War, Political uncertainty, a fragmented trade picture and a tight supply of ships offer a set of interesting dynamics ahead for the NAT oil tankers.
- NAT has one of the lowest debt levels among publicly listed tanker companies. Our net debt stood at $159.8 million equal to $8.4 million per ship at June 30, 2023. The objective of NAT clearly remains to become free of debt.
- The NAT fleet of versatile suezmax tankers offers flexibility in loading and discharging ports. Through careful voyage planning and adjustment of speed of our vessels is reducing emissions. Irrespective of age, each individual ship in the NAT fleet is of excellent technical quality, as demonstrated in the vetting statistics.
For contacts, please see the end of this communication.
Sincerely,
Herbjorn Hansson
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Nordic American Tankers Ltd. www.nat.bm
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,” “will,” “may,” “should,” “expect,” “pending” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC’s petroleum production levels and worldwide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement, our Annual Report on Form 20-F, and our reports on Form 6-K.
Contacts:
Bjørn Giæver, CFO
Nordic American Tankers Ltd
Tel: +1 888 755 8391
Alexander Kihle, Finance Manager
Nordic American Tankers Ltd
Tel: +47 91 724 171
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