Dry anchors to drop
Angeliki Frangou predicted lay-ups on the horizon for the battered dry-cargo market as Navios Maritime Holdings booked a slightly worse than projected fourth quarter performance.
Frangou told investors the worst bulker market in 30 years has led to both increased scrapping and a slowdown in newbuilding deliveries.
“Should the current market environment continue, we may also see lay-ups of vessels,” she said in the New York-listed owner’s fourth quarter report.
“These developments suggest the market is rationalizing and given the continued strong demand for the underlying commodities, we should expect a healthier market in the medium term.”
Navios booked a deficit of $4.98m in the final three months of 2014, beating the $69.98m red figure seen a year ago.
Adjusted for one-off items, the loss sat at $19.24m, slightly deeper than at this point in 2013.
Earnings per share after adjustments came in at negative $0.22, two cents worse than Wall Street had expected despite a stronger revenue showing.
Frangou said she was happy with the quarter in which adjusted EBITDA reached $37.8m.
Full-year loss reduced
Navios Holdings lost $56.23m for the full-year, half the red figure at the bottom of its 2013 balance sheet.
An adjusted loss of $56.20m for last year was also ahead of the $57.14m seen 12 months previously.
While the owner’s bulkers battle a weak market, group companies are lending a hand.
An $8.1m dividend was received from Navios Maritime Partners this month, while tanker spin-off Navios Maritime Acquisition paid a $3.6m cheque at the start of January.
source:www.tradewindsnews.com
