Operator
Operator
Good day and welcome to the Frontline Limited Q3 2014 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Robert Hvide Macleod. Please go ahead.
Frontline Ltd. (FRO)
Q3 2014 Earnings Call· Tue, Nov 25, 2014
$36.30
+0.86%
Same-Day
-2.40%
1 Week
+7.20%
1 Month
+92.00%
vs S&P
+91.22%
Operator
Operator
Good day and welcome to the Frontline Limited Q3 2014 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Robert Hvide Macleod. Please go ahead.
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Good morning and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our Q3 presentation. The presentation will proceed as follows; Inger will start presenting the Q3 highlights and the main transactions and then the financial review of the quarter. After that I will follow-up with earnings and market factors, the VLCC and Suezmax fleets, new building prices, and time charter rates, Frontline's present situation, and then the markets outlook. We will then open for questions. Inger, if you could please go ahead and start.
Inger M. Klemp
Management
Thanks Robert and good morning and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. And I would like you to move to slide 4, highlights and transactions. Frontline issued 1.1 million new shares under the ATM program in the third quarter. Frontline agreed with Ship Finance in July to terminate the long-term charter parties for the 1999 built VLCCs Front Opalia, Front Comanche and Front Commerce and those charter parties were terminated on November 4th, November 12th, and November 19th, respectively. In October, Frontline bought $17.8 million of its convertible bonds at the purchase price of 91.6%. Further in October, Frontline entered into a private agreement to exchange $23 million of its convertible bonds for net aggregate of 8.3 million shares and a cash payment of $10 million plus accrued interest. Then moving to slide 5, financial highlights and slide 6, income statement. Frontline reports a net loss of $59.6 million equivalent to a loss per share of $0.60 in the third quarter of 2014. This compares with a net loss of $78.2 million and a loss per share $0.81 for the preceding quarters. The net loss attributable to Frontline in the third quarter includes an impairment loss of $41.5 million relating to the VLCCs Front Opalia, Front Commerce, Front Comanche and Ulriken. It also includes a loss on de-consolidation of the Windsor Group in the third quarter of $3.6 million. Further a share of results from associates relating to Frontline's share on this income in Frontline's 2012 in the third quarter or approximately $3 million and also a minority interest of $4.7 million relating to minority interest in ITCL. Net income ex these items in the third quarter was $22.3 million, compared with $30.2 million loss in the second quarter. The increase in total operations in the third quarter compared to the…
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Thank you very much Inger. And let’s now move on to slide 11, earnings and market sectors. In terms of vessel earnings, the third quarter was much better than Q2 but it was by no means a quarter that we are content with. On the positive side we did see an improved fleet utilization driven by an increase in turn miles mainly driven by crude moving from the Atlantic Basin to China. According to the international energy agency, global oil demand increased by 1.6 million barrels per day compared to the previous quarter. The market remains very fragmented in terms of number of owners. We then move on to slide 12 please, the VLCC fleets. There are currently about 635 vessels in the VLCC fleet. There were four vessels delivered in the quarter and two vessels were sold for scrap. In other words Q3 has made little difference to the fleet development which remains fairly balanced. The fleet growth for 2015 is about 30 ships scheduled to deliver while we expect about 45 towards the end of 2016. Scrapping over the next two years we expect to be around 25 units in total but we are hopeful to see an increase in this number due to the increasing costs of third and fourth special survey. Let's move to slide 13 please, the Suezmax's. The fleets currently counts 456. There was one Suezmax delivery in the third quarter and there were two sold for scrap. So, no real change to the fleet in the quarter. However, increased turn mile and new volume coming on stream makes this segment increasingly interesting. Suezmax's also have the flexibility to dip into the Afframax segments. The fleet growth for next year is very limited with nine vessels scheduled to deliver and we expect at least…
Operator
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. We’ll now take our first question from Donald McLee of Wells Fargo.
Donald McLee
Analyst
Good morning guys.
Inger M. Klemp
Management
Good morning.
Donald McLee
Analyst
It looks like your spot earnings for your Suezmax vessels were a bit lighter than what we were hearing from peers and our marketing indications. Could you maybe provide us some details about you are seeing in the chartering market for those vessels?
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Yes, our earnings were slightly below the -- some of our peers but this is from quarter-to-quarter where we will differ and the difference is not large.
Donald McLee
Analyst
Alright, thanks and I’m just looking at your ATM, how many shares do you have remaining into that and I guess with the April maturity coming up, how aggressively should we expect you to issue those?
Inger M. Klemp
Management
It’s not a matter of number of shares, it is more a limit and the limit has remained at $39 million.
Donald McLee
Analyst
Okay, great. That’s helpful and I guess the last question is, how should we think about modeling the impact of the Windsor consolidation going forward?
Inger M. Klemp
Management
Going forward the Windsor will be consolidated from Frontline's account. So you will not see those numbers in Frontline's account going forward.
Donald McLee
Analyst
Alright, thank you. That were all of my questions.
Inger M. Klemp
Management
Thank you.
Operator
Operator
Thank you. We’ll now take our next question from John Reardon of Merriman Capital
John Reardon
Analyst
Good morning and thanks for taking my question. Given that the time charter rates have had a nice recovery might we see Frontline or say some of your competitors start to fix ships at longer term charters, just curious?
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
With the recent increase here it’s something that we will consider and I am sure others will as well.
John Reardon
Analyst
As a backup question, last year we had one heck of a rate spike and but it had kind of a temporary feel to it. I am not quite sure what costs that ships had a position, etc. this time around I am not saying rates can’t come in a little bit, I was kind of surprised when [indiscernible] Morgan Stanley put out a report and with the chart on V rates and all of them above 30 Grand for the quarter, does this have more of a sustainable feel because of these new oil routes from the Atlantic to the North Asia and does it have more of a sense of permanence to you?
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Yes, just one the last slide I think this is looking to be a longer or we will keep longer and also we’ll have higher loss than what we have seen. So on more positive on the market going forward here, than what has been for the recent years.
John Reardon
Analyst
Just to correct you, you said higher hires and higher lows which is exactly what Doug Parker at U.S. Airlines said when they turned profitable before the stock had a wonderful run. So I had a big grin on my face when you said that. Anyway thank you, and have a great holiday season.
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Thank you very much, you too.
Inger M. Klemp
Management
Thank you.
Operator
Operator
Thank you, we’ll now take our next question from Erik Stavseth of Arctic Securities.
Erik Stavseth
Analyst
Hi guys, jumping right into two questions one, on the company and one on the market. The first company is, you said you wanted to rebuild Frontline into a leading tanker company. Firstly is that purely on the crude side or will it be, would you be considering a mix of product in crude and also any additional thoughts on how that might go about?
Inger M. Klemp
Management
There are as we say in the press release, there are several alternatives that we are considering and that many options exist. I think it’s too early to tell what we decide on. So we need to get back to that when we have decided.
Erik Stavseth
Analyst
Alright, thank you. Second question probably more on the market. I mean we were seeing that the Middle East refineries are hitting their stride with round pops and also getting into full production and I wanted to sort of get your -- if you have any thoughts on the impact on the crude tanker market, I mean Robert you are now listed as the CEO of Frontline Management in both Frontline 2012 and Frontline, so I was curious to get your thoughts on that aspect of the industry?
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Now as we were speaking here on the Frontline side, so when it comes to the Middle East, the refineries of this -- and the Red Sea is coming up and it is a very important region in terms of refining capacity.
Erik Stavseth
Analyst
Alright, thank you.
Operator
Operator
Thank you. We’ll now take our next question from GJ Cummings [ph] of SolTech [ph]
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Yes, good afternoon from London. You seemed quite confident to find a solution for your outstanding bond and lease finance that because you have been buying bonds in the market with cash. Could you give us a ballpark, what is your intention to first deal with the bonds debt and then consequently reduce the lease debt or is that your intention to have a combined solution and to what level do you think you need to reduce your lease debt in order to have a sustainable company and at what level do you think your breakeven cost should be low to have a long-term future and to sustain well whatever balance sheet is left over after a restructuring our equity issue?
Inger M. Klemp
Management
As I said earlier, I mean we are in the process now of considering different components.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
That’s a little light because you are buying bonds in the market with cash so you must have a little more than just we are considering, what is the lease debt level in your view, to what level does it need to be reduced?
Inger M. Klemp
Management
No, we don’t have any limit to that sort of questions that you are asking. But as you’re saying yes we have been buying back bonds and we have also done equity – and that’s probably we can maybe do that also going forward but we haven’t really decided exactly what to do. So it’s hard for me to tell you that tear down in this conference.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
But you can’t be buying bonds in the market with cash with having no idea about what you’re doing, so you must have some idea? There must be a solution, you must have a backup plan otherwise you should not be buying bonds in the market with cash?
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
I think what we are saying is we cannot comment further on this at the moment.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Okay, but can you comment on what you think is a sustainable lease debt level is going forward?
Inger M. Klemp
Management
No, we cannot do that either. So we’ll get back to that when we have something to tell.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Right, okay. And what is your view for a long term sort of cost level on breakeven rates. Where do you need to get it to, do you have any ideas on that?
Inger M. Klemp
Management
As I said, I think we will get back to these items when we have a solution in place.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Okay. Well in that case I have no more questions? Thank you very much.
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Thank you.
Operator
Operator
Thank you. We’ll now take our next question from Paul Jay [ph] of Washer Meadows Investments [ph].
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
My question is about the loading ports in the United States, are there any that can load VLCCs for export?
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
It’s very limited. Let me -- we can have -- I will talk to you separately afterwards, and go into more detail.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Thank you. Happy Holidays.
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
You too, thank you.
Operator
Operator
We’ll now take our next question from Eric Harvardson [ph] of Persho [ph]. Eric your line is open if you wish to ask a question?
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Sorry guys, for a leading tanker company what’s a suitable fleet age average?
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
That’s a tricky one to answer.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Okay, I understand. Thank you.
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
I can't give you a correct answer.
Unidentified Analyst
Analyst
Alright, thank you that was it.
Operator
Operator
[Operator Instructions]. There are no further questions at this time.
Robert Hvide Macleod
Management
Okay. Then thank you for dialing into this call and I would like to thank everyone at Frontline for their excellent efforts.