Ole Hjertaker
Analyst · Randy Giveans. Please ask your question
Thank you, and welcome all to SFL's fourth quarter conference call. I will start the call by briefly going through the highlights of the quarter, and following that our CFO; Aksel Olesen, will take us through the financials, and the call will be concluded by opening up for questions. Before we begin our presentation, I would like to note that this conference call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, estimates, or similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our current plans and expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause future activities and results of operations to be materially different from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ includes conditions in the shipping, offshore, and credit markets. For further information, please refer to SFL's reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share. This is our 64th quarter with profits and dividends, and the dividend represents $1.40 per share on an annualized basis or around 10% dividend yield based on closing price of $13.45 on Friday. Over the years, we have paid nearly $27 per share in dividends or $2.3 billion in total and we have a significant fixed rate charter backlog supported continued dividend capacity going forward. The total charter revenues was $159 million in the quarter, with 90% of this from vessels and long-term charters, and 10% from vessels employed on short-term charters and in the spot market. The EBITDA equivalent cash flow in the quarter was approximately $123 million, up from $117 million in the previous quarter, and last 12 months, the EBITDA equivalent has been approximately $485 million. The reported net income for the quarter was approximately $24 million or $0.22 per share. This was after a non-cash impairment of $34 million on offshore assets. But, we also had some positive gains in mark-to-market movements on equity securities, particularly relating to Frontline shares, offsetting part of that effect. And we have added $225 million in charter backlog recently, as a combination of asset acquisitions and charter adjustments linked to scrubber investments, and our fixed rate backlog stands at approximately $3.6 billion. During the fourth quarter , we freed up most of the capital tied up in Frontline shares on the back of strong share price performance in the quarter. We sold 7.6 million shares or two thirds of our holdings at an average price of close to $11 per share and still keep the market exposure to 3.4 million shares through a forward contract expiring in June. The net effect is that we freed up more than $100 million in cash in the fourth quarter. In October and November, we took delivery of the last two 300,000 deadweight on crude oil carriers or VLCCs with charters back to Hunter Group. The purchase price of $60 million per vessel is very attractive compared to the estimated charter fee values of more than $100 million per vessel. We financed $142 million on the three vessels, so equity investment was an aggregate $37.5 million. The charter period is five years, and the transaction added around $33 million per vessel to our charter backlog. In early January, we finalized documentation and funded the cost of installation of scrubbers on seven out of eight vessels on charter to Golden Ocean. We will be compensated for the cash investment through an increase in the charter rate, but importantly the profit share threshold that will remain the same as before. With the scrubbers installed, we believe that the vessel will have a higher earnings potential, and with a threshold for profit share remaining around $18,500 per day per vessel, we believe there is increased potential for profit share going forward. In the fourth quarter, before scrubber fitting, there was $600,000 in profit split on the bulkers, but there was more profit split on the tankers on charter to Frontline, totaling $3.3 million in the quarter, despite the fact that one of these vessels was out of service for dry-docking and scrubber installation during half of the quarter. Both the remaining two Frontline vessels now have scrubbers installed and are operating in the spot market, and economics relating to the scrubber upgrades holds true with owners keeping the delta and the fuel costs currently around $200 per ton. For VLCCs, the effect could be $2 million to $3 million additional net earnings at the current spread between the fuel grades depending on vessel specification and freight. We have also agreed with Maersk Line to extend charters for three additional 9,000 to 10,000 TEU vessels in combination with installing scrubbers. We added $160 million to the charter backlog for the last few vessels, but more importantly we also have a profit share relating to the scrubber economics on seven out of the 10 large vessels we have on charter to Maersk Line. Vessels of this size use around 20,000 tons to 23,000 tons of fuel split per year; and with current price difference of $200 per ton, this could have a significant revenue effect for us going forward. The agreement there is that we will get most of the economics until we have recouped our investment with a good return on capital, and thereafter our customer will get more of the economics. Of the seven vessels, the first vessel will leave the shipyard any day now, and the remaining vessels are scheduled to be upgraded during 2020, so full effect is expected next year. Given the logistics challenges due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, some of the installations will most probably be later in the year than originally planned. Earlier this month, we sold a 2002-built VLCC Front Hakata to an unrelated third party. This was the last vessel remaining from the initial fleet of 47 vessels acquired from Frontline in 2003; and following this transaction, the company has only two scrubber-fitted VLCCs remaining on charter to a subsidiary of Frontline Limited. The net cash proceeds to SFL from that sale was approximately $30 million, after a compensation to Frontline for the early termination of the charter. The book effect of the sale is expected to be neutral. We have also recently agreed to sell three of the vessels previously uncharted to a subsidiary of Solstad Offshore ASA. Two vessels have been sold to an unrelated third party, while, one vessel will be recycled in Norway at the green recycling facility according to the strict European ship recycling regulation. The market for offshore support vessels is very challenging and the vessels have remained in layups since 2016. We have evaluated several alternatives for the asset, but given the age of the vessels and limited capital invested, we believe a sale of the two vessels and recycling of the third is the better alternative for us. The termination of the charter the Solstad is based on mutual agreement and not affecting the ongoing standstill agreement, nor our overall net claim into the restructuring. As a result of the continued uncertainty around the remaining two assets, we have essentially written the assets down to a very conservative low level and recorded a noncash impairment of $34.1 million in the fourth quarter. The impact for us is relatively marginal, as it is less than 1% to our balance sheet. We do not have any mortgage debt on the vessels and the charters were removed from a backlog more than a year ago, given the uncertainty already at that time. And finally we would like to mention that we recently raised the NOK600 million, Norwegian kroners, or the equivalent of $67 million, through a new five year unsecured bond loan. The proceeds were raised at NIBOR or Norwegian Inter based borrowing rate plus a margin of 4.4%, which is well below previous unsecured bond loans, down from NIBOR plus 4.75% in 2018 and NIBOR plus 4.6% last year. All the proceeds, as usual, have been swapped to U.S. dollars at a fixed interest rate and the last bond loan was booked at the rate of approximately 5.9%. Following the recent charter extensions our charter backlog now stands at approximately $3.6 billion, and additionally $500 million has been added the last 12 months. Over the years, we have changed both fleet composition and structure, and we now have 88 vessels and rigs and no vessels remaining from the initial fleet in 2004. We have gone from a single asset class chartered to one single customer to a diversified fleet and multiple counterparties. And over time the mix of the charter backlog has varied from a 100% tankers to nearly 60% offshore, and at one stage two containers now being the largest segment with more than 50% of the backlog. We do not have a set mix in the portfolio, focus is on evaluating deal opportunities across the segments, and try to do the right transaction from a risk reward perspective. Over time, we believe this will balance itself out from a segment mix perspective. Last year, we evaluated transactions totaling more than $22 billion in aggregate, or more than four times our balance sheet. It is there for more of a coincidence, that the gross volume of investments in 2018 was higher than last year, but we tried to be careful and conservative in our investments and not just invest because money is burning in our pockets. Our strategy has also been to maintain a strong technical and commercial operating platform, in cooperation with our sister companies in the Seatankers group. This gives us the ability to offer a wide range of services to our customers from structured financing to full service time charters. But more importantly, we also believe, it gives us unique access to deal flow in our core segments. And unlike most other companies with a financing profile in the maritime world, more than 60% of our cash flow come from vessels on time charter, where we control the maintenance and the operating standard of the vessel, and less than 40% from payable charter vessels, where the customer is doing this. On the light of sight, SFL has a fleet of 48 container vessels and two car carriers. And with the exception of two feeder size container ships, all our container vessels are employed on long-term fixed rate charters, and therefore not exposed to short-term fluctuations in the market. We have recently increased our backlog by nearly $300 million in connection with scrubber upgrades and related charter adjustments to container ships. And several additional vessels are expected to be upgraded with scrubbers paid for by our customers. On the dry bulk side, we have 22 vessels in the fleet with 13 larger vessels charted out on long-term basis and seven handy sized vessels and two Supramax bulkers traded in the spot market. One of our long-term objectives is to combine stability and predictability and cash flow spill optionality, as you've seen over time that market volatility can generate super returns from time to time. The profit share arrangement we have at Golden Ocean, as mentioned earlier, is a good example of this, with increased earnings potential after the scrubber upgrades. The Kamsarmaxes in the dry bulk fleet and most of the Supramaxs' all on long-term fixed rate time charters, while the two Supramaxes and seven handy sized dry bulk carriers continue to trade in the spot market. The average rates achieved for these vessels this quarter were approximately $8500 per day, modulated down from $9,100 per day in the previous quarter. In the tanker segment, SFL has 11 crude oil products and chemical tankers, most of which are employed on long-term charters. And the vessels represent around 8% of the charter backlog. The crude oil tankers chartered the Frontline Shipping Limited around $20,000 per day base rate per day in the quarter, plus a profit share of $3.3 million. And as mentioned previously, all our remaining VLCCs have already installed scrubbers. The average daily time charter equivalent rate from the companies to modern Suezmax tankers was approximately $33,000 per day in the quarter, compared to $18,700 per day in the previous quarter. One of these has just had scrubbers installed, while the second will be dried up later in the quarter, where scrubbers also will be added on that vessel. This will take place in Singapore. So, not subject to the same logistical issues are similar work in China these days. Up until 2017, the offshore segment was our largest segment for a long period, but is now down to around to 25% of our charter backlog, and we own three rigs and two offshore support vessels after the recent sales. The charter hired from the drilling rigs were $27 million in the quarter. Seadrill has sub-chartered the harsh environment jack-up rig, West Linus, to ConocoPhillips until the end of 2028. And the harsh environment semisubmersible rig West Hercules, has recently been awarded multiple consecutive sub-charters in the North Sea, and it's now working for Equinor. Including the West Linus, we have reduced the net debt from $1.9 billion initially on the Seadrill rigs to below $600 million currently, or less than $200 million per rig. And of this aggregates outstanding loan balance, less than 50% is currently guaranteed by SFL. And with that, I would like to give the word over to our CFO, Mr. Olesen, who will take us through the financial highlights for the quarter.