SOIEF (SOIEF) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good afternoon, and welcome to Stolt-Nielsen's earnings call for the second quarter of 2026. As always, the earnings release and related materials are available on our website. We will be recording this session and playback will be available on the website tomorrow. Included in this presentation are various forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and we refer you to our latest annual report for further details. I'm Alex Ng, Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy. Joining me today are Udo Lange, CEO; and Jens Gruner-Hegge, CFO. At the end of the presentation, there will be a Q&A session where we will take questions. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. And over to you Udo.

Thank you so much, Alex, and good afternoon, everyone. As usual, I will open with the group highlights for the quarter. Jens will then walk you through the financials, and I will come back to cover each of our divisions in turn, our view of the market and some closing thoughts before we move to questions. With that, let's turn the page. We delivered a steady performance in the second quarter despite the market shock in the Middle East causing significant market disruption. Group EBITDA came in at $177 million, which is a strong performance in the context of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has reshaped global supply chains over the last 4 months. The relative stability of the results are a testament of the diversification of risk within our business model. We are not a shipping company that does logistics. We are a logistic company that operates ships. Stolt Tankers delivered a stable quarter-on-quarter performance despite the volatile market and non-tanker activities contributed 45% of group EBITDA this quarter with Stolthaven Terminals achieving its highest ever quarterly operating profit. The ceasefire framework announced in June allows for a period of increased shipping activity in the region. However, the situation remains volatile. We are monitoring developments day by day. Near-term, market visibility remains unclear, and we remain cautious to have chosen not to reinstate earnings guidance at this time. That said, we do expect our performance to improve in the third quarter of the year. We will say more on the market and outlook later. Two other points I want to highlight. During the quarter, we were happy to announce the launch of a new digital innovation center. Innovation is embedded in how we solve problems, improve performance and create long-term value. So the opening of our digital innovation center in Hyderabad is a meaningful step forward in how we use data and AI across the group. And following approval at the AGM in April, we paid a final dividend of $1 per share in May, bringing the total dividend for 2025 to $2 per share. Let's move to our financial highlights on the next page. Taking the key Q2 performance metrics in turn. Revenue was $750 million, up around 5% on the same quarter last year. This is largely the effect of the Suttons acquisition by STC. EBITDA was $177 million, down 16% year-over-year, reflecting softer tanker rates, tighter margins at STC and Suttons integration costs. Operating profit was $94 million, down $70.5 million year-over-year, impacted by lower contract freight rates as well as Suttons A&G and integration costs. Net profit was $52 million, down 31%, driven by the same factors as well as FX losses in quarter 2 of '26 versus an FX gain in quarter 2 '25. Free cash flow was strong at $100 million. This was impacted by higher capital expenditure in the comparator, largely due to newbuilding deposits in Stolt Tankers joint ventures. Net debt-to-EBITDA stood at 3.16x. This increase principally reflects lower EBITDA as net debt has remained relatively stable. The underlying resilience of our business is clear from the cash generation and operating performance relative to the external environment. Over the page, let's look at some of the key drivers of performance. At Stolt Tankers, deepsea TCE per operating day came in at $23,372 per operating day, a decline of 11% on the prior year. Despite the headline, we are pleased to have seen a reversal of the downward trend in TCE with increases month-on-month during the quarter. Solar terminals saw positive utilization development, which rose to 93.4%, up 1.3 percentage points versus last year, helped by new business. Gross profit per shipment fell 16.5% year-over-year at STC, which reflects the margin pressure within that market, even as shipment volumes grew strongly on the integration of Suttons. Looking at the EBITDA breakdown, non-tankers contributed 45% of the total, up from around 42% in the same quarter last year, showing the importance of our diversification. Jens, over to you for the financials. Jens Grüner-Hegge: Thank you, Udo. Good afternoon, and good morning to those of you joining us from the U.S. I will compare the second quarter of '26 against the second quarter of '25. And just as a reminder, our second quarter started March 1 and ended on May 31. So let's dive into the numbers for this quarter. Revenue, as was mentioned, was up $37.4 million over the same quarter last year, predominantly driven by the acquisition of Suttons, which contributed $36.7 million in revenue this quarter. Stolthaven Terminals and Stolt Sea Farm increased by $2.5 million and $5.5 million, respectively, and that was offset by $11.4 million lower revenue in Stolt Tankers, as mentioned by Udo, mostly due to lower COA freight rates due to cargo mix and as rates have gradually come off the peaks that we saw in late 2024. Operating expenses increased by $43 million, mainly due to the additional Suttons shipments and the related expenses, as well as the consolidation of Avenir and added shipowning expenses due to a larger wholly owned fleet, partly offset by lower time charter expense and lower bunker costs. Depreciation expense was $3.2 million higher than the same quarter last year, and this was due to the reduction in the residual value of ships following a fall in steel prices towards the end of 2025, requiring an upwards revision in depreciation. Also, the net asset base increased following the acquisition of Sutton and hence, also the depreciation. But note that we have recorded Avenir as a held-for-sale business and as such, we are no longer depreciating the Avenir assets on our books and the impact of that was $4.1 million, and you can see that in the reduction in depreciation from the first quarter of this year. JV equity income was lower due to the weakening of chemical tanker markets over the last 18 months. And A&G expense was up $11.5 million, and that was predominantly driven by the addition of Suttons staff and the integration costs as well as last year's or 1 year worth of inflation and an increase in IT development costs. This was partly offset by lower profit sharing accruals. Then gain on sale of assets related to the sale of 3 ships during the quarter. And with that, we end up with an operating profit for the quarter of $93.8 million, and that's down from $113.7 million in the second quarter last year, but up $12 million from the first quarter of this year. Net interest expense was down $4.7 million compared to the second quarter of '25 as debt levels have come down from the peak seen last year following the acquisition of Suttons, Hassel Shipping 4 and Avenir. And note that we also had a negative swing in FX, as Udo mentioned, that swing was $11.2 million against us compared with the same quarter last year. And as such, the net profit for the quarter was $51.7 million with EBITDA of $177.3 million, down from $75.2 million and $210.1 million, respectively, in the same quarter last year. Let's go and take a look at the cash flow. Net cash from operations was down this last quarter, predominantly reflecting the weaker earnings and higher working capital outflow as well as lower JV dividends. Net operating cash flow benefited from lower interest payments and lower income tax paid compared to the same quarter last year, and that was predominantly driven by the lower results in SDC. Net cash used in investing activities was lower at $34.5 million, and that was down from $86.4 million last year, and that's due to lower capital expenditure and investments in JVs, partly offset by lower proceeds from sale of assets. The sales proceeds predominantly relate to 3 ships sold during the quarter, as mentioned on the previous slide. Net cash used in financing activities of $97.9 million reflect the dividends paid in May this year and continued net repayments on debt and leases. And as such, total cash flow for the quarter was a negative $38.5 million. And as you can see on the graph at the bottom right, we ended the quarter with $495 million in available liquidity. Going over to the capital expenditures. During the quarter, this totaled $34 million, with mostly spent on terminal expansions, tankers life extensions of existing tonnage as well as Stolt Sea Farm expansion CapEx. Overall, for '26, we expect to spend approximately $290 million. That will grow to $537 million in '27 as deliveries under the newbuilding program for tankers accelerate. You'll see that with a $372 million in '27. And I just want to note that most of this has or is close to already being financed. Note that this overview excludes tanker dry docking costs and Avenir's CapEx as Avenir is accounted for as held for sale, as I mentioned earlier. We intend to continue to invest strategically in our businesses, but we also need to focus on integrating our added capacity into our operations for maximized long-term benefit for our customers and our shareholders. And with the current geopolitical uncertainties, we will be cautious with committing to further CapEx until we see the full effects of the current unrest. Going over to the debt profile. This is our debt maturity profile. Just to explain, the gray boxes represent normal principal repayments, while the black and orange reflect balloon payments on bank loans and bonds, respectively. The repayment profile peaks in 2028. And you can see with the orange box there, we have the first significant maturity, and that's one of our maturing bonds out of the 2 bond issues outstanding. Looking at the bottom left graph, gross debt reduced in the second quarter due to the Avenir being accounted for as held for sale. So $143 million in Avenir debt is no longer included in this overview. Our average long-term interest rate in the second quarter was 5.58%, a continued reduction from the previous quarter as our corporate finance team led by Julian Villar, continued to refinance our debt at improved rates. And finally, the continued steady performance of the company supports our covenants. The decrease in debt during the second quarter helped reduce debt to tangible net worth to 0.97. The reduction in EBITDA over the last year have brought the rolling last 12 months EBITDA down to $745 million, down from $825 million in the second quarter of 2025. And this has had a slight negative impact on the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio, which increased to 3.16, whilst EBITDA to interest expense was down to 5.25. That said, overall, we have substantial headroom on all covenants. And with that, Udo, I would like to hand it back to you.

Yes. Thank you so much, Jens. I'll now take us through the highlights from each of our divisions. Let's start with Stolt Tankers. Revenue was $409 million, down 3% year-over-year. The decline reflects softer contract rates, partially offset by higher volumes and stronger spot pricing due to rising bunker costs and a strong U.S. spot market. EBITDA was $98 million and operating profit $52.5 million. The year-over-year decline in operating profit reflects lower freight rates and higher bunker costs, partly offset by $4 million of gains on the disposal of 3 vessels and slightly lower owning expenses. Operating days were marginally up, reflecting the net addition of 1 ship to the fleet. Within our volume mix, COO share increased to 54%. It's worth noting that the rate and volume picture breaks down quite differently between contract and spot business this quarter. COA volumes were up 10%, but COA rates were down a little over 20% as we have been seeing an increase in commodity chemicals, which typically have a lower freight rate. The rate renewal trend has improved somewhat. COAs renewed in the second quarter at an average rate decrease of 4%, a smaller decline than we have seen in recent quarters. My thanks to Maren and her team who continue to navigate a generally difficult operating environment with real focus on delivering the quality, reliability and flexibility our customers expect from us. Looking more closely at tanker rate trends. TCE for the quarter was $23,372 per operating day. This was down 11% on last year, but still comfortably above the 2018 to '22 average of $19,825 per day and broadly in line with the 10-year average of $23,303. During the quarter, we saw a reversal of the downward TCE trend we have been seeing for the last few quarters. We saw an increase every month in the second quarter with May TCE climbing above $24,500 per day. The chart to the left reflects just how sharp the move has been since March. The Deep Sea Chemical index is up around 80% since the conflict in the Middle East began driving volatility in freight markets. The effect comes both ways. Some routes are seeing upward pressure on rates and ton-mile demand and others downward pressure, and we are watching this closely as it evolves. In a market moving this quickly, what matters most is not scale, but adaptability. We are staying close to our customers, reading the ecosystem and reacting fast. Again, the diversification point is worth repeating. This is where our model delivers. We are more than a chemical tanker business. We are the world's largest chemicals logistics company. Stolthaven Terminals had an excellent quarter, achieving steady performance across the financial KPIs and delivering a record quarterly operating profit. I'd like to thank Guy and his team for these exceptional results. Revenue was $82 million, up 3% year-over-year, driven by improved utilization as well as storage rate escalation on existing contracts, new business and a favorable foreign exchange effect. We are delighted that our strategy on improving utilization is bearing fruits as utilization reached 93.4%, up from 92.1% a year ago. Operating profit of $29 million was the highest quarterly performance on record, marginally up year-on-year. The revenue improvement and a slight decline in operating expenses more than offset a lower contribution from joint ventures, mainly due to weaker performance at Antwerp and start-up costs at our new terminal in Taiwan. Looking forward, we expect the storage market to continue to remain stable, utilization to continue to gradually improve through the year and costs to remain well controlled. U.S. capacity additions in Houston and New Orleans remain on track. These are a good example of the disciplined selective investment approach we apply across the group, and these expansions should support earnings growth from Q2, Q4 on. SDC results were impacted by the tough market conditions. Revenue was up significantly 23% year-over-year. This was driven by the acquisition of the Suttons business, which pushed total shipments up 21% to just over 48,000 shipments in the quarter. Underlying volume, excluding Suttons were broadly flat. Adjusting for the $4 million of Suttons integration costs incurred in the quarter, STC's underlying profit was $3.7 million, reflecting tighter transportation margins and lower demurrage and ancillary revenue. Including Suttons results, STC overall had an operating loss of $0.3 million. Of course, we are disappointed with this performance, and the STC team is already implementing performance improvement measures to counter this trend. The Suttons integration is going on as planned with the bulk of the costs now recognized. In addition, we were seeing an improved margin trend during the quarter. Gross profit per shipment was up versus the first quarter, and we have seen month-on-month operational improvements building out through the quarter. I want to thank Hans and his team for their agile response in turning the business around with visible improvement back to a profit towards quarter end. We continue to take a prudent view in the short term and manage the business tightly as visibility in this market is limited and margins remain constrained. Let me pass you to Alex now to cover the market backdrop before I close with some final remarks, and then we move to questions.

Thank you, Udo. I'll start with the chemical and feedstock market backdrop since the closure of the strait. Overall, chemical supply chains proved more resilient than expected as countries and producers adjusted utilization, maintenance schedules and sourcing strategies. The Hormuz closure has been a significant supply chain shock given its position as a key source of chemical and chemical feedstocks. We saw an 80% reduction in tanker transits in the region and a 15% drop in global chemical trade volumes versus pre-war levels. That volatility and the resulting regional imbalances pushed chemical spot freight rates up by 20% to 30%. Two export regions helped fill part of that gap. In the U.S., producers benefited from a feedstock advantage with continued crude and ethane availability, supporting a 40% increase in exports to Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific also proved more resilient. Chemical production in the region largely continued, albeit at low utilization levels as China used its strategic chemical feedstock reserves to increase exports by 20% and support regional supply. We're seeing early signs of activity returning, but uncertainty remains elevated and conditions change daily. The [indiscernible] framework announced last month was a positive development for global energy trade flows, but it remains an evolving situation and the outlook for a full resumption of safe and reliable transit through this trade remains uncertain. We expect gradual normalization to play out in 3 phases. First, transit assumption following a safe and orderly reopening. Before the closure, around 130 vessels move through the strait each day. At the low point, that fell to around 10 to 15 vessels. Whilst we have seen recent positive development to around 40 ships per day, we still sit well below pre-conflict levels. Given events in the last couple of days, we have seen something of a slowdown in activity, but it's too soon to tell whether this is short-lived or not. The second phase is vessel repositioning. Inbound traffic should build as ships reenter the region to support cargo flows. Such a development will require greater clarity on security, insurance and operating conditions through the strait. The third phase is a durable cargo recovery and the restoration of energy flows, assuming a safe reopening of the strait. Current estimates suggest crude and energy flows could take up to 4 months to recover to 80% of pre-war levels. Chemical export normalization may lag crude and CPP given the upstream feedstock constraints built up during the closure. Beyond the immediate recovery, we expect inventory restocking across crude, product and chemical feedstocks to continue through 2027, but should support activity across shipping, terminals and logistics. Whilst the path to normalization is unclear, the broader macroeconomic environment could also impact demand for chemicals. As such, we will remain cautious overall until we see a sustained normal operation through the strait. Turning now to Stolt Tanker supply and demand fundamentals. On the demand side, seaborne trade volumes reflect the impact of the Hormuz closure with volumes expected to decline in 2026. The scale of that decline will depend on the timing of normalization. A recovery of similar magnitude is also expected in 2027 as trade normalizes and inventory restocking takes hold. That should support our demand outlook into next year, subject to a full resumption of activity in the Strait, which is difficult to predict. The MR market is also an important supply chain factor. MR rates saw a sharp spike following the Hormuz closure, reaching about $50,000 per day, but has since moderated to the mid-20,000s. MRA at current levels limit the availability of swing tonnage that might otherwise absorb chemical tanker demand, and we expect this dynamic to continue. On the supply side, stainless steel net fleet growth is forecast to 4% in 2026 with a total order book stable at 18% of the current fleet and new orders are likely to be available before 2029. This is balanced by the age profile of the fleet. 14% of stainless steel tankers will be 25 years or older by 2028, creating potential scrapping capacity if demand softens. Taken together, the fundamentals remain constructive for the medium term, even if the near term continues to be affected by disruption and uncertainty. Udo, back to you.

Yes. Thank you so much, Alex. So to wrap this up, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has created a level of disruption and uncertainty that has been unprecedented, and that has tested our people and our network. I'm generally proud of how our business and how our people have responded. We are staying close to customers, keeping product moving, maintaining discipline and are fully focused on safety. The overall result, $177.3 million of EBITDA with terminals delivering a record operating profit and the group holding broadly stable reflects a business that is built to absorb shocks rather than just simply ride the good times. The 45% of EBITDA that came from outside Stolt Tankers this quarter is not a footnote. It is a proof point that our strategy is working. Looking ahead, a resumption of normal trading through the Strait of Hormuz remains highly uncertain, and we are mindful of that. Once we see a safe and orderly normalization of trade through the straits sustained over time, we will reconsider the provision of earnings guidance when the evidence supports it. In the meantime, I want to leave you with 4 things. First, we are fully focused on safety and in storing very close to our customers across our global network. That remains the foundation of who we are and what we do. Second, leveraging the diversification of our portfolio will continue to provide earnings stability. The results this quarter demonstrate again why that matters. Third, for the third quarter, we expect positive TCE sentiment seen through Q2 to continue into Q3 for Stolt Tankers. A turnaround in STC performance with the Suttons integration costs largely accounted for. And Stolthaven will remain steady with the benefit of capacity expansions starting to impact positively later in the year. Overall, the third quarter should see an improvement in earnings compared to recent quarters. And fourth, finally, we will continue to maintain discipline in cost and capital. We have and will continue to manage our balance sheet carefully through this period, and we are preserving the financial flexibility to act on opportunities as they arise. We remain focused on what we can control and remain committed to delivering long-term value, aspiring to be simply the best for our shareholders, our customers and our people who make this business work every day. That is and will remain our goal. One last thing before we go to Q&A. This is Jens's final earnings presentation before he takes his well-earned retirement. Jens joined Stolt-Nielsen in July 1992 and over the 34 years that followed, he has served this company in virtually every corner of the world, from Connecticut to Germany, from Singapore to Rotterdam and ultimately to London, where he has been for the past 19 years, first as a VP, Corporate Finance and since 2018 as CFO. Jens is a true embodiment of the Stolt-Nielsen culture. We have an average tenure of over 9 years across our people, which tells you something meaningful about the kind of company we are. Jens has not just lived as part of that culture, he has helped to shape it. On behalf of everyone across the Stolt-Nielsen Group, I want to thank Jens for his extraordinary contribution for being a valued partner and friend to me personally over the past 3 years. Jens, we wish you and your family all the very best for the next chapter. And of course, we are very delighted to welcome you also on the Stolt-Nielsen Board. I'm delighted to have Alex step into the CFO role with his broad knowledge of the company and strong financial acumen. And Alex will be presenting the financials next time we meet. Alex, over to you for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] So our first question is in relation to something you mentioned, Udo, around STC. And you made reference to a turnaround and a sudden integration process is heading towards an end. Please be able to give some more color around what involves in that STC turnaround process?

Yes. Well, of course, you see, as I said, we are not satisfied with the performance that we are seeing. And the market, as you have seen, was already competitive before we became even more competitive and the good thing is we have a very, very strong team in our Tank Container business under the leadership of Hans Augusteijn. And Hans and the team, they really [indiscernible] together quite nicely, and they've put profit improvement plan together, which, of course, covers how do we go about the commercial side, how do we drive improved utilization, how do we bring out more cost? How do we work with our suppliers to have better and improved rates there and all of that is coming together. As I mentioned in my commentary already, the last month of this quarter was already back in the black. And so we are seeing the results of this improvement approach already taking hold. And the good thing is also we are from a one-off cost perspective through the lion's share of the Suttons integration. And yes, that is actually going quite nicely and where we're really driving out the cost of the business as well. So I think we are seeing a nice upward trajectory on the tank container business.

Thank you, Udo. The next question is in relation to shareholder distributions and the viability of when we would consider pursuing share buybacks. Maybe a question relating to shareholder distributions to you, Jens. Jens Grüner-Hegge: Thank you, Alex. Any such buyback is discussed with the Board if and when that should happen. We do have a program in place that was approved by the AGM back in 2025, I believe it was. And we do have ample room on that. And this is something that we do consider, of course, on an ongoing basis together with the Board. And when we are making any such decisions, there will be proper announcements made to the market that will lay out any details of such buybacks.

Thank you, Jens. Udo, you talked about Stolt Tanker rates growing month-on-month with May above $25,500 per day. Do you expect that momentum and trajectory to continue into Q3 and Q4?

So of course, line of sight for Q3 is better than Q4. So let's start with that one. So as I said, so the last month was around $24,500. I don't think we expect that this will increase significantly from there, but probably will be in this range for Q3 and then for Q4, it just unfortunately becomes too foggy overall, and that is related to the situation in the Middle East and unfortunately, the unclarity around is the ceasefire really holding up because that, of course, can have significant impact on demand. So I think we have a good performance right now. We expect that to continue strong into Q3, but we have no visibility how Q4 will fall out.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is relating to Avenir. And a question, if we can give an update as to when the Avenir transaction will close. Maybe I can cover that. So we announced that we signed an agreement to sell 50% of Avenir to NYK in former joint venture in March and the timing of that completion was subject to relevant closings, including competition and other factors. Those are still underway. And we expect, as we've already guided that the completion should happen within the middle part of the year. So we will make an announcement once that has been concluded. And that is the last question that we have in the Q&A today. So I thank you. We'll post a recording of the call on our website tomorrow. Udo, back to you.

Yes. Thank you so much for joining us today, and I wish you all a great rest of your day.