GasLog Q1 Profit Up

GasLog, an international owner, operator and manager of LNG tankers, posted a profit of $6.3 million for the first quarter of 2014, compared to $5.9 million in the same quarter a year ago.

First quarter 2014 highlights:

• Announced the acquisition of three vessels from a subsidiary of BG Group for $468 million, with time charters back for an average of 6 years. The vessels were delivered after quarter end;

• Successfully completed GasLog’s first follow-on equity offering, raising approximately $199 million (net of expenses) to partially fund the acquisition of the 3 BG vessels;

• Placed the GasLog Chelsea on a minimum seven month charter from May 2014;

• EBITDA of $31.1 million (Q1 2013: $13.9 million), earnings per share (EPS) of $0.09 (Q1 2013: $0.09);

• Adjusted EBITDA of $34.3 million (Q1 2013: $11.3 million), Adjusted EPS of $0.13 (Q1 2013: $0.05) and Adjusted Profit of $9.6 million (Q1 2013: $3.2 million) for the first quarter;

• Quarterly dividend of $0.12 per common share payable on June 11, 2014.

Paul Wogan, Chief Executive Officer of GasLog, said “I am very pleased that following another busy quarter the business remains on track for 2014. We grew our fleet during the quarter with the announcement of the acquisition of three on the water ships from a subsidiary of BG with an average of 6 year time charters back to BG. The vessels were delivered to GasLog on April 10, 2014. On the same day we announced a second transaction with BG to acquire three additional ships for $468 million, again with 6-year-time charters back to BG. Our two follow-on equity offerings raised in excess of $300 million. These accretive transactions will increase the size of our fully delivered fleet to 23 ships (including the three vessels contributed to the MLP). It also takes our backlog of contracted revenue to almost $3 billion. These two BG transactions alongside the acquisition of the GasLog Chelsea in 2013 demonstrate our ongoing desire and ability to acquire high quality assets with attractive return profiles as we continue to pursue our consolidation strategy.

“The GasLog Chelsea continued to perform well in what was a quiet quarter for spot voyages. We put the ship on two short term charters to new customers and then placed the vessel on a minimum seven month charter which commenced on May 2, 2014.

“In early January, we also announced that we had made a confidential filing for the initial public offering of common units by our Master Limited Partnership subsidiary. On May 12, 2014, we completed the sale of 9,660,000 common units of the MLP at $21 per unit.

“We carried out some major scheduled maintenance during the quarter on a number of vessels without any off hire. This resulted in higher than average maintenance cost for the quarter but our operating cost remains on budget for the full year.

“We have continued to build and position the Company for what we believe will be strong markets for LNG shipping as the liquefaction project completions start to gather pace.”