Golden Ocean to Carry Out Reverse Share Split

The Board of Directors of the Norwegian dry bulk owner Golden Ocean Group Limited (GOGL) has resolved to undertake a 5-to-1 reverse share split of the company’s ordinary shares.

Upon effectiveness of the reverse split, every five shares of Golden Ocean’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares par value USD 0.01 per share will be automatically combined into one issued and outstanding ordinary share par value USD 0.05 per share, the company said.

This will reduce the number of outstanding common shares from 529,728,928 to a maximum of 105,945,786.

The effective date for the reverse share split, which means the first date the shares will be traded on a reverse share split basis on NASDAQ and the OSE, will be August 1, 2016.

Golden Ocean reported a net loss of USD 68.2 million for the first quarter of 2016, following a net loss of USD 69.3 million for the preceding quarter, which was mainly attributed to the decrease in vessel earnings of USD 13.1 million.

The main cash movements were the payment of USD 161.7 million for the company’s newbuilding program, USD 48.1 million received from the sale the Front Caribbean, a newbuild delivered in February and the two newbuilding contracts sold in the prior quarter, the net draw down of debt of USD 95 million and the net proceeds from the private placement of USD 205.4 million. In addition, USD 21.6 million was used in operations.