New CEO Takes the Reins of DIS

Paolo d’Amico, Chairman of the Board of Directors of d’Amico International Shipping S.A will take over as the new chief executive officer of the company starting from January 1, 2019.

The decision is being announced on the back of the resignation of Marco Fiori, who will remain in charge until the end of the year. The resignation was presented after Fiori spent over 22 years in the group, in what was characterized as a decision out of personal reasons.

 “My personal involvement and dedication is to confirm, in an important moment for DIS, the d’Amico Group’s commitment to the success of the company, and my appointment as CEO will assure continuity on governance and all business operations. The company has a clear vision for the business and a strong and experienced management team that will allow it to achieve it,”  d’Amico said.

“Paolo is one of the most prominent person in the tanker industry and I can think of no better person than him to guide and lead the company in these challenging times,” Fiori added.

The product tanker owner and operator reported a net loss of USD 21 million in the third quarter amid weak tanker rates, almost tripling the losses year-on-year. Net loss for the nine-month period stood at USD 41.2 million, against last year’s equivalent of USD 13.6 million.

“I do believe we are at the bottom of the cycle. It is always hard to indicate the exact timing for the next recovery, but I do believe it is just a matter of months before we will see again our market generating good returns. We are already seeing some positive signs going into the last quarter of the year,” Fiori commented.

“The long-term fundamentals are all extremely positive, showing a growing world demand for oil-refined products and limited net fleet growth expected for the next years. In addition, the major regulatory change which will come into force in January 2020, limiting the sulphur content in bunker fuels, is widely expected to generate incremental demand for our vessels already starting in the second-half of 2019.” 

Commenting on the market Carlos Balestra di Mottola, Chief Financial Officer of DIS, said that  2018 is turning
out to be one of the worst years for product tankers in the last decade.

“In the third quarter of 2018, DIS finalized the sale of one of its handy vessels and the sale and leaseback of another MR, generating total net cash proceeds of US$ 14.3 million. In October 2018, DIS finalized the sale and leaseback of another MR, generating an additional US$ 13.3 million in net cash,” he noted.

DIS is at the bring of completing the delivery of the final two of its 22 newbuilding LR1 tankers, the final two units being set for delivery in the first quarter of 2019.

A total remaining CAPEX for the duo is USD 59 million, of which approximately USD 35.8 million should
be financed with committed bank debt, DIS said.

As at September 30, 2018 DIS had ‘cash and cash equivalent’ of USD 30.4 million and a net financial position of USD (588.0) million, which represents 73.7% of DIS’ fleet market value.