Pyxis Tankers Stays in the Red

Greece-based product tanker company Pyxis Tankers suffered a net loss of USD 0.8 million in the second quarter of this year, compared to a net income of USD 0.4 million seen in the same period in 2016.

However, the company managed to narrow its loss from USD 1.7 million reported in the first quarter of this year.

As explained, the decrease in net income in 2Q 2017 was primarily due to a USD 1.1 million decline in time charter equivalent revenues.

In addition, during the quarter, the company recorded one-off expenses of approximately USD 0.3 million associated with the termination of its equity offering in July 2017.

Pyxis Tankers’ EBITDA stood at USD 1.4 million in 2Q 2017, a drop of USD 1.2 million from USD 2.6 million posted in the same quarter of 2016.

“Our operating results for the second quarter of 2017 reflected an improvement within the context of a challenging chartering environment. Spot and period charter rates continued to be volatile during the quarter but improved slightly overall. Modest demand growth reduced high inventories of refined products in storage and improved voyage activity. As previously noted, we expected chartering activity to be choppy for most of 2017,” Valentios Valentis, Pyxis Tankers’ Chairman and CEO, commented.

“We took the opportunity to fix all of our medium range tankers (“MRs”) under short-term time charters. Our MR charters have an average duration of three months as of June 30, 2017, exclusive of options, which positions us to take advantage of improving rates. We continue to believe in a longer term improvement in rates starting in late 2017 as the result of attractive market fundamentals, such as, significantly lower scheduled deliveries of new build MRs combined with projected solid growth in consumption and export-oriented refinery cargoes. We intend to maintain our mixed chartering strategy over the long-term,” Valentis added.

“We are pleased with our continued disciplined, cost-effective operating structure. In the second quarter of 2017, we saw a fleet-wide improvement in our daily vessel operating expenses as compared to the same period in 2016,” he further said.

Valentis also revealed that as of June 30, 2017, the company’s net funded debt amounted to USD 66.7 million. In June, Pyxis Tankers amended the loan agreement including its two vessels to extend the maturity of their loans for an additional four years to September 2022. The first scheduled balloon payment with respect to the bank debt will be due in the second quarter of 2020, which is said to enhance the company’s financial flexibility.

“Given the recent market conditions, we decided not to proceed with our planned public equity offering. We will continue to pursue cost-effective flexible capital alternatives, primarily for growth purposes. We remain optimistic about the fundamentals of the product tanker market and believe that Pyxis Tankers is well positioned to take advantage of them,” Valentis concluded.

Currently, the company owns a fleet of six tankers engaged in seaborne transportation of refined petroleum products and other bulk liquids.