Russia: Sovcomflot Net Profit Down

OAO Sovcomflot announced its financial and operating results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2013.

Commenting on the Group’s results Sergey Frank, President and CEO of OAO Sovcomflot, said: “The conditions in the tanker markets remained very challenging throughout the first quarter of 2013. Whilst some of the global macro-economic indicators are beginning to show signs of improvement, the benefits have yet to flow through to the tanker markets. Overall, we expect there to be no sustained improvement in these markets before 2014.

“SCF Group continued to focus on the provision of higher value-added specialist shipping services, and the development of offshore services, and providing support for Russia’s long-term industrial energy projects. The Group continues to invest for the future, and we are determined to ensure that our fleet remains one of the world’s youngest and safest, whilst incorporating the latest technologies to help protect the environment for future generations”.

Q1 2013 Highlights:

• Gross revenue (Freight and Hire) of USD 313.2 million, down 16.1 per cent on Q1 2012
• Group EBITDA of USD 91.3 million, a 29.9 per cent decline on Q1 2012
• Net profit of USD 2.0 million, 95.6 per cent below the comparable period last year
• SCF’s modern fleet continues to benefit from the addition of technologically advanced vessels Nikolay Zuyev acknowledged as a “Best ship of 2012”.

Business Segment Highlights

Gas Transportation

The Group operates a fleet of LNG and LPG carriers, comprising four wholly-owned vessels in total, with a further six vessels on order (additionally, four LNG carriers are owned jointly with third parties and are equity accounted for, as of this reporting period, as per IFRS 11). The segment accounted for 5.4 per cent of TCE revenues in the first quarter of 2013. During the period, SCF’s new state-of-the-art LNG carrier Velikiy Novgorod was launched from STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd’s shipyard. This vessel was ordered by OAO Sovcomflot to operate under a long-term agreement with Gazprom Global LNG, and is due to enter service in December 2013. The vessel is an Ice2 (C1) Atlanticmax class gas carrier, with a cargo capacity of some 170,000 cubic metres. This makes her capable of transporting gas on a year-round basis from almost any existing LNG terminal in the world, including Russia’s first LNG project at Sakhalin-II.

Fleet Summary:

As at 31 March 2013, the SCF Group fleet comprised 159 vessels (including vessels in joint ownership with third parties): 135 owned vessels, two chartered-in vessels, nine escort tugs which have been chartered-out on bareboat charter to an associate company – Rosnefteflot, and 4four LNG carriers and 9nine LR1 product carriers in JV. The average age of tanker is 7.,9 years, compared with an industry average of 16,.1 years.

Assets under construction at the period end comprised 10 vessels, with a total deadweight of some 1.2 million tonnes. This includes: two VLCCs; six gas carriers (four ice-class LNG, Ice 1C, 170,.000 cubic metres; two LPG carriers, Ice 1B, 20,.550 cubic metres); one Aframax tanker (LR2 type); one multifunctional ice-class supply vessel.