Euronav delivered its best operating profit in seven years, with a 182 percent improvement, and a USD 80.8 million net profit, thanks to the 15 VLCC supertankers the company acquired from Maersk. Core profit rose 180 percent in the first quarter to $131.3 million.
The spot rates for the large crude oil tankers, which increased in the first three months of the year to about USD 50,000 on average per day compared to USD 32,000 in the most recent and final quarter of 2014, also helped the company.
Meanwhile, the development for all of 2015 looks to be solid for Euronav. Since the end of March, the spot rates for VLCCs have accelerated further to about USD 70,000 a day in contrast to an otherwise historically weak second quarter in the tanker market.
The company repeated its new dividend policy of paying out at least 80 percent of its net income over the financial year. It plans to pay $0.25 per share in May, its first dividend payment since 2010.
Paddy Rodgers, CEO of Euronav said: “With the oil price down and demand up, tankers are benefiting. Ships on the water NOW can pay dividends NOW to reward shareholders for the support and confidence”.
Euronav, which also listed in the United States at the start of this year, said demand for its tankers was high and continued into the second quarter of 2015 and that the tankers booked made longer voyages at sea, boosting the company's income.
Euronav has applied the accounting standards IFRS 10 and IFRS 11 as of 1 January 2014. If the Company would have continued to apply the proportionate consolidation method for its joint ventures for the first quarter of 2015, the EBITDA would have been USD 153.8 million (first quarter 2014: USD 63.3 million) and the result after taxation would have remained the same.
Euronav is an independent tanker company engaged in the ocean transportation and storage of crude oil. The company is headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium, and has offices throughout Europe and Asia.