Euroseas, an owner and operator of container carrier vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for containerized cargoes, reported the following results for the three-month period and full year ended December 31, 2024.
Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights:
- Total net revenues of $53.3 million. Net income of $24.4 million or $3.51 and $3.49 earnings per share basic and diluted, respectively. Adjusted net income1 for the period was $23.3 million or $3.35 and $3.33 per share basic and diluted.
- An average of 23.0 vessels were owned and operated during the fourth quarter of 2024 earning an average time charter equivalent rate of $26,479 per day.
- Declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share for the fourth quarter of 2024 payable on or about March 18, 2024 to shareholders of record on March 11, 2025 as part of the Company’s common stock dividend plan.
- As of February 27, 2025, the Company has repurchased 425,449 of our common stock in the open market, representing about 6% of the outstanding shares, for a total of about $9.24 million, under the share repurchase plan of up to $20 million announced in May 2022.
Full Year 2024 Highlights:
- Total net revenues of $212.9 million. Net income of $112.8 million or $16.25 and $16.20 earnings per share basic and diluted, respectively. Adjusted net income1 for the period was $103.5 million or $14.92 and $14.87 per share basic and diluted, respectively.
- Adjusted EBITDA1 was $135.8 million.
- An average of 21.73 vessels were owned and operated during 2024, earning an average time charter equivalent rate of $28,054 per day.
Recent developments
On January 3, 2025, the Company announced its intent to spin-off the Company’s older three vessels, M/V Aegean Express, M/V Diamantis P and M/V Joanna, into a separate company, Euroholdings Ltd. (“Euroholdings”), which has applied for listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market. The Company contributed the three vessel owning companies to Euroholdings on January 8, 2025 in exchange for 100% of the shares of Euroholdings. The company, as the sole shareholder of Euroholdings, intends to distribute to its shareholders of record date March 7, 2025 all its Euroholdings shares. Shareholders of the Company will receive on March 17, 2025 one common share of Euroholdings for every 2.5 shares of the Company’s common stock owned on the record date. Although the regulatory clearance and exchange listing processes are nearly finalized, there can be no assurance that the spin-off transaction will ultimately occur or, if it does occur, what its structure, terms or timing will be.
On January 7 and 8, 2025, the Company took delivery of M/V Dear Panel and M/V Symeon P, respectively, two Eco EEDI Phase 3, 2,800 teu feeder containership newbuildings from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. in South Korea. The vessels are equipped with a Tier III engine and other sustainability linked features including installation of AMP (alternative maritime power). The vessels were financed with a combination of bank debt and own funds. Following their delivery, both vessels commenced a thirty-four to thirty-six months charter at a rate of $32,000/day.
On January 16, 2025, the Company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Euroholdings Ltd. (“Euroholdings”) has sold M/V Diamantis P, a 2,008 teu feeder containership vessel, built in 1998, for approximately $13.15 million. The vessel was delivered to its new owners, an unaffiliated third party, on January 15, 2025. As a result of the sale, we recorded a gain of approximately $10.2 million.
Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented:
“During the fourth quarter of 2024, the containership markets broadly maintained their levels with the larger feeders noticeably increasing. Similarly firm levels for containership rates have prevailed so far in 2025 with rates in all feeder and intermediate sectors inching up. This strength in rates is evident in our own fixtures as well, where we managed to book two of our intermediate containerships for three-year contracts at very profitable rates following the spade of fixings we did late last year for three of our newbuilding vessels and two oldest ones.
“Looking at the containership sector one can see challenges ahead due to the high overall orderbook and the prospect of liner companies reverting to using the Suez Canal for their crossings. However, the elevated geopolitical uncertainty which is further augmented by the actions of the new US Administration may not prove negative factors for our industry. Usually shipping thrives on uncertainties and inefficiencies. Against that backdrop, the new US Administration has introduced or is in the process of introducing tariffs on imports from many of its trading partners and, lately, there is talk about fees being placed on Chinese built or operated ships when calling on US ports. Whilst we believe that it will be difficult for these measures to pass, at least in their currently envisaged form, these changes, if implemented, have the potential to fundamentally change trade both in terms of pattern and volume. Also if we look at the orderbook in more detail, we can see that it is concentrated on the larger containership sizes with the feeder and intermediate sizes, where our fleet is concentrated, having not only historically low orderbook levels but also a much higher percentage of older ships which are “vulnerable” to the increasingly stricter environmental regulations. This realization that feeder and intermediate containership fleet will rather decline should provide significant support for rates for our ships despite a possible cascade effect of capacity from larger size ships.
“As we have previously explained, we have built and continue to build a strong charterbook. At the same time we are modernizing our fleet having placed an order for 2 more 4,300teu ships and having decided to spin off our 3 oldest vessels into Euroholdings. We expect our earnings to continue being strong and our cash reserves to continue increasing. Given the increased liquidity, our Board decided to increase our quarterly dividend to $0.65 per share. We also continue our share repurchase program as despite our revenue and earnings visibility our share price trades at a large discount to our net asse value. And, as always, we remain diligent in identifying accretive investment opportunities and committed to generating further returns to our shareholders.”
Tasos Aslidis, Chief Financial Officer of Euroseas commented:
“Our revenues for the fourth quarter of 2024 are increased by approximately 8% compared to the same period of 2023. This was the result of the increased average number of vessels owned and operated in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to the corresponding period of 2023. The Company operated an average of 23.0 vessels, versus 19.0 vessels during the same period last year. Net revenues amounted to $53.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to $49.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2023.
“Total daily vessel operating expenses, including management fees, general and administrative expenses, but excluding drydocking costs, were slightly lower, a decrease of approximately 2.6%, during the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter of last year.
“Adjusted EBITDA1 during the fourth quarter of 2024 was $32.8 million compared to $32.4 million achieved in the fourth quarter of last year, reaching $135.8 million versus $123.6 million in the respective twelve-month periods of 2024 and 2023.
“As of December 31, 2024, our outstanding bank debt (excluding the unamortized loan fees) was $207.3 million, versus restricted and unrestricted cash of approximately $80.7 million. As of the same date, our scheduled debt repayments over the next 12 months amounted to about $37.3 million (excluding the unamortized loan fees).”