GoodBulk Ltd., a leading owner and operator of dry bulk vessels, today announces the culmination of its first investment cycle following the disposal of all its remaining vessels and a distribution of $3.01 per share which will be the 22nd to be given to investors. GoodBulk also announces its financial results for the second quarter 2023.

Highlights

• Following a successful almost 7 years and with the guidance of its exclusive manager, C Transport Maritime (CTM), GoodBulk’s first investment cycle is closing and the company is returning to investors all remaining funds in the company. GoodBulk intends to remain in the dry bulk sector with potential new opportunities coming in the future.

• On 6 September 2023 the Board of Directors authorized the payment to Shareholders of $3.01 per share ($1.6 per share as capital repatriation plus $1.41 as dividend), for a total of $81.5 million, to be paid on 27 September 2023. This distribution will be GoodBulk’s 22nd following the sale and delivery to new owners of all its vessels thus closing the investment cycle which started in December 2016.

• Cumulative distributions up to September 2023 will be at $21.50 per share, for a total of $619.5 million, amounting to 195.5% of the price of the Company’s March 2017 Norwegian OTC initial offering and 215.0% of the price of the Company’s initial December 2016 private placement fully repaying the original founders of the Company in cash plus a 115% return.

• In the period between our Q1 2023 Earnings Release and 5 September 2023, GoodBulk has delivered 11 Capesize vessels to their new owners. GoodBulk has no remaining vessels. GoodBulk’s Investment Highlights over the Period December 2016 – September 2023

• The IRR of the investment in GoodBulk to the original 2016 founders of the Company is 15.8% and to those investors that entered at GoodBulk’s March 2017 Norwegian OTC initial offering is 14.4%.

• The payback period for both the original 2016 founders and the investors in the March 2017 Norwegian OTC initial offering was 5.8 years. Over the last year alone (September 2022 – September 2023), GoodBulk has distributed a total of $12.16 per share ($339.2 million), i.e. over and above the per share level of the aforementioned initial investments. Management didn’t see additional value in holding these assets any longer and has instead preferred to give shareholders back their capital.

• GoodBulk started to return money to shareholders in Q1 2018. GoodBulk gave dividends/capital repatriations over 22 separate instances during almost every quarter since 2018 (only two quarters had no distributions, Q1 and Q2 2020). Since Q3 2020, GoodBulk gave 12 consecutive quarterly shareholder payments and two extras, totaling 14 payments.

Market Commentary

For the quarter ending 30 June 2023, the Baltic Capesize Index averaged $15,561 per day, 28.0% lower than $21,599 per day for the same period in 2022 and 70.2% higher than $9,144 per day for the quarter ending 31 March 2023. Capesize rates during this period were volatile, ascending over April to exceed $21,000 per day on 11 May 2023 before falling to below $10,000 per day briefly in early June 2023 and then climbing again by end June 2023. Since then however, rates have collapsed to $8,573 per day on 6 September 2023. In stark contrast to the disappointingly low rate environment and sluggish Chinese economic figures, trade volumes have been incredibly strong this year. Data shows that seaborne iron ore volumes have breached new records in the year-to-date with the trade in the months of January, June and July beating records for those individual months. In total, iron ore and coal seaborne trade volumes have increased by around 93 million tonnes in the January to July 2023 period compared to the same period last year, owing mainly to a substantial increase in coal imports into China as a result of dry weather impacting hydropower output. Despite very strong trade volumes, Capesize port congestion has remained on the low side, with year-to-date levels being the lowest since 2017 which implies a more efficient fleet. The multi-year low congestion across the dry bulk fleet has ‘inflated’ supply playing a major role in keeping market rates subdued. Despite this, the record low orderbook in the dry bulk segment makes us optimistic that the market will see better rates going into 2024.