SFL Corporation Ltd. announced its preliminary financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.
Highlights
• 73rd consecutive quarterly dividend declared, $0.22 per share
• Operating revenue of approximately $152.4 million, and net profit of $47.0 million in the first quarter
• Received charter hire1 of approximately $165.9 million in the quarter from the Company’s vessels and rigs, including $4.5 million of profit share
• Adjusted EBITDA2 of $111.3 million from consolidated subsidiaries, plus an additional $7.7 million adjusted EBITDA2 from associated companies
• Delivery of two LR2s and two Suezmax tankers which immediately commenced 5-year charters to a subsidiary of Trafigura, a world leading commodity trading and logistics company
• Agreed to assign West Linus’ drilling contract with ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS from Seadrill to an SFL subsidiary
• Agreed to charter out six 14,000 teu container vessels to Hapag-Lloyd AG for a fixed period of 5 years, adding $540 million to the contracted backlog
• In April, the Company sold the two last VLCCs on charter to Frontline for approximately $70 million and one container vessel for approximately $13 million including $12 million in profit share
Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management AS, said in a comment:
“The recent sale of the two last VLCCs chartered to Frontline is noteworthy as this initially was SFL’s sole customer and all vessels were crude oil tankers. We now have a diverse fleet to multiple industry leading counterparties and continue to expand our business relationships as illustrated by the recent long term charter of six large container vessels to Hapag-Lloyd AG.
While most of our current fleet consists of container vessels, we also have investments in other maritime assets including offshore rigs. This market has shown an encouraging recovery the last two months, and our two harsh environment drilling rigs are well positioned to benefit from the increased activity level in the sector. One rig is employed on a long term market adjusted charter rate while the other rig is available for new contracts in 2023.
We added more than $1 billion to the fixed rate charter backlog during the first quarter, and with increasing long term cash flow visibility, we are pleased to increase the dividend by another 10% compared to last quarter.”
Quarterly Dividend
The Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.22 per share. The dividend will be paid on or around June 29, to shareholders on record as of June 15, and the ex-dividend date on the New York Stock Exchange will be June 14, 2022.