SFL Corporation announced its preliminary financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.
Highlights
- 77th consecutive quarterly dividend declared, increased to $0.24 per share
- Net profit of $6.3 million, or $0.05 per share in the first quarter
- Received charter hire1 of $182.4 million in the quarter, including $4.9 million of profit share
- Adjusted EBITDA2 of $102.6 million from consolidated subsidiaries, plus an additional $7.7 million adjusted EBITDA2 from 49.9% owned associated companies
- New contract for ultra-deepwater drilling rig Hercules in Namibia for a period of approx. four months with start up in Q4 2023, adding approx. $50 million to charter backlog
- Extension of contracts for car carriers SFL Composer and SFL Conductor for a minimum period of three years, adding approx. $155 million to charter backlog
- Sale of two suezmax crude oil tankers and a chemical tanker in March and April 2023, and agreement to sell a chemical tanker with expected delivery in June 2023
- New financing arrangements totalling more than $1 billion
- Announced a buyback program of SFL shares of up to $100 million
Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management AS, said in a comment:
“The first quarter result was impacted by several one-off items, including the scheduled special survey for the drilling rig Hercules with significant costs and no revenues in the quarter. Following the announcement of new contracts for two of our existing car carriers and also the Hercules, we expect substantial earnings contribution from Q3 onwards from these assets.
The quarter was busy with more than $1 billion in new financings, including our newbuild dual-fuel car carrier programme, the convertible notes and refinancing of our drilling rigs. With this, virtually all our near term financing requirements and capital expenditure have been completed at very attractive terms.
And we continuously renew our fleet and are divesting older tankers traded in the spot market and focus on assets with charter backlog supporting our long term dividend distribution capacity. In addition, the Board has also authorized a repurchase of our common stock as part of the Company’s capital allocation strategy”.
Quarterly Dividend
The Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share. The dividend will be paid on or around June 30, 2023, to shareholders of record as of June 16, 2023, and the ex-dividend date on the New York Stock Exchange will be June 15, 2023.
