30th Apr 2015 10:15
LONDON (Alliance News) - Goldenport Holdings Inc said Thursday it believes it is well equipped to weather what it calls "the worst dry bulk market of the last 30 years", as it posted a widened pretax loss for 2014 due to lower revenue and write-downs.
Goldenport owns and operates a fleet of dry bulk vessels that transport cargo.
It posted a loss of USD27.1 million in 2014, widened from a loss of USD12.1 million in 2013, as revenue fell to USD46.6 million from USD59.8 million. It took a USD10.9 million impairment related to the wind-up of its joint venture Sentinel Holdings Inc.
The fall in revenue was due to a decrease in its average number of vessels. Along with its joint venture partners, it opted to wind-up Sentinel Holdings and sold its two vessels.
Goldenport said the long-awaited recovery in the dry bulk sector is "unlikely to materialize in the near term". Expectations that China would meaningfully reduce domestic iron ore production in favour of imports proved to be "overly optimistic", the company said, as coal imports to China continued to be constrained by government policies and the Indonesian nickel export ban remained in place.
During the year Goldenport took advantage of high scrap prices and continued to work on renewing its fleet of vessels by disposing of some vessels.
"We believe that we are well equipped to weather the storm, having proceeded with the sale of several older and less efficient vessels, restructured our bank facilities to reflect the current trading environment and de-levered our balance sheet, while maintaining a competitive operating cost base," said Chief Executive John Dragnis in a statement.
"We are confident that we have taken all appropriate steps to ensure that the company will be well positioned to take advantage of the eventual dry cargo market recovery," Dragnis added.
Shares in Goldenport are trading up 2.7% at 120.72 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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