Performance Shipping reports Q2 EPS 46c vs. $1.53 last year

Reports Q2 revenue $31.5M vs. $16.7M last year. Commenting on the results of the second quarter of 2023, Andreas Michalopoulos, CEO, stated: “During the second quarter of 2023, tanker market fundamentals remained firm and our Company achieved a fleetwide average time charter equivalent rate of $41,868 per day. As a result, we generated record revenues of $31.5 million and record net income of $18.4 million during the quarter, representing increases of 88% and 375%, respectively, from the equivalent quarter in 2022. Our cash balance at the end of the quarter was approximately $70.7 million, corresponding to a 78% increase from the 2022 year-end cash balance and representing a multiple of 7.4x our current market capitalization. Our basic earnings per share for the quarter and the first six months ended June 30, 2023 were $1.53 and $2.43, respectively, compared to our closing share price on July 26, 2023 of $0.84. “We believe that the solid tanker market environment will be sustainable through 2023 and beyond. Our fleet deployment during the previous fiscal year has well positioned our Company to capitalize on the firm freight rate environment through the operation of our renewed and expanded fleet, currently consisting of eight younger and high specification Aframax tankers. Specifically, five of our tankers currently operate under time charter contracts with first-class charterers, earning gross charter rates ranging from $23,000 to $45,000 per day and resulting in aggregate fixed revenues of approximately $52.3 million for the remainder of their charter periods. Our remaining vessels operate under pool arrangements with reputable counterparties. This strategy supplements our already secured revenue backlog and enhances our current profitability by capitalizing on the robust Aframax spot rates. To further solidify our market position, in the first quarter of 2023, we entered into a contract for the purchase of a newbuild LNG-ready LR2 Aframax tanker with a 2025 delivery date. This decision reflects the Company’s confidence in sustainable market fundamentals and higher asset values going forward. Despite what we consider to be strong market conditions in the sector, we believe that the value of our common shares remains extremely low when compared with our earnings and cash on hand. As previously announced, in response to our recent share price development, we have put in place a $2.0 million share buyback program, pursuant to which we have already repurchased 1,806,916 shares of common stock to date at an average price of $0.83 per share, of which approximately 1.7 million shares were repurchased during the second quarter. As we strongly believe that the program is in the best interests of both our Company and our shareholders, we will continue to take advantage of our strong balance sheet to invest opportunistically in our common stock through share buybacks under appropriate market conditions.”