Rickmers – BT

Rickmers raises Q4 DPU by 5%

RICKMERS Maritime raised its distribution per unit (DPU) for its fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2010 by 5 per cent, from 0.57 US cents to 0.6 US cents.

Increased for the first time in four quarters, the DPU represents a payout of 14 per cent of income available for distribution. The trust posted a 31 per cent rise in net profit for the quarter, from US$15.3 million to US$19.9 million.

The jump in profit was driven primarily by a US$7.3 million writeback in impairment charges on one of its vessels – Kaethe C. Rickmers – because the vessel’s charterer is extending the charter period for another 12 months at a higher daily rate of US$23,888, compared with its current rate of US$8,288.

The new rate will kick in from March 25, restoring the revenue of the trust’s portfolio to ‘pre-crisis levels’, according to Thomas Preben Hansen, chief executive officer of Rickmers Trust Management Pte Ltd (RTM).

Its income available for distribution for the quarter rose 2 per cent, to US$18.09 million while revenue dipped 4 per cent, from US$38.1 million to US$36.8 million, for the quarter. For the full year, the trust posted a net loss of US$28.6 million, against a net profit of US$40.7 million from a year ago.

It owed the hit to its bottom line largely to a one-time US$64 million compensation payment in Q3 for cancelling its order of seven vessels in the throes of the financial crisis. Its revenue stayed flat, inching up one per cent to US$147 million, weighed down by lower income contribution from Kaethe C. Rickmers, after it was re-delivered to the trust from Maersk early last year.

For the full year, income available for distribution shrank 5 per cent to US$72.13 million while its DPU dropped 41 per cent, from 3.91 US cents to 2.31 US cents. It repaid a total of US$105 million in bank debt in FY 2010 and has US$671 million in bank debt outstanding, as at the end of last year.

The trust posted a fleet utilisation rate of 99.93 per cent for the quarter and 99.88 per cent for the full year. According to Mr Hansen, the trust has no immediate plans to expand its fleet of 16 containerships or to diversify into other types of vessels.

‘We will be over time evaluating the various transactions in the market, but for the time being, ship values have increased a lot and there will be more increases to come. We will focus on our balance sheet,’ he said yesterday.

From today, Gerard Low Shao Khangwill take over from Quah Ban Huat as RTM’s chief financial officer. Mr Quah had tendered his resignation in October last year, in order to ‘pursue other interests’.