Pyxis Tankers, a growth-oriented pure play product tanker company, today announced unaudited results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020.
Summary
For the three months ended June 30, 2020, our Revenues, net were $5.5 million. For the same period, our time charter equivalent (“TCE”) revenues were $4.5 million, a decrease of approximately $1.0 million or 17.1% over the comparable period in 2019 primarily due to the reduction in fleet size as we sold our oldest MR in early 2020. However, our net loss decreased by $0.4 million to $1.2 million, from $1.6 million in the comparable period in 2019. For the second quarter 2020, loss per share (basic and diluted) was $0.06 and our Adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 million, which represented a decrease of $0.2 million over the comparable period in 2019. Please see “Non-GAAP Measures and Definitions” below.
Valentios Valentis, our Chairman and CEO commented:
“The chartering environment for product tankers in the second quarter of 2020 was extremely volatility. The spot market for MR’s experienced a brief spike during late April to early May, which was then followed by a rapid drop in rates until the recent stabilization of rates. The period market, albeit more stable, did encounter a material decline in activity during the quarter. The initially strong charter rates at the outset of the second quarter were primarily due to demand for floating storage of crude oil and refined petroleum products, the movement of a fair number of long-range tankers into dirty or crude trades and various arbitrage opportunities. Despite the start of a gradual but uneven economic recovery worldwide from the COVID-19 pandemic during the quarter, a drawdown of high existing product inventories has resulted in lower vessel demand. Consequently, we expect the product tanker sector to continue to experience significant volatility due to the uncertain recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, we have focused our employment strategy for our MR’s on shorter-term, staggered time charters which has benefited the Company. In the second quarter of 2020, the average TCE for our MR’s was over $14,800/day. As of August 6, 2020, we had booked 62% of available days for the third quarter of 2020, exclusive of charterers’ options, at an average rate of $15,125 for our MR’s.
During this challenging period, we have continued to focus on the efficiencies of our operating platform, as fleet-wide daily operating expenses declined to less than $5,500 per vessel for the quarter. Total daily operational costs, which include vessel management fees and allocable G&A expenses, for our modern eco-efficient MR’s were less than $8,000. In addition, we have improved our balance sheet liquidity by selling older tonnage and refinancing some of our bank debt on attractive terms.
Overall, we maintain a positive outlook about the long-term prospects for the product tanker sector. Solid global GDP growth is expected to return with rising demand for seaborne transportation of a broad range of petroleum products. In the meantime, the supply picture looks better due to the aging global fleet, continued low ordering of new tankers and significant delays in newbuild deliveries. We look forward to taking advantage of various opportunities as they may arise in order to enhance shareholder value.
Lastly, we would like to extend our gratitude to the crews on board our vessels and onshore personnel for their continued support and professionalism to provide high quality and reliable service to our customers particularly during this difficult period of the pandemic.”
Results for the three months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020
For the three months ended June 30, 2020, we reported a net loss of $1.2 million, or $0.06 basic and diluted loss per share, compared to a net loss of $1.6 million, or $0.08 basic and diluted loss per share, for the same period in 2019. The daily TCE of $11,766 during the second quarter of 2020 was 2% higher than the relevant period in 2019, due to slightly higher rates, however, our Revenues, net during the three months ended June 30, 2020, were $5.5 million or $1.0 million lower than the comparable period in 2019. The decrease is mostly attributed to fewer available days and revenue contributed, as a result of the sale of the 2006 built MR, Pyxis Delta, in the first quarter of 2020. The sale of the vessel, also resulted in less vessel operating expenses by $0.7 million, lower depreciation by $0.3 million and less interest and finance costs, net by $0.3 million, following the repayment of the loan secured by Pyxis Delta, which more than offset the decline in Revenues, net and mitigated the loss for the three months ended June 30, 2020. Our Adjusted EBITDA was $1.1 million, representing a decrease of $0.2 million from $1.3 million for the same period in 2019.
Results for the six months ended June 30, 2019 and 2020
For the six months ended June 30, 2020, we reported a net loss of $2.4 million, or $0.11 basic and diluted loss per share, compared to a loss of $3.9 million over the comparable period in 2019. Stronger daily TCE of $11,844 and higher utilization of 89.3% during the six-month period ended June 30, 2020, compared to $11,096 and 87.3%, respectively, for the first half of 2019, resulted in an improvement in operating income to $0.1 million during the first half of 2020 compared to the operating loss of $1.0 million in the comparable period of 2019. Operating expenses, depreciation, management fees and interest and finance costs were lower as a result of the sale of Pyxis Delta and the prepayment of the associated loans, mitigating the loss in the period ended June 30, 2020.
