SFL Corporation announced its preliminary financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Highlights

• 72nd consecutive quarterly dividend declared, $0.20 per share
• Operating revenue of approximately $152.1 million, and net profit of $80.1 million in the fourth quarter
• Received charter hire1 of approximately $165.8 million in the quarter from the Company’s vessels and rigs, including $7.5 million of profit share
• Adjusted EBITDA2 of $113.4 million from consolidated subsidiaries, plus an additional $7.9 million adjusted EBITDA2 from associated companies
• Agreement to acquire four modern LR2 product tankers in combination with 5-year charters to a subsidiary of Trafigura, a world leading commodity trading and logistics company
• Sale and delivery of seven Handysize dry bulk vessels with net sales proceeds of $98 million Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management AS, said in a comment:«We are pleased to report a strong quarter with growth in revenue, EBITDA and net income. Throughout 2021 we have continued to renew and diversify our portfolio by deploying more than one billion in new investments and ended the year with a fixed charter backlog of approximately $2.8 billion.

  We have also added several new blue-chip customers, such as Volkswagen Group, K-Line and Trafigura, and at the same time renewed the fleet by disposing older vessels and focused on investments in modern, fuel efficient vessels with a lower carbon footprint. By having a strong operational platform with full service, time charter offering, we have over the years built several strong customer relationships as illustrated by the large number of repeat transactions with our customers.

  We have declared our 72nd consecutive dividend and are pleased to increase the dividend for the second quarter in a row. Since the inception of the Company in 2004, more than $2.4 billion has been returned to our shareholders. Our ambition is to continue to invest in new assets to build the portfolio for the years to come and continue distributing profits to SFL’s shareholders.»

  Quarterly Dividend

  The Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share. The dividend will be paid on or around March 29, to shareholders on record as of March 16, and the ex-dividend date on the New York Stock Exchange will be March 15, 2022.

  1 Charter hire represents the amounts billable in the period by the Company and its associates for chartering out vessels and rigs. This is mainly the contracted daily rate multiplied by the number of chargeable days plus any additional billable income, including profit share. Long term charter hire relates to contracts undertaken for a period greater than one year. Short term charter hire relates to contracts undertaken for a period less than one year, including voyage charters.

  2 ‘Adjusted EBITDA’ is a non-U.S. GAAP measure. It represents cash receipts from operating activities before net interest, amortization and capital payments

Results for the Quarter ended December 31, 2021

The Company reported total U.S. GAAP operating revenues on a consolidated basis of $152.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to $135.4 million in the previous quarter. This figure is lower than the cash received as it excludes approximately $13.2 million of charter hire which is not identified as operating revenues pursuant to U.S. GAAP. This comprises of ‘repayment of investment in sales-type, direct financing leases and leaseback assets’ and revenues from entities classified as ‘investment in associates’ for accounting purposes.

The net result was impacted by non-recurring and/or non-cash items, including gain from sale of assets of $39.3 million, negative mark-to-market effects relating to interest rate swaps and equity investments of $0.9 million, and an increase of $0.2 million in credit loss provisions.

Reported net income pursuant to U.S. GAAP for the quarter was $80.1 million, or $0.63 per share.