Flex LNG – Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Release
August 16, 2023
Hamilton, Bermuda
Flex LNG Ltd. (“Flex LNG” or the “Company”) today announced its unaudited financial results for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2023.
Highlights:
* Vessel operating revenues of $86.7 million for the second quarter 2023, compared to $92.5 million for the first quarter 2023.
* Net income of $39.0 million and basic earnings per share of $0.73 for the second quarter 2023, compared to net income of $16.5 million and basic earnings per share of $0.31 for the first quarter 2023.
* Average Time Charter Equivalent1 (“TCE”) rate of $77,218 per day for the second quarter 2023, compared to $80,175 per day for the first quarter 2023.
* Adjusted EBITDA1 of $66.2 million for the second quarter 2023, compared to $72.5 million for the first quarter 2023.
* Adjusted net income1 of $28.2 million for the second quarter 2023, compared to $35.2 million for the first quarter 2023.
* Adjusted basic earnings per share1 of $0.53 for the second quarter 2023, compared to $0.66 for the first quarter 2023.
* We successfully completed all of our scheduled drydockings for the vessels delivered in 2018, namely Flex Endeavour (during first quarter 2023), Flex Enterprise, Flex Ranger and Flex Rainbow.
* In August 2023, Cheniere declared their first option period for Flex Vigilant, which extended the firm charter period by additional 200 days.
* The Company declared a dividend for the second quarter 2023 of $0.75 per share.
Øystein M. Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management AS, commented:
“Today we are presenting our second quarter results and we are pleased to announce quarterly revenues of $86.7m in line with our guidance of $85-90m. Revenues thus came in $2.5m higher than the second quarter last year despite us having three ships off-hire during the quarter for their scheduled 5-year special survey in dry-dock. The increase in revenues is driven by re-pricing of our portfolio of time charters during the last year with Time Charter Equivalent Rate of $77,000/day for the quarter compared to $71,000/day in second quarter last year.
With the three drydocking’s completed in the second quarter we have thus completed the drydocking schedule for the year as we drydocked Flex Enterprise in the first quarter of the year. The four dry dockings have all been carried out according to time and budget and the ships are back in operation. Hence, in the second half of the year we expect our revenues to grow as we will have all thirteen ships on water and will benefit from a stronger spot market which should boost the earnings from the variable hire time charter for Flex Artemis. Consequently, we are reiterating the revenue guidance provided in February where we guided revenues of $90-95 million for the third quarter and $90-100m for the fourth quarter. In sum this is expected to add up to approximately $370 million of revenues for the year, also in line with our guidance.
During the second quarter we continued to benefit from the fact that we have hedged a great portion of our floating interest rate risk through a portfolio of interest rate swaps of in aggregate $820 million prior to interest rate moving upwards. Our hedging strategy resulted in strong gains of $17 million for the quarter of which $6.2 million was realized as positive carry during the quarter. We also do have $201 million of very attractive fixed priced leases where we do not account for changes in mark-to-market values, although these leases are also well in the money. Hence, our net income and adjusted net income came in at $39 million and $28 million respectively translating into earnings per share of $0.73 and adjusted earnings per share of $0.53 respectively.
As we completed our balance sheet optimization phase during the first quarter, we have a rock-solid balance sheet which is also super liquid. Cash at hand stands at $450 million and we have locked in attractive long-term debt with no debt maturities prior 2028. This week Cheniere also declared the option to extend Flex Vigilant by 200 days from fourth quarter of 2030 to second quarter of 2031. Market risk is thus limited to one ship on variable time charter as we have a substantial earnings backlog consisting of high-quality fixed rate time charters with a remaining firm period of minimum 54 years in aggregate which may increase to 80 years with declarations of charterer’s extension options.
Given the strong financial position of the Company, the positive outlook and substantial earnings visibility, the Board has therefore decided to declare an ordinary quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share. The dividend per share the last twelve months is with that $3.25 which we think should give our investors and attractive annualized dividend yield of about 10 per cent by being invested in Flex LNG.”
Second Quarter 2023 Result Presentation
In connection with the earnings release, a video webcast will be held at today at 15:00 CEST (9:00 a.m. EST).
In order to attend the live video webcast use the following link:
Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Presentation
A Q&A session will be held after the conference/webcast. Information on how to submit questions will be given at the beginning of the session.
In conjunction with the quarterly results, we have published a short video in which Øystein Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG, discusses the highlights of the third quarter. The video can be accessed through the following link:
The presentation material which will be used in the live video webcast can be downloaded on www.flexlng.com and replay details will also be available at this website.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Knut Traaholt, Chief Financial Officer of Flex LNG Management AS
Telephone: +47 23 11 40 00
Email: ir@flexlng.com
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
Forward-Looking Statements
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “believe,” “expect,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “pending,” “target,” “project,” “likely,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Company’s records and other data available from third parties. Although management believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Company’s control, there can be no assurance that the Company will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. As such, these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of the Company’s future performance, and actual results and future developments may vary materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation, and specifically declines any obligation, except as required by applicable law or regulation, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the effect of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Company’s view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include: unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the LNG tanker market, the impact of public health threats and outbreaks of other highly communicable diseases, including the length and severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on the LNG tanker market, changes in the Company’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, dry-docking and insurance costs, the fuel efficiency of the Company’s vessels, the market for the Company’s vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, ability to comply with covenants in such financing arrangements, failure of counterparties to fully perform their contracts with the Company, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, including those that may limit the commercial useful lives of LNG tankers, customers’ increasing emphasis on environmental and safety concerns, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions or events, including the recent conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, which remain ongoing as of the date of this press release, business disruptions, including supply chain disruption and congestion, due to natural or other disasters or otherwise, potential physical disruption of shipping routes due to accidents, climate-related incidents, or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hire, and other factors, including those that may be described from time to time in the reports and other documents that the Company files with or furnishes to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“Other Reports”). For a more complete discussion of certain of these and other risks and uncertainties associated with the Company, please refer to the Other Reports.
1 Time Charter Equivalent rate, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted net income/(loss) and Adjusted earnings/(loss) per share are non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is included in the end of the earnings report.
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