Global Ship Lease Reports Results for the First Quarter of 2025

Forward contract cover locked in for 93% of 2025 days and 75% of 2026 days

Annualized dividend increased to $2.10 per Class A Common Share

ATHENS, Greece, May 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE: GSL) (the “Company”, “Global Ship Lease” or “GSL”), an owner of containerships, announced today its unaudited results for the three months ended March 31, 2025.

First Quarter of 2025 Highlights and Other Recent Developments

• 1Q 2025 operating revenue of $191.0 million; up 6.3% on 1Q 2024.
• 1Q 2025 net income available to common shareholders of $121.0 million, or $3.40 Earnings per Share (EPS); up 35.2% on 1Q 2024.
• 1Q 2025 normalized net income³ of $94.3 million, or $2.65 normalized EPS³ up 5.8% on 1Q 2024.
• 1Q 2025 Adjusted EBITDA³ of $132.3 million; up 5.5% on 1Q 2024.
• Added $352 million of contracted revenues during 1Q 2025, bringing total contracted revenues as of March 31, 2025 to $1.87 billion, over a weighted average remaining duration of 2.3 years.
• Completed the sales of Tasman (5,900 TEU, built 2000), Akiteta (2,200 TEU, built 2002), and Keta (2,200 TEU, built 2003) for an aggregate gain of $28.5 million; the vessels were delivered to their new owners in 1Q 2025.
• Took delivery, in January 2025, of Czech, the fourth in a series of four high-reefer, ECO-9,000 TEU containerships contracted for purchase with charters attached in 4Q 2024 (“the Newly Acquired Vessels”).
• Agreed, in March 2025, to an $85.0 million Credit Facility with UBS to fully prepay certain of our outstanding credit facilities which would otherwise have matured between May 2026 and July 2026. The new loan is priced at SOFR + 2.15%, matures in the second quarter of 2028, and brings the weighted average cost of our debt to 3.99% and weighted average maturity of debt to 5.1 years.
• Declared a dividend of $0.525 per Class A common share for the first quarter of 2025, to be paid on or about June 3, 2025 to common shareholders of record as of May 23, 2025. Paid a dividend of $0.45 per Class A common share for the fourth quarter of 2024 on March 6, 2025.
• Approximately $33.0 million of capacity remains available under our opportunistic share repurchase authorization.

George Youroukos, our Executive Chairman, stated: “While geopolitical factors loom large throughout the transportation industry and the wider economy, we have managed to continue to build our charter coverage at attractive rates. The US tariff situation remains dynamic and, as we are all seeing play out in real time, the initial impact is disruptive to supply chains. However, the breadth and nature of future ramifications are difficult to predict, making flexibility, optionality, and agility more important than ever. Against this backdrop, we have seen continued demand for our mid-sized and smaller container ships from the liner operators as they look to maximize flexibility in their networks to accommodate changing cargo flows. In addition to the continued commercial appetite for our ships, we are pleased to see top-tier banks underline their confidence in Global Ship Lease by supporting our most recent successful re-financing. Moments of pronounced uncertainty and volatility have the potential to yield opportunities with outsized returns for a focused, disciplined, and well-capitalized shipowner; and it is our intention to be precisely that.”

Thomas Lister, our Chief Executive Officer, stated: “Uncertainty, volatility, disruption, and cyclicality present both challenges and opportunities in shipping. In order to rise to those challenges and pounce on the opportunities, however, a combination of resilience and optionality is key; and we have focused our efforts over the last several years on building both. Our ships are operationally and commercially flexible and are not captive to any single trade or region; our balance sheet is in great shape, with financial leverage below 1x; our debt has a weighted average cost of 3.99% and a weighted average maturity runway of 5.1 years; and we have available cash dry powder for opportunistic purchases and fleet renewal. Meanwhile, we have continued to reinforce our forward contract cover, which now stands at just under $1.9 billion over a weighted average period of 2.3 years, we have grown our quarterly earnings per share to $2.65 (normalized), and we are increasing the return of capital to our shareholders by upsizing our quarterly dividend to $0.525 per common share ($2.10 per share, annualized). In short, our strategy and business model continue to deliver on our mission to provide investors with a stable and liquid platform from which to build shareholder value by participating in the cyclicality and upside volatility of our industry, while mitigating exposure to downside risk.”

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA – UNAUDITED

(thousands of U.S. dollars)

(1) Operating Revenues are net of address commissions which represent a discount provided directly to a charterer based on a fixed percentage of the agreed upon charter rate and also includes the amortization of intangible liabilities, the effect of the straight lining of time charter modifications and the compensation from charterers for drydock and for other capitalized expenses installation. Brokerage commissions are included in “Time charter and voyage expenses” (see below).

(2) Net Income available to common shareholders.

(3) Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Net Income, and Normalized Earnings per Share are non-U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“U.S. GAAP”) financial measures, as explained further in this press release, and are considered by Global Ship Lease to be useful measures of its performance. For reconciliations of these non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, please see “Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures” below.

Operating Revenues and Utilization

Operating revenues derived from fixed-rate, mainly long-term, time-charters were $191.0 million in the first quarter of 2025, up $11.4 million (or 6.3%) on operating revenues of $179.6 million in the prior year period. The period-on-period increase in operating revenues was principally due to (i) a net effect of higher rates on charter renewals on a number of vessels, (ii) a non-cash $1.7 million increase in the effect from straight lining time charter modifications and a non-cash $1.5 million increase in the amortization of intangible liabilities arising on below-market charters attached to certain vessel additions and, (iii) the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels offset by an increase in off hire days. There were 406 days of offhire and idle time in the first quarter of 2025, of which 330 were for scheduled drydockings, compared to 73 days of offhire and idle time in the prior year period, of which 33 were for scheduled drydockings. Utilization for the first quarter of 2025 was 93.7% compared to utilization of 98.8% in the prior year period.

The table below shows fleet utilization for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, and for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.

As of March 31, 2025, one regulatory drydocking was in progress. In 2025, nine further regulatory drydockings are anticipated.

Vessel Operating Expenses

Vessel operating expenses, which are primarily the costs of crew, lubricating oil, repairs, maintenance, insurance and technical management fees, were up 4.4% to $50.0 million for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $47.9 million in the prior year period. The increase of $2.1 million was mainly due to (i) the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels, (ii) an increase in stores, spares and maintenance expenses for planned main engine maintenance and overhaul of diesel generators as well as main engine annual spares delivery due to timing of planned schedule, and (iii) the impact of inflation on fees and expenses, including management fees. The average cost per ownership day in the quarter was $7,809, compared to $7,734 for the prior year period, up $75 per day, or 1.0%.

Time Charter and Voyage Expenses

Time charter and voyage expenses comprise mainly commission paid to ship brokers, the cost of bunker fuel for owner’s account when a ship is off-hire or idle, and miscellaneous owner’s costs associated with a ship’s voyage. Time charter and voyage expenses were $6.5 million for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $5.2 million in the prior year period. The increase was mainly due to an increase in bunkering expenses due to higher off hire days.

Depreciation and Amortization

Depreciation and amortization for the first quarter of 2025 was $29.8 million, compared to $24.3 million in the prior year period. The increase was mainly due to the 17 drydockings completed after March 31, 2024 and the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels in December 2024.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses were $4.6 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $5.1 million in the prior year period. The movement was mainly due to the decrease in payroll expenses following the retirement of our former chief executive officer effective March 31, 2024 plus a reduction in the non-cash charge for stock-based compensation expense. The average general and administrative expenses per ownership day for the first quarter of 2025 was $719, compared to $822 in the prior year period, a decrease of $103 or 12.5%.

Gain on sale of vessels

Tasman (5,900 TEU, built 2000), Akiteta (2,200 TEU, built 2002), and Keta (2,200 TEU, built 2003) were sold for an aggregate gain of $28.5 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Adjusted EBITDA¹

Adjusted EBITDA was $132.3 million for the first quarter of 2025, up from $125.4 million for the prior year period, with the net increase being mainly due to increased revenue from charter renewals at higher rates and the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels.

Interest Expense and Interest Income

Debt as at March 31, 2025 totaled $777.7 million, comprising $340.3 million of secured bank debt collateralized by vessels, $218.8 million of investment grade rated 5.69% Senior Secured Notes due 2027 (the “2027 Secured Notes”) collateralized by vessels, and $218.6 million under sale and leaseback financing transactions. As of March 31, 2025, 19 of our vessels were unencumbered.

Debt as at March 31, 2024 totaled $771.1 million, comprising $400.6 million of secured bank debt collateralized by vessels, $271.3 million of the 2027 Secured Notes collateralized by vessels, and $99.2 million under sale and leaseback financing transactions. As of March 31, 2024, five vessels were unencumbered.

Interest and other finance expenses for the first quarter of 2025 was $9.9 million, down from $10.5 million for the prior year period. The decrease was mainly due to our blended cost of debt, which, taking into account our interest rate caps, has significantly decreased from approximately 4.53% for the first quarter of 2024 to 4.09% for the first quarter of 2025 mainly due to our recent refinancing activity. In March 2025, we entered into a loan agreement with UBS for $85.0 million, to refinance certain of our existing loans. The agreement is priced at SOFR + 2.15% and has a maturity of three years. During March of 2025, we fully repaid the outstanding balance of ESUN Credit Facility amounting to $5.9 million.

Interest income for the first quarter of 2025 was $3.2 million, down from $3.7 million for the prior year period mainly due to lower interest rates on time deposits.

Other income, net

Other income, net was $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2025, compared to $1.3 million in the prior year period.

Fair value adjustment on derivatives

In December 2021, we entered into a USD 1-month LIBOR interest rate cap of 0.75% through the fourth quarter of 2026 on $484.1 million of floating rate debt, which reduces over time in line with anticipated debt amortization and represented approximately half of the outstanding floating rate debt. In February 2022, we entered into two additional USD 1-month LIBOR interest rate caps of 0.75% through the fourth quarter of 2026 on the remaining balance of $507.9 million of floating rate debt. As a result of the discontinuation of LIBOR, on July 1, 2023, our interest rate caps automatically transited to 1 month Compounded SOFR at a net rate of 0.64%. A negative fair value adjustment of $1.6 million for the first quarter of 2025 was recorded through the statement of income.

Earnings Allocated to Preferred Shares

Our Series B Preferred Shares carry a coupon of 8.75%, the cost of which for the first quarter of 2025 was $2.4 million, the same as in the prior year period.

Net Income Available to Common Shareholders

Net income available to common shareholders for the first quarter of 2025 was $121.0 million. Net income available to common shareholders for the prior year period was $89.5 million.

Earnings per share for the first quarter of 2025 was $3.40, an increase of 33.9% from the earnings per share for the prior year period, which was $2.54.

Normalized net income¹ for the first quarter of 2025 was $94.3 million. Normalized net income for the prior year period was $89.1 million.

Normalized earnings per share¹ for the first quarter of 2025 was $2.65, an increase of 4.7% from Normalized earnings per share for the prior year period, which was $2.53.

_{¹ Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized net income, and Normalized earnings per share are non-U.S. GAAP financial measures, as explained further in this press release, and are considered by Global Ship Lease to be useful measures of its performance. For reconciliations of these non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, please see “Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures” below.}

Fleet

As of March 31, 2025, there were 69 containerships in the fleet, detailed in the table below:

Conference Call and Webcast

Global Ship Lease will hold a conference call to discuss the Company’s results for the three months ended March 31, 2025 today, Monday, May 19, 2025 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. There are two ways to access the conference call:

(1) Dial-in: (646) 307-1963 or (800) 715-9871; Event ID: 7533230

Please dial in at least 10 minutes prior to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time to ensure a prompt start to the call.

(2) Live Internet webcast and slide presentation: http://www.globalshiplease.com

The webcast will also be archived on the Company’s website: http://www.globalshiplease.com.

Annual Report on Form 20-F

The Company’s Annual Report for 2024 was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on March 18, 2025. A copy of the report can be found under the Investor Relations section (Annual Reports) of the Company’s website at http://www.globalshiplease.com or on the Commission’s website at www.sec.gov. Shareholders may request a hard copy of the audited financial statements free of charge by contacting the Company at info@globalshiplease.com or by writing to Global Ship Lease, Inc, c/o GSL Enterprises Ltd., 9 Irodou Attikou Street, Kifisia, Athens, 14561.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease is a leading independent owner of containerships with a diversified fleet of mid-sized and smaller containerships. Incorporated in the Marshall Islands, Global Ship Lease commenced operations in December 2007 with a business of owning and chartering out containerships under fixed-rate charters to top tier container liner companies. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2008.

Our fleet of 69 vessels as of March 31, 2025 had an average age weighted by TEU capacity of 17.5 years. 39 ships are wide-beam Post-Panamax.

As of March 31, 2025, the average remaining term of the Company’s charters, to the mid-point of redelivery, including options under the Company’s control and other than if a redelivery notice has been received, was 2.3 years on a TEU-weighted basis. Contracted revenue on the same basis was $1.87 billion. Contracted revenue was $2.37 billion, including options under charterers’ control and with latest redelivery date, representing a weighted average remaining term of 3.0 years.

Investor and Media Contacts:
IGB Group
Bryan Degnan
646-673-9701
or
Leon Berman
212-477-8438

Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our financial information presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we use certain “non-GAAP financial measures” as such term is defined in Regulation G promulgated by the SEC. Generally, a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a company’s operating performance, financial position or cash flows that excludes or includes amounts that are included in, or excluded from, the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We believe that the presentation of these measures provides investors with greater transparency and supplemental data relating to our financial condition and results of operations, and therefore a more complete understanding of factors affecting our business and financial performance than U.S. GAAP measures alone. In addition, we believe that the presentation of these matters is useful to investors for period-to-period comparison of results as the items may reflect certain unique and/or non-operating items or items outside of our control.

We believe that the presentation of the following non-U.S. GAAP financial measures is useful to investors because they are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry.

A.   Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA represents net income available to common shareholders before interest income and expense, earnings allocated to preferred shares, depreciation and amortization of drydocking net costs, gains or losses on the sale of vessels, amortization of intangible liabilities, charges for share based compensation, fair value adjustment on derivatives, and the effect of the straight lining of time charter modifications. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-U.S. GAAP quantitative measure used to assist in the assessment of our ability to generate cash from our operations. We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors because it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. Adjusted EBITDA is not defined in U.S. GAAP and should not be considered to be an alternative to net income or any other financial metric required by such accounting principles. Our use of Adjusted EBITDA may vary from the use of similarly titled measures by others in our industry.

Adjusted EBITDA is presented herein both on a historic basis and on a forward-looking basis in certain instances. We do not provide a reconciliation of such forward looking non-U.S. GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure due to the inherent difficulty in accurately forecasting and quantifying certain amounts necessary for such reconciliation, and we are not able to provide such reconciliation of such forward-looking non-U.S. GAAP financial measure without unreasonable effort and expense.

ADJUSTED EBITDA – UNAUDITED

(thousands of U.S. dollars)

B.   Normalized net income

Normalized net income represents net income available to common shareholders after adjusting for certain non-recurring items. Normalized net income is a non-U.S. GAAP quantitative measure which we believe will assist investors and analysts who often adjust reported net income for items that do not affect operating performance or operating cash generated. Normalized net income is not defined in U.S. GAAP and should not be considered to be an alternate to net income or any other financial metric required by such accounting principles. Our use of Normalized net income may vary from the use of similarly titled measures by others in our industry.

NORMALIZED NET INCOME – UNAUDITED

(thousands of U.S. dollars)

C.   Normalized Earnings per Share

Normalized Earnings per Share represents Earnings per Share after adjusting for certain non-recurring items. Normalized Earnings per Share is a non-U.S. GAAP quantitative measure which we believe will assist investors and analysts who often adjust reported Earnings per Share for items that do not affect operating performance or operating cash generated. Normalized Earnings per Share is not defined in U.S. GAAP and should not be considered to be an alternate to Earnings per Share as reported or any other financial metric required by such accounting principles. Our use of Normalized Earnings per Share may vary from the use of similarly titled measures by others in our industry.

NORMALIZED EARNINGS PER SHARE – UNAUDITED

Dividend Policy

The declaration and payment of dividends will be subject at all times to the discretion of the Company’s Board of Directors. The timing and amount of dividends, if any, will depend on the Company’s earnings, financial condition, cash flow, capital requirements, growth opportunities, restrictions in its loan agreements and financing arrangements, the provisions of Marshall Islands law affecting the payment of dividends, and other factors. For further information on the Company’s dividend policy, please see its most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F.

Safe Harbor Statement

This communication contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements provide Global Ship Lease’s current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include statements about Global Ship Lease’s expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. Words or phrases such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “continue”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “ongoing”, “plan”, “potential”, “predict”, “should”, “project”, “will” or similar words or phrases, or the negatives of those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that may be incorrect, and Global Ship Lease cannot assure you that these projections included in these forward-looking statements will come to pass. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.
The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

• future operating or financial results;
• expectations regarding the strength of future growth of the container shipping industry, including the rates of annual demand and supply growth;
• geo-political events such as the continuing wars between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Hamas, ongoing disputes between China and Taiwan, deteriorating trade relations between the U.S. and China, and ongoing political unrest and conflicts in the Middle East and other regions throughout the world;
• the potential disruption of shipping routes, including due to lower water levels in the Panama Canal and the ongoing attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea;
• public health threats, pandemics, epidemics, and other disease outbreaks around the world and governmental responses thereto;
• the financial condition of our charterers and their ability and willingness to pay charterhire to us in accordance with the charters and our expectations regarding the same;
• the overall health and condition of the U.S. and global financial markets;
• changes in tariffs, trade barriers, and embargos, including recently imposed tariffs by the U.S. and the effects of retaliatory tariffs and countermeasures from affected countries;
• our financial condition and liquidity, including our ability to obtain additional financing to fund capital expenditures, vessel acquisitions and for other general corporate purposes and our ability to meet our financial covenants and repay our borrowings;
• our expectations relating to dividend payments and expectations of our ability to make such payments including the availability of cash and the impact of constraints under our loan agreements;         
• future acquisitions, business strategy and expected capital spending;
• operating expenses, availability of key employees, crew, number of off-hire days, drydocking and survey requirements, costs of regulatory compliance, insurance costs and general and administrative costs;
• general market conditions and shipping industry trends, including charter rates and factors affecting supply and demand;
• assumptions regarding interest rates and inflation;
• changes in the rate of growth of global and various regional economies;
• risks incidental to vessel operation, including piracy, discharge of pollutants and vessel accidents and damage including total or constructive total loss;
• estimated future capital expenditures needed to preserve our capital base;
• our expectations about the availability of vessels to purchase, the time that it may take to construct new vessels, or the useful lives of our vessels;
• our continued ability to enter into or renew charters including the re-chartering of vessels on the expiry of existing charters, or to secure profitable employment for our vessels in the spot market;
• our ability to realize expected benefits from our acquisition of secondhand vessels;
• our ability to capitalize on our management’s and directors’ relationships and reputations in the containership industry to its advantage;
• changes in governmental and classification societies’ rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities;
• expectations about the availability of insurance on commercially reasonable terms;
• changes in laws and regulations (including environmental rules and regulations);
• potential liability from future litigation; and
• other important factors described from time to time in the reports we file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Global Ship Lease’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements for many reasons specifically as described in Global Ship Lease’s filings with the SEC. Accordingly, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this communication. Global Ship Lease undertakes no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events after the date of this communication or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should, however, review the factors and risks Global Ship Lease describes in the reports it will file from time to time with the SEC after the date of this communication.