Himalaya Shipping Ltd. Common Shares

Welcome to Himalaya Shipping Q1 2025 results presentation conference call. For the first part of this call, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, please press 5 star on your telephone keypad. This call is being recorded. And I will now turn the call over to CEO Lars Christian Svensson. Please begin.

Thank you, Operator. Welcome to the Q1 2025 conference call for Himalaya Shipping. My name is Lars Christian Svensson, and I will be joined here today by our CFO, Vidar Hasun. Before we start the presentation, I would like to remind you that we will be discussing matters that are forward-looking. These assumptions reflect the company's current views regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. I will now continue with the highlights of the quarter. we reported a net loss of $6.2 million and an adjusted EBITDA of $13.8 million. The gross time charter equivalent earnings for the quarter was approximately $21,100. We also entered into a new time charter agreement on the Mount Norifjell for 14 to 38 months at a Baltic index rate higher than the average premium on our current charters. The same vessel, Mount Norifjell and the Mount Huak, was later in the quarter converted from index link time charges to fixed rates from 1st of April until 31st December 2025 at $32,000 and $31,500 gross respectively. The company also completed the private placement of approximately $15 million, issuing 2.65 million new shares at 60.5 Norwegian krones per share. Total cash distributions for the quarter total 5 cents per share for the months of January to March. In subsequent events, we achieved a time chart equivalent for April 2025 of approximately $25,800 per day gross. We also declared a dividend of 2.5 cents per share for the month of April. Last but not least, we have on the 20th May applied for an uplisting from Euronext Expand to Euronext Oslo Burrs, which is the main stock exchange in Oslo. This should further increase the liquidity in our share, also with larger funds and investors. And with that, I will pass the word to Vidar.

Thank you, Lars Christian. Himalaya Shipping reports a net loss of $6.4 million and a loss per share of 14 cents for the first quarter of 2025, compared to a net income of $2.5 million and earnings per share of 6 cents for the first quarter of 2024. Operating income was $6.5 million and adjusted EBITDA was $13.8 million for Q1 2025 compared to operating income of $11.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of $16.8 million for Q1 2024. Operating revenues were $22 million for Q1 2025 compared to $23.6 million in Q1 2024. The reduction in revenues is due to lower time charter equivalent earnings achieved, which is down from $30,600 per day in Q1 2024 to $21,100 per day in Q1 2025. This is mainly offset by 282 more operational days in Q1 2025 as a result of the last vessel deliveries during 2024. Vessel operating expenses were $6.9 million in Q1 2025 compared to $4.9 million in Q1 2024. The increase is due to higher average operating expenses per ship per day of approximately $6,400 in Q1 2025 compared to $6,200 in Q1 2024 as well as a full fleet in operation during Q1 2025. G&A for the first quarter was $1.1 million compared to $1.5 million in Q1 2024. The decrease is primarily due to reduced bonus accruals. Interest expense for $30 million in the first quarter reflecting an annualized fixed interest rate of approximately 7% on the sale leaseback financing, which matures seven years from each vessel delivery. The interest expense in Q1 2025 increased compared to Q1 2024 due to drawdowns on the sale-leaseback financing in connection with vessel deliveries during 2024. Cash and cash equivalents were $27 million at the end of the quarter. Our minimum cash requirement under our sale-leaseback financing is $12.3 million. Gross total debt was $721.3 million as of March 31st, 2025, down from $727.9 million as of December 31st, 2024, reflecting bearable payments on the sale leaseback financing. Shareholder's equity was $162.5 million at the end of the quarter. The company raised gross proceeds of approximately $50 million from the private placement completed in March 2025. Cash flow from operations was $0.3 million for the first quarter. The company have declared total cash distribution to shareholders of $0.05 per share for the months of January, February and March 2025. That completes the financial section. And now back to you, Lars Christian.

Thank you, Vidar. Before I will guide you through our market section, here are some company updates. We are pleased to have our first Q1 presentation with all our vessels firmly delivered and trading. All of our modern Newcastle MAX vessels are dual fuel LNG fitted and have scrubbers installed. This flexibility has proven to be appreciated by our charters and the entire fleet is out on index link time charges with conversion options in our favour. As previously mentioned in the presentation, we have converted two vessels to fixed rates until the end of the year at $31,500 and $32,000 per day. The remaining 10 vessels are currently running at index link charges. To illustrate the performance or outperformance, if you'd like, you can see on this slide that since inception, the Himalaya vessels have traded an average 48% premium to the Baltic Cape size index and a 25% premium to PIRS. This is achieved by the extra cargo intake on our vessels and top tier speed and consumption design on the fleet. That makes Himalaya Shipping a top pick in the cape size sector, which is also illustrated by our dividend capacity on our next slide. This slide shows the theoretical dividend capacity based on various rate scenarios for a standard cape size vessel. When the Baltic Cape Size Index moved to $30,000 per day, the company will yield about 28%. And when we see moves around the $40,000 per day range, we'll produce an enticing yield of around 50%. Our fleet-wide cash break-even is about $17,000 per day on the Baltic Cape Size Index. As a reminder, the average Cape Size Index over the last four years has been significantly higher. Shareholders and management are fully aligned and in this together, where the board and sponsors own one-third of the equity. We do not have any reinvestment plans, and all the free cash flow after debt service is targeted to be paid out to our shareholders via monthly dividends. Now let's have a look at the market. After a challenging end to 2024 with decreasing ton miles and subsequent lower freight rates, Q1 2025 has managed well, settling at around $13,000 per day on the Baltic Cape Size Index. The largest contributor to this has been the solid bauxite moves. Bauxite ton miles grew 43% year over year, and around 85% of the commodity were destined for China. Brazilian iron ore volumes and ton miles also experienced growth, despite Brazil going through a hefty wet season, achieving a 3% year-over-year growth. The Australian iron ore exporters were however disrupted by two large cyclones, thus had a year-over-year decline of 10% in the first quarter. Global coal tonne miles also underperformed and had a 30% contraction year-over-year due to over 50% less exports from Colombia and less coal than usual transported on Cape size. Please be reminded, though, that Q1 2024 was an exceptionally good period in terms of cargo volumes and ton miles, so looking at the first quarter of 2025 in historical terms, it has proven decent. Comparing Q4 2024 in ton miles with Q1 2025, we also see a solid improvement of 2.5% overall increase. We have discussed the bauxite trade extensively, and it's good to see the staggering volume growth. As a central component in the alumina industry, China used these imported tons, especially in the electric vehicle production. Imports are increasing, and Chinese bauxite stockpiles are declining, which indicates room for further growth, as illustrated in the top left graph. To the left, you can also see that the Chinese imports are increasing steadily, and best of all, the majority of these Chinese import volumes are being shipped on Cape Size and Newcastle Max vessels. To the right, you can see the increased impact on the bauxite trade in ton miles, where bauxite has now surpassed coal by a good margin. Brazil experienced a wet Q1, but still increased their exports with 3% year-over-year for the first quarter. The pace has continued into Q2, where the country set a new export record for the month of April with 30.5 million tons of export. We consider these volumes from Brazil encouraging, both in terms of million- tons exported, but also from a ton-mile perspective as we move into the iron ore high season. In addition, we also have more iron ore coming on stream in the Atlantic that will contribute in scale to the ton-mile Newcastle Max story. The first volumes of iron ore from the Simandou mine in Guinea are expected to be exported in Q4 2025, according to the latest updates. Over a 24-month ramp-up phase, the mine is targeting 120 million tons of high-grade iron ore per annum to the market. With the additional valet capacity increased by 2026, we expect a total of 170 million tons of high-grade iron ore from the Atlantic, most of which will be exported to China. As you can see from the right graph, comparing these volumes to the record low order book, the supply story strengthens further. Let's have a deeper look into the order book. We are at a 25-year low, standing at 7.9% of the total existing Cape size fleet. Active shipyards are still 50% down from the peak of 2008, making it challenging to build any meaningful fleet capacity that could distort the favourable supply dynamics over the next few years. As a comparison to other shipping segments, you can see from the right graph that the Cape Size order book to fleet ratio is by far the most favourable. In addition to the low order book, the current Cape Size and New Carson Mack fleet is ageing fast. Around 50% of the total fleet was built between 2009 and 2015. That means that 60% of the fleet will be over 20 years of age in 2034. Keep in mind that many chargers today will not employ vessels older than 15 years. Ship owners have historically been good at ruining their own markets by placing new building orders. As it looks now, it will be nearly impossible to build this market to death at this stage in the cycle with a clear visibility of supply for the next 3-4 years. We continue to see a significant increase in dry docks due to mandatory special service required on merchant vessels every fifth year. Vessels delivered in 2010 account for 10% of the total Cape size fleet and will need to undergo the 15 year special survey in 2025. Additionally, there will be 5 and 10 year special surveys, meaning around 23% of the total Cape size Newcastle Max fleet will be competing for dry dock space this year, with similar numbers expected for 2026. We estimate a total of 1.3% to 1.4% additional off-fire on the total fleet due to dry docks alone in 2025 and 2026, not factoring in potential congestion and waiting time. Thank you very much, and I will now pass the word back to the operator and welcome any questions that you might have. Thank you.

If you do wish to ask a question, please press 5 star on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing five star again. We will have a brief pause while questions are being registered. The first question is from the line of Peter Haugen from ABG. Please go ahead. Your line will now be unmuted.

Good afternoon, guys. Just a quick question regarding employment going forward. So as it stands, it looks as if the conventional cap size market is, from the FFA perspective, going to produce somewhere just shy of $20,000 a day. Well, a little bit less than that up until Q4, in which those levels will be higher. Do you find it increasingly to fix out or to swap more of the indexing charters at these levels?

To answer your question, the short answer is no. We think the market still has more legs to go on here. So at these levels, we're quite happy with continuing with our indexing time charters. If we see a good jump, now we're going into the iron ore high season, and we also see that the Australian iron ore is pushing a lot harder and the bauxite is continuing well. So if we see the FFA market spike in and gives us a good cushion into Q3 and Q4, we will obviously consider taking some more cover into fixed rates. But at the moment, we think this market has more legs.

Understood. And that was sort of, to some extent, going into my next question, which is very, very, I think, both simple and difficult and broad in the sense that how should we now, or which capitalists should we look for? Well, I guess predominantly to the upside, obviously, but are there any risks as well? Those would love to hear more about... the more concrete catalysts expected through the summer and into the second half of the year.

Yeah. Well, going into the summer now, we see that the Brazilians have already picked up the pace rapidly. They set a new record now for the month of April with exports reaching 31.5 million. And so far, the supply side on the vessels coming into Atlantic as well to lift all these volumes, it's shortening down in the next couple of months. So we see the increased ton-mile volumes is just going up to get further into the year. And now that we also get a lending hand from Australia, the cargo flow is starting to improve. So that's the major catalyst. And let's not forget the bauxite volumes. We're coming out of the high season now, but at almost a 45% year-on-year increase to date. Even if they go into the slow season, they're still going to produce a lot more than what they've done in previous years. So the cargo flow is increasing, ton-mile intensive, and let's not also forget that we have a utilization rate on the Cape Sars fleet now getting close to 95%. So we don't need many bottlenecks for this market to get a push, we believe.

Okay, that's good color and good to hear. So thank you, that was all from me.

Thank you, Petter.

And let me just remind you, if you wish to ask a question, please press five star on your telephone keypad.