Mpc Container Ships As

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MPC Containerships Q1 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star 1 and 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. Alternatively, you may submit your question via the webcast. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speakers today, Mr. Konstantin Bark, CEO, and Mr. Moritz Fuhrman, CFO of the company. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon and good morning, everyone. This is Konstantin Bark. CEO of MPC Containerships, and as announced, I'm joined by our CFO, Moritz Fuhrmann. I would like to welcome you to our Q1 2023 earnings call. Thank you for joining us to discuss MPC Containerships first quarter earnings. This morning, we have issued a stock market announcement covering MPCC's first quarter results for the period ending March 31st, 2023. The release as well as the accompanying presentation for this conference call are available on the Master and Media section of our website. Please be advised that the material provided and our discussion today contain certain forward-looking statements and indicative figures. Actual results may differ materially from those stated or implied by forward-looking statements due to risk and uncertainties associated with our business. Before we start with today's presentation, a few words from my side reflecting on the start of the year and the first quarter. We are pleased to report another solid performance and a strong quarterly result today despite prevailing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties. The container market has clearly come down from the historical highs seen in 2021 and early 2022, yet the charter market is still at very healthy levels. The trade market has recently shown signs of stabilization, and the charter market has actually improved during the past weeks and months to solid levels well above historical averages, both in terms of charter rates and charter periods. At MPCC, we continue to focus on being agile and well-equipped to adjust our operations and strategy to fit the prevailing market conditions. Be a good and reliable partner to our customers and of course to create value to our shareholders. We have been able to capitalize on the strong markets by locking in long-term time charter contracts at very attractive rates and selectively sell vessels. We have placed a clear emphasis on returning proceeds from profitable operations to shareholders by way of significant dividends. And at the same time, we also continue to deleverage the company and currently operate with an industry low leverage. During the first quarter, as part of our ongoing strategy for selective portfolio optimization, we have announced several new and accretive portfolio measures, which include continued divestment from older vessels and investment in younger, larger scrubber fitted vessels with existing charters attached. These measures have not only earnings accreted, but also important efforts to maintain the long-term competitive position of MPTC. We will now run you through the first quarter, the market, and an outlook for the company in more detail, and I would like to hand over to our CFO, Moritz Fuhrmann, at this point.

Thank you, Konstantin. Looking at some highlights at the start of the presentation, we're very happy to report operating revenues coming in strongly at $180 million, mostly aligned with expectations adjusted for some one-off effects of $25 million concerning the redeliver of Ars Collata. The net profit came in at $120 million, again, adjusted for some one-off effects in the quarter. We're talking about a net profit of close to $90 million, on which basis the board has declared a recurring dividend of 15 cents per share. At the same time, since we're emphasizing on returning capital to shareholders, we continue to operate on an industry low leverage of 15%, slightly down from last quarter, which was 16%. And while we continue to return capital to shareholders, we also continue to optimize The fleet portfolio that we have, so we acquired two ships in the first quarter and took also delivery of one 2800 TU ship and one 3400 TU ship. We were able to sell one older vessel in the portfolio, which was 20 years old and was part of the Blue Water joint venture. So from that perspective, also being able to streamline the corporate structure. Since the end of last quarter and earlier this year, the charter market or the container market in general has developed relatively favorable. There was a low period starting into the year, but more recently we have seen very strong pictures, not only in our portfolio, also in the wider market. So very happy to report that we've been able to lock in some strong charter rates, but also probably more more important, a strong duration of up to one and a half years. Also, despite some clouds at the horizon from a container market perspective, we strongly believe that MPCC is well positioned within the feeder segment that clearly shows a decent supply-demand fundamental going forward. So, despite the aforementioned market uncertainty, we are very well positioned with a revenue backlog of 1.3 billion US dollars. Also, for 2023, we already locked in almost 90 percent of open days, so very little exposure to potential market volatility. And on that basis, we are reconfirming the guidance that we put out in the last reporting of $610 million to $630 million revenue and $420 million to $450 million EBITDA. Looking at some company KPIs in more detail, again, gross revenue came in strongly at $180 million. EBITDA, $141 million, adjusted for one-off effect. This is $110 million in net profits. The $120 million, again, adjusted for one-off effect, $89 million. The balance sheet has grown slightly on the back of the acquisitions that we made in Q1, but also on some new building installments that we paid. Net debt almost unchanged relative to last quarter. Industry low, we're talking about $28 million, and the leverage ratio is mentioned slightly down from 16 to 15%. On that basis, again, dividend per share of $15 cents in line with last quarter. We should mention that the $15 cents is excluding the $7 cents that we already declared and distributed as event-driven dividend in February 23, so $22 cents in total. Operational KPIs, very happy to report that OPEX has come down. And we are seeing that COVID impact is slightly fading out. So historically, we have seen some one-off effects relating to COVID in operating shifts that is now fading out. Average TCE also mostly in line with last quarter. Utilization is slightly down due to a higher number of dry docking and some repositioning of vessels in our fleet. Looking at the commercial side of things, again, very happy to report that since last reporting and today we've been able to fix seven vessels in the market. I think it's fair to say that both charter rates but also duration, as you can see, shows a very positive trajectory and it's also above our expectation. And for the time being, there's no sign of slowdown as we continue, obviously, to talk to the operators in the market, and we see a decent demand for feeder vessels. That's on the chartering side. On the portfolio side of things, again, as mentioned before, we've been able to acquire two scrubber fitted secondhand ships in the market and took delivery of them within the Q1. Both vessels, obviously, important to mention. both from an EPS and a DPS long-term perspective to the overall portfolio, and we've been able to sell out one of the older ships in the portfolio. At the same time, we obviously continue to invest in the fleet, also together with operators, to make our fleet as fit as possible for the upcoming regulatory environment that will obviously have an impact on the shipping industry. Looking at the cash development over the quarter, not much to report, almost unchanged, slightly down $7 million. Obviously, strong operating top line translated into operating cash flow of $155 million. Investing cash flow, aforementioned best of acquisition, new building installment, but also dry docking related expenses of $17 million. Net interest expense, $2 million. We also draw down a new facility of $8.3 million in Q1 to support the vessel acquisition we just mentioned. And we, at the same time, continue to pay down on the existing debt facilities, the $50 million towards the HCOP facility. And most importantly for investors, we continue to pay distributions in the amount of or in the tune of 66.6 million recurring and 31 million eventualism early in the year in February 23. Talking about dividends in more detail, obviously emphasis remains on returning capital to shareholders. $15 spent declared for Q1 this year being paid out in June this year. What is important to mention in regard to the recurring dividend is that historically we have been paying out dividends from our share premium accounts, which by now or by paying this dividend will be depleted. So for this time, but also going forward, we will pay $12 from the share premium and $3 from the retained earnings. Whilst going forward, these dividends will be paid entirely from retained earnings. Over time, and since we embarked on the dividend journey, we have distributed more than $600 million to investors. implying a 55% dividend yield if you were to buy in the stock jam 22, and implying a 24 compelling dividend yield if you were to buy in the stock in jam 23. So from that perspective, very, very impressive value proposition to investors. And on that happy note, hopefully I'm passing over to Konstantin and the market section.