Maroussi, Athens, Greece – May 20, 2021– EuroDry Ltd. (NASDAQ: EDRY, the “Company” or “EuroDry”), an owner and operator of drybulk vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for drybulk cargoes, announced today its results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2021 and an agreement to acquire M/V Blessed Luck, a 76,704 dwt drybulk vessel built in Japan.
First Quarter 2021 Highlights:
• Total net revenues of $8.6 million; net income of $0.9 million; net income attributable to common shareholders (after a $0.3 million dividend on Series B Preferred Shares and a $0.1 million preferred deemed dividend arising out of the net redemption of approximately $3 million of Series B Preferred Shares in the first quarter of 2021) of $0.4 million or $0.19 earnings per share basic and diluted. Adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders1 for the period was $1.3 million or $0.55 earnings per share basic and diluted.
• Adjusted EBITDA1 was $4.0 million.
• An average of 7.0 vessels were owned and operated during the first quarter of 2021 earning an average time charter equivalent rate of $14,924 per day.
• The Company declared a dividend of $0.3 million on its Series B Preferred Shares. The dividend will be paid in cash.
M/V Blessed Luck Acquisition
The Company also announced that it has agreed to acquire M/V Blessed Luck, a 76,704 dwt drybulk vessel built in 2004 in Japan, for $12.12 million. The vessel is majority owned by a third party and has been managed by Eurobulk Ltd., also the manager of three of the Company’s vessels. The vessel is expected to be delivered to the Company within May 2021.
he acquisition will be financed partly by a short term sellers’ credit of $5 million and an one year bridge loan of $6 million provided by an entity affiliated with the Company’s Chief Executive Officer with the remaining funds coming from the Company; both the sellers’ credit and short term loan carry an annual interest of 8%. In parallel, the Company is in the process of arranging 1Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted net income/(loss) and Adjusted earnings/(loss) per share are not recognized measurements under US GAAP (GAAP) and should not be used in isolation or as a substitute for EuroDry’s financial results presented in accordance with GAAP. Refer to a subsequent section of the Press Release for the definitions and reconciliation of these measurements to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.
2 a bank loan with the acquired vessel as collateral, expected to be finalized within approximately three months, which will provide sufficient funds to repay the sellers’ credit and, possibly, part of the bridge loan. At the same time, the Company entered into a charter agreement for the vessel for a period between a minimum of 11 months and a maximum of 13 months at a rate of $19,500/day which will commence upon delivery of the vessel and contribute about $4 million of EBITDA during the minimum period of the charter.
Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of EuroDry commented:
“In stark contrast to a year ago, it has been a very positive 2021 so far with drybulk rates rebounding significantly as a result of solid trade growth and limited supply growth. The latter, especially, is constrained by short and medium term factors: in the short term, by inefficiencies in the vessel-port transportation system that resulted from COVID-19 effects and required protocols and, in the medium term, by the lowest orderbook in the last 20+ years. We believe that the market is likely to remain strong for the next couple of years provided that demand for transportation of drybulk cargoes -which is generally linked to economic activity- will maintain at least a historically average growth rate; it is noteworthy that the IMF, amongst others, predicts that economic activity will rebound above historical average levels as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In such a positive environment, our main strategy is to try to expand our fleet in a risk efficient way despite our limited funds available for investment. Thus, we acquired M/V Blessed Luck, a 2004-built vessel, with a combination of seller and affiliate bridge loans to complement our cluster of medium age Japanese-built Panamax-size vessels alongside our cluster of own-built newbuildings. The acquisition of M/V Blessed Luck will increase our fleet to eight units and is expected to contribute to a proportional increase in our EBITDA. At the present market rate levels, we are to accumulate funds that will provide us with several investment or expansion options or shareholder reward models. We, further, believe that the strong drybulk markets enhance the value of our public listing as a consolidation platform and we continuously investigate opportunities to take advantage of it.”
Tasos Aslidis, Chief Financial Officer of EuroDry commented:
“Our net revenues for the first quarter of 2021 were higher by 69.3% as compared to the first quarter of 2020. This was the result of higher average charter rates by 89.3% earned during the quarter as compared to the first quarter of 2020 and 38.7% higher when compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
Total daily vessel operating expenses, including management fees, general and administrative expenses, but excluding drydocking costs, increased by approximately 8.5% during the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter of last year. This increase is mainly due to increased crewing costs in 2021 compared to 2020, resulting from difficulties in crew rotation due to COVID-19 related restrictions.
Adjusted EBITDA during the first quarter of 2021 was $4.0 million compared to $0.6 million achieved for the first quarter of last year. As of March 31, 2021, our outstanding debt (excluding the unamortized loan fees) was $56.0 million versus restricted and unrestricted cash of approximately $6.2 million.”
