Total income for 2015 was SEK1,086.6 mill and for 1Q16 was SEK263.6 mill, compared to SEK907.6 mill and SEK255.5 mill for the respective periods in the previous year.
The result before tax was SEK33.4 for 1Q16 and SEK174.3 mill for 2015, compared with SEK28.1 mill and SEK16.5 mill in 2015. EBITDA was SEK103.4 (SEK82.2 mill) in 1Q16 and SEK423.8 mill (SEK214.7 mill) for the full year 2015.
CEO Kim Ullman said; “We continued to deliver good earnings during 1Q16, even though the overall market was slightly lower than in the same quarter of 2015. The employment of our vessels was high, with successful chartering. The underlying drivers included generally good demand for oil, which in turn was driven by the low price of oil.
“During the quarter, we decided to take advantage of the higher time charter market levels and to employ another two P-MAX tankers on timecharters. One of the vessels, which is chartered out for a year, will be mainly used for the transportation of light oil products to West Africa. The other vessel, which is out on a three-year charter, will be mainly used for imports of light oil products to South America.
“The contracts enabled us to exploit the momentum in the market. In a short period, we have now chartered three of our 10 P-MAX tankers in addition to our already successful consecutive voyage contract in the Far East – and we are assessing the feasibility of more, similar arrangements. The contracts are fully in line with our chartering strategy. We ensure a good level of income for the vessels during the relevant period, while increasingly balancing the exposure to the spot market.
“During the quarter, there was a continuation of discussions aimed at achieving a possible conciliation procedure regarding the dispute that arose from the grounding of ‘Stena Primorsk’ in the Hudson River in December, 2012. These will also continue during the second quarter of 2016.
“Our fundamental view of the year is positive. We expect the low price of oil and continuing changes in the global refinery infrastructure to result in stable demand for transportation in the period ahead of both oil and refined oil products. However, it is worth pointing out that inventory levels are high, which could affect demand. In conclusion, it is our assessment that the 2016 market will be good, but probably not as good as 2015,” he said.