On 28th February, 2018, Pyxis refinanced its existing debt of $26.9 mill for Secondone, Thirdone and Fourthone with a new five-year secured term loan of $20.5 mill and cash of $2.1 mill.
The remaining balance of around $4.3 mill was written-off by the previous lender at closing, which was recorded as gain from debt extinguishment in 1Q18.
Valentios Valentis, Chairman and CEO, commented; "Overall, our operating results for the first quarter of 2018 were mixed. Early in the period, we expected a challenging spot charter market for MRs, and consequently, we took the opportunity to fix all of our MR's under short-term timecharters at fair rates, which averaged around $14,900 per day.
“However, our small tankers underperformed, and we continue to explore avenues to maximise value, including longer-term solutions, such as, vessel sale or bareboat charter arrangements. During the quarter, we also incurred unscheduled work for one of our vessels, which negatively affected the total operating days for the period.
"As for the balance of 2018, we continue to expect chartering activity to be choppy but with a modest upward trend, especially for the second half of the year. As of 7th May, 2018, 66% of the available days in the second quarter were booked for our MRs at an average of $14,900 per day, exclusive of options.
“Our recent employment strategy positions us to take advantage of improving rates later this year. We continue to believe in a longer term, sustainable improvement in charter rates as a result of attractive market fundamentals, such as, significantly lower scheduled deliveries of newbuild MRs combined with projected solid growth in consumption by end-markets and increasing export-oriented petroleum refinery cargoes. Over the long-term, we intend to maintain our strategy of a mix of time and spot charters.
"While the capital markets continue to be challenging for tanker companies, we will continue to pursue cost-effective, growth capital to further improve our liquidity and selectively acquire MR2s. We remain optimistic about the fundamentals of the product tanker market, specifically for MR's, and believe that Pyxis Tankers has the platform and position to take advantage of them," he said.
The net income of $0.6 mill, compares with a net loss of $1.7 mill for the same period in 2017. The improvement in the net result in 1Q18 was primarily due to the gain from debt extinguishment of $4.3 mill, partially offset by the non-cash vessel impairment charge of $1.5 mill related to the write down of the carrying amount of ‘Northsea Alpha’ and ‘Northsea Beta’ to their fair values.
Voyage revenues of $6.6 mill for the three month period, represented a decrease of $1.1 mill from $7.6 mill in the same period of 2017. This decrease was related to a decrease in total operating days attributed to increased idle days between voyage charter employments.