Frontline Ltd. (the “Company” or “Frontline”), today reported unaudited results for the three months ended March 31, 2018:
Highlights
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Reports net loss attributable to the Company and net loss attributable to the Company adjusted for certain non-cash items of $13.6 million, or $0.08 per share.
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Three newbuildings were delivered: the VLCC’s Front Empire and Front Princess and the LR2 Front Polaris.
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Achieved spot TCE of $18,000 per day for VLCCs less than 15 years of age, excluding two newbuildings delivered during the quarter.
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Extended its loan facility of up to $275.0 million by 12 months to November 2019.
Robert Hvide Macleod, Chief Executive Officer of Frontline Management AS commented:
“The spot rate environment was weak in the first quarter as inventory draws impacted a freight market that was already suffering from high fleet growth. While there are encouraging signs that seaborne crude volumes may soon increase as a result of changes by OPEC and a slowing trend of inventory draws, the market is not yet factoring in upside potential.”
The average daily time charter equivalents (“TCE”) earned by Frontline in the quarter ended March 31, 2018, the prior quarter and in the year ended December 31, 2017 are shown below, along with spot estimates for the second quarter of 2018 and the estimated average daily cash break-even (“BE”) rates for the remainder of 2018:
($ per day) | Spot | Spot estimates | % covered | Estimated average daily BE rates | ||
Q1 2018 | Q4 2017 | YTD 2017 | Q2 2018 | 2018 | ||
VLCC | 14,900 | 19,400 | 22,400 | 11,600 | 78% | 22,700 |
SMAX | 15,400 | 19,500 | 17,300 | 14,500 | 70% | 18,500 |
LR2 | 14,800 | 14,400 | 14,400 | 12,400 | 72% | 16,300 |