J Lauritzen, the privately owned Danish shipping group, expects a deeper full-year loss than previously forecast as its key dry bulk shipping sector endures its worst market conditions in three decades.
Group net loss amounted to USD26.9 million in 1Q15 from a profit of USD1.9 million in the same period last year. Revenues decreased to USD89.6 million from USD126.3 million.
“The dry cargo markets in Q1 turned out to be weakest for the last 30 years and substantially weaker than expected at the beginning of the year. Less [growth in demand] than projected at the end of 2014 amplifying the already known oversupply of carrying capacity have led to a downward revision of our earnings forecast for the full year,” said Jan Kastrup-Nielsen, President and CEO.
The company now forecasts EBITDA for the full year 2015 to be in the range of negative by USD50 million to break even, down on the earlier reported range of negative by USD20 million to positive by USD30 million.
The net loss for 2015 is estimated to be in the range of USD50 million to USD100 million, worse than the previous forecast of a USD70 million to USD20 million loss.
“We see significant uncertainties associated with the dry market at least for the remainder of 2015. Our gas carriers performed as expected,” Kastrup-Nielsen said in a statement.
Lauritzen reduced the number of dry bulk carriers to 100 in 1Q15 from 112 in the same period last year. The company is privately owned, but it has issued bonds that are listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, whereby it issues quarterly result statements.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
