May 11, 2022
Hamilton, Bermuda
Flex LNG Ltd. ("Flex LNG" or the “Company”) today announced its unaudited financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2022.
Highlights:
- Vessel operating revenue of $74.6 million for the first quarter 2022, compared to $114.6 million for the fourth quarter 2021.
- Net income of $55.8 million and basic earnings per share of $1.05 for the first quarter 2022, compared to net income of $69.4 million and basic earnings per share of $1.31 for the fourth quarter 2021.
- Average Time Charter Equivalent1 ("TCE") rate of $62,627 per day for the first quarter 2022, compared to $95,908 per day for the fourth quarter 2021.
- Adjusted EBITDA1 of $56.3 million for the first quarter 2022, compared to $95.5 million for the fourth quarter 2021.
- Adjusted net income1 of $23.8 million for the first quarter 2022, compared to $62.8 million for the fourth quarter 2021.
- Adjusted basic and diluted earnings per share1 of $0.45 for the first quarter 2022, compared to $1.18 for the fourth quarter 2021.
- In March 2022, the Company signed a $375 million term and revolving credit facility, with an accordion option to increase this by $125 million, secured against an additional vessel. The facility will be secured by the vessels Flex Ranger, Flex Rainbow and Flex Endeavour, while Flex Enterprise is a candidate for the accordion option. In April 2022, the Flex Ranger and Flex Rainbow completed their re-financing with net cash provided to the Company of $11.5 million.
- In April 2022, the Company signed an aggregate $320 million sale and leaseback agreements for the refinancing of the existing facility for the vessels Flex Constellation and Flex Courageous. Completion of the refinancing is expected in May 2022, subject to customary closing conditions in connection with delivery and acceptance of each vessel. The financing is expected to release approximately $99.6 million to the Company.
- In April 2022, Flex Volunteer commenced its time charter agreement as the fourth vessel with Cheniere, as part of the agreements signed in April 2021. The vessel was delivered approximately two months prior to the agreed delivery schedule. The fixed rate time charter has a firm period ending in the first quarter 2026.
- In April 2022, Cheniere declared their option for a fifth time charter agreement for the vessel, Flex Aurora. The fixed rate time charter will commence in the third quarter 2022 with a firm period ending in the first quarter 2026.
- The Company declared a dividend for the first quarter 2022 of $0.75 per share.
Øystein M Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management AS, commented:
“The first quarter was a fantastic period to be a cargo owner with high demand and elevated prices for LNG given the global energy crunch. For the spot freight market, the first quarter was however challenging as the LNG trade abruptly shifted towards Europe resulting in lower sailing distances and thus higher availability of ships depressing freight economics as liquidity in the spot market also dried up.
The sentiment in the freight market did however turn positive during the end of February and spot rates for modern tonnage have now recovered to above seasonal average while the one-year and three-year Time Charter rates for remains very strong. This is evidencing that charterers are willing to pay a substantial premium to spot rates in order to lock in large fuel-efficient ships on longer periods as the forward market also price in a much tighter freight market in the second half of the year.
During the last 13 months we have successfully secured in total nine fixed hire Time Charters with first class counterparties. The minimum period of these contracts ranges from three to five years which gives us comfortable earnings visibility. We still have three ships which will be redelivered from existing Time Charterers during the next 23 months and given the strong term market and general lack of available modern tonnage we are upbeat about the prospects of re-contracting these ships at attractive terms.
Revenue wise, we are pleased to deliver revenues for the quarter of $74.6 million in line with our revenue guidance communicated in February. With 98 per cent contract coverage for the year and three of our 13 ships on variable hire contracts linked to the spot market, we do expect gradual increased revenues in the next three quarters as we also guided in February. Given the strong backlog, positive outlook and our very solid financial position, the Board is therefore again declaring a dividend for the quarter of 75 cents per share. This provides our shareholders with an annualized yield of around 12 per cent which should be attractive given the wobbly financial markets these days.”
First Quarter 2022 Result Presentation
In connection with the earnings release, a webcast and conference call will be held today at 15:00 CEST (9:00 a.m. EST).
In order to attend the webcast and/or conference call you may do one of the following:
Attend by Webcast:
Use to the follow link prior to the webcast: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/83zu5bq6
Attend by Conference Call:
Applicable dial-in telephone numbers are as follows:
Norway: +47 215 63 015
United Kingdom: +44 (0) 207 1928 338
United Kingdom (local): 0844 481 9752
United States, New York: +1 646 741 3167
United States (toll-free): +1 877 870 9135
Confirmation Code: 5170424
A Q&A session will be held after the conference/webcast. Information on how to submit questions will be given at the beginning of the session.
The presentation material which will be used in the conference/webcast can be downloaded on www.flexlng.com and replay details will also be available at this website.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Knut Traaholt, Chief Financial Officer of Flex LNG Management AS
Telephone: +47 23 11 40 00
Email: ir@flexlng.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "expect," "forecast," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "possible," "potential," "pending," "target," "project," "likely," "may," "will," "would," "should," "could" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Company’s records and other data available from third parties. Although management believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Company’s control, there can be no assurance that the Company will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. As such, these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of the Company’s future performance, and actual results and future developments may vary materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation, and specifically declines any obligation, except as required by applicable law or regulation, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the effect of each such factor on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Company’s view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include: unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the LNG tanker market, the impact of public health threats and outbreaks of other highly communicable diseases, including the length and severity of the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on the LNG tanker market, changes in the Company’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, dry-docking and insurance costs, the fuel efficiency of the Company’s vessels, the market for the Company’s vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, ability to comply with covenants in such financing arrangements, failure of counterparties to fully perform their contracts with the Company, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, including those that may limit the commercial useful lives of LNG tankers, customers' increasing emphasis on environmental and safety concerns, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions or events, including the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine, business disruptions, including supply chain disruption and congestion, due to natural or other disasters or otherwise, potential physical disruption of shipping routes due to accidents, climate-related incidents, or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hire, and other factors, including those that may be described from time to time in the reports and other documents that the Company files with or furnishes to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“Other Reports”). For a more complete discussion of certain of these and other risks and uncertainties associated with the Company, please refer to the Other Reports.
1 Time Charter Equivalent rate, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted net income/(loss) and Adjusted earnings/(loss) per share are non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is included in the end of this earnings report.
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