May 21, 2021 - Hamilton, Bermuda
Flex LNG Ltd. ("Flex LNG" or the “Company”) today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter and three months ended March 31, 2021.
Highlights:
- Revenues of $81.3 million for the first quarter 2021, compared to $67.4 million for the fourth quarter 2020.
- Net income of $47.2 million and earnings per share of $0.88 for the first quarter 2021, compared to $25.8 million and earnings per share of $0.48 for the fourth quarter 2020.
- Average Time Charter Equivalent ("TCE") rate of $75,399 per day for the first quarter 2021, compared to $73,712 per day for the fourth quarter 2020.
- Adjusted EBITDA1 of $64.0 million for the first quarter 2021, compared to $50.2 million for the fourth quarter 2020.
- Adjusted net income of $34.2 million for the first quarter 2021, compared to $24.2 million for the fourth quarter 2020.
- Adjusted earnings per share of $0.64 for the first quarter 2021, compared to $0.45 for the fourth quarter 2020.
- In January 2021, the Company took delivery of its eleventh and twelfth newbuilding LNG carriers, Flex Freedom and Flex Volunteer, which immediately commenced short-term time charters at attractive rates.
- In April 2021, the Company announced time charter agreements with Cheniere for the attractive long-term time charters of four vessels, with an option for a fifth vessel. The time charter agreements have been described in more detail in our Business Update section of this report.
- As at the date of this report, the Company has repurchased 800,000 shares at an aggregate cost of $6.9 million, or $8.65 per share, in accordance with the share buy-back program announced in November 2020.
- The Company appointed Mr. Knut Traaholt to succeed Mr. Harald Gurvin as Chief Financial Officer, with effect from May 3, 2021.
- Published our third annual ESG report for 2020, which can be found on the Company’s website.
- In May 2021, the Company announced a time charter agreement with an international trading house for the vessel, Flex Constellation with a firm period ending in the second quarter 2024.
- On May 20, 2021, the Company agreed the terms and condition for a fixed rate Time Charter Agreement with an LNG portfolio player for a minimum firm period of either three or five years for Flex Freedom. The charter will commence in the first or second quarter 2022 in direct continuation of its existing time charter and the Charterer will declare the firm period in the third quarter 2021. The Charterer has the option to extend the period by an additional two years bringing the total period to five or seven years. The Time Charter Agreement remains subject to final documentation as well as customary closing conditions.
- The Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend for the first quarter of $0.40 per share.
Øystein M Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management AS, commented:
“We are pleased to announce our best quarterly results so far with Vessel operating revenues and Adjusted net income of $81.3 million and $34.2 million, respectively. Due to a stronger market and increased term interest by charterers, we are also very satisfied that we have been able to execute on our communicated strategy of securing longer employment for our fleet of modern and efficient LNG carriers. Since reporting our fourth quarter results in February, we have agreed several attractive fixed hire term employment contracts for our vessels with an addition of an aggregate 22 years of minimum backlog secured. This provides us with strong earnings visibility with about 88% of the days from Q2 to the year end already covered. A healthy backlog coupled with a strong financial position, industry low cash break even levels and our investment program coming to its end with the delivery of our last remaining newbuilding, Flex Vigilant, enables us to increase the shareholder distribution going forward with a dividend hike to $0.40 for the first quarter 2021.”
First Quarter 2021 Result Presentation
Flex LNG will release its financial results for the first quarter 2021 on Friday May 21, 2021.
In connection with the earnings release, a webcast and conference call will be held at 2:00 p.m. CEST (8:00 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/gx66qkea
Attend by Conference Call:
Applicable dial-in telephone numbers are as follows:
Norway: +47 21 03 39 22
United Kingdom: +44 (0) 203 0095709
United Kingdom, local: 0844 4936 766
United States: +1 646 787 1226
United States (toll free): +1 866 2801 157
Confirmation Code: 7896598
The presentation material which will be used in the teleconference/webcast can be downloaded on www.flexlng.com and replay details will also be available at this website.
For further information, please contact:
Knut Traaholt, CFO
Telephone: +47 23 11 40 00
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," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "target," "project," "likely," "may," "will," "would," "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. The Company undertakes no obligation, and specifically declines any obligation, except as required by law, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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 length and severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, the impact of public health threats and outbreaks of other highly communicable diseases, 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, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents 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.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
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