LNG

Stolt-Nielsen Limited, the Oslo-listed and London-based owner of a small tanker fleet including for LNG through its stake in Avenir LNG, reported fiscal first quarter net profits of $99.8 million as it also sold a stake in LNG shipping firm CoolCo.

Stolt-Nielsen’s profits were well up on the $52.3M posted in the same three months last year.

Quarterly revenues were $708.7M compared with $606.2M in the prior-year quarter for a business that also spans energy storage, terminals, tank containers and fish farms as well as natural gas.

The Stolt-Nielsen Gas unit reported a wider operating loss of $3.4M compared with a loss of $2.9M.

CoolCo shares sold

During the quarter ending on February 28, 2023, the group said it disposed of 923,565 shares in shipping company CoolCo for $11.7M, resulting in a gain on the sale of $2.5M which has been transferred from the fair value reserve to retained earnings.

CoolCo is listed on the Euronext Growth Oslo exchange. Stolt-Nielsen also owns a stake in Golar LNG Limited.

Stolt-Nielsen is additionally a founder of Avenir LNG in 2018 and still holds its stake in Avenir, the owner of a small-scale import terminal on the Italian island of Sardinia and in a small-scale LNG carrier fleet.

The two other shareholders in Avenir are Norwegian shipping companies Golar and Höegh LNG.

In its earnings statement, Stolt-Nielsen said that the Stolt Tankers unit reported operating profit of $87.1M, up from $78.2M, largely driven by higher contract rates and improved spot volumes.

The Stolthaven Terminals business reported operating profit of $25.1M to the end of February 2023 versus the previous quarter’s $20.8M as operating revenue at the terminals in the US and Brazil improved.

Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, Chief Executive of Stolt-Nielsen, said the quarter continued where 2022 ended with a solid performance from all businesses during what was typically the seasonally weakest quarter of the year.

“Stolt Tankers improved on the prior quarter results as we began to see the impact of contract renewals on our earnings. Results at Stolthaven Terminals improved on the back of continued high utilisation, although throughput volume was down slightly,” the CEO explained.

“At Stolt Tank Containers a decrease in container liner freight rates impacted the rates we charge our customers, and with the easing of logistics bottlenecks customers are returning tanks more quickly, reducing demurrage revenue,” he added.

Oct 6 (LNGJ) - Stolt-Nielsen Limited, the Oslo-listed and London-headquartered storage, shipping and gas company with LNG assets, reported increased third-quarter net profit of $74.7 million with revenue of $744.0 million. The company with a stake in the Avenir LNG joint venture comprising small-scale carriers and an import terminal in Sardinia said overall group net profit for the first nine months was $185.6M with revenues of $2.04 billion, up from $43.8M and $1.59Bln in the first nine months of 2021.

   Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, Chief Executive of the company, said net profit continued to improve in the third quarter with the benefit of the tightening tanker markets “The impact became evident during the third quarter when spot rates increased by almost 40 percent from the second quarter average, pushing our sailed-in revenue per day to an average of $24,341,” added Mr Stolt-Nielsen. “The tankers team has been actively building up our fleet adding 12 ships since 2020 for a total fleet of more than 160 ships, the largest in the company’s history as we enter the strong market,” he stated.