Star Bulk Reports Profits for Q2, H1 2013

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a global shipping company focusing on the transportation of dry bulk cargoes, today announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the second quarter and first half of 2013.

Net profit for the second quarter of 2013 was $0.8 million compared to a loss of $4.6 million during the same quarter in 2012

Net profit for the first half of 2013 was $2 million compared to a loss of $4.5 million during the same period of the previous year.

Spyros Capralos, President and Chief Executive Officer of Star Bulk, commented, “Star Bulk is a completely different company, following the successful equity raise of $80.1 million this quarter. Not only its market capitalization has grown to over $150 million today, as compared to about $30 million prior to the offering, but the company has also implemented a growth strategy by ordering four newbuilding vessels and assumed the management of additional third party vessels.

We are pleased to announce Net Income of $0.8 million and Adjusted Net Income of $2.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2013, as compared to a loss of $4.6 million and a loss of $2.9 million respectively in the second quarter of 2012. Our positive results were mainly attributed to our ability to reduce our operating expenses and utilize our operational and ship management capacity and know-how, as a response to the overall market weakness.

In July we completed successfully our backstopped equity rights offering, which resulted in gross proceeds of approximately $80.1 million. This offering validates the confidence from our shareholders in the Company and our strategy. The majority of the funds raised are being used to fund the purchase price for the two 180,000 dwt Capesize and two 60,000 dwt Ultramax fuel-efficient newbuildings from quality shipyards.

During this quarter, our strategic decision to utilize Star Bulk’s ship management capabilities through third-party vessels management has started producing tangible results. Today, Star Bulk manages 6 third party dry bulk vessels and we offer management services to 7 third party product tankers. We have agreed to take under management another 3 dry bulk carriers within the following 2 months. As a result of the above arrangements, our estimated annual revenue from third party vessels management will be around $3.2 million. This will bring the total number of owned and managed vessels in the drybulk segment to 26.

We welcome the recent capesize market rise, as many market participants interpret this as the first sign of a market recovery. In this context, we feel optimistic concerning the timing of our agreements regarding the aforementioned newbuilding vessels.

We anticipate demand for dry bulk commodities from most developing countries to continue to grow and the freight market to start showing signs of improvement due to the lower orderbook, slow steaming and the scarcity of bank financing."

starbulk.com