Pacific Shipping Trust (PST) said its distribution per unit (DPU) for the third quarter fell around 25 percent to 0.818 US cent from a year ago. It said the lower DPU is mainly due to its revised distribution policy as well as a rise in the number of units issued.
PST announced in the previous quarter that it would revise its distribution policy to strengthen its cash position. Under the revised policy, PST would only distribute 70 per cent of its available distributable income.
PST said its distributable income for the three months ended September rose 30 per cent to US$4.8 million, from a year ago.
This was on the back of a 120 per cent surge in net profit to US$7 million, partly due to the adoption of hedge accounting and the repayment of loans.
Looking ahead, CEO of PST's manager, Alvin Cheng said PST is not overly optimistic that the shipping sector will recover rapidly over the next year.
He said: “But certainly we see that the market probably have stabilised because of the over supply of tonnages due to come in during the next year. We see that vessel prices will continue to stay low compared to the previous high. But as the world economy begins to take an upturn, we see that the demand for shipping capacity will slowly improve.”
Mr Cheng added that PST will actively explore various avenues to diversify its vessel portfolio and expand its base of credit-worthy charterers.
With the improving global economic outlook Mr Cheng said the trust sees opportunities to enter into asset acquisitions.
PST announced in the previous quarter that it would revise its distribution policy to strengthen its cash position. Under the revised policy, PST would only distribute 70 per cent of its available distributable income.
PST said its distributable income for the three months ended September rose 30 per cent to US$4.8 million, from a year ago.
This was on the back of a 120 per cent surge in net profit to US$7 million, partly due to the adoption of hedge accounting and the repayment of loans.
Looking ahead, CEO of PST's manager, Alvin Cheng said PST is not overly optimistic that the shipping sector will recover rapidly over the next year.
He said: “But certainly we see that the market probably have stabilised because of the over supply of tonnages due to come in during the next year. We see that vessel prices will continue to stay low compared to the previous high. But as the world economy begins to take an upturn, we see that the demand for shipping capacity will slowly improve.”
Mr Cheng added that PST will actively explore various avenues to diversify its vessel portfolio and expand its base of credit-worthy charterers.
With the improving global economic outlook Mr Cheng said the trust sees opportunities to enter into asset acquisitions.