Bermuda-registered Nordic American tanker Shipping made a Q3 net profit of US$20.3m or US$0.97 per share (EPS). This compares to a net income of US$4.3m or US$0.26 per share for the 3rd quarter of 2005. The company said in a statement: “A strong tanker market resulted in solid earnings and a healthy dividend per share for the 3rd quarter. The Company has now declared a dividend for 36 consecutive quarters. For the last four quarters including the dividend to be paid in respect of the 3rd quarter of 2006 a total of $5.85 has been declared in dividends which represent 17.7% of the average daily share price over the same period.”
It added: “We currently estimate that our average cash breakeven for our fleet of twelve vessels is approximately US$9,000 per day per vessel. The breakeven rate is the amount of average daily revenues for our vessels which would cover our vessel operating expenses, voyage expenses, if any, cash general and administrative expenses, interest expenses and other financial charges.”