HAMILTON, Bermuda, May 9, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nordic American Offshore Ltd. ("NAO" or "the Company") today announced that it has declared its first dividend, $0.45 per share for 1Q2014. The record date is June 17, 2014 and the payment of dividend is expected to take place on or about June 30, 2014.
For 1Q2014 the Company had earnings per share of $0.10, and a positive operating cash flow i of $6.5 million. The operating result for the quarter reflects 94 % of the earnings capacity for our fleet, as three of our six operating vessels were delivered in January 2014.
Financial Information
The Board has declared a dividend of $0.45 per share for 1Q2014 to shareholders of record as of June 17, 2014. As of the time of this report, the number of shares in NAO is 16,666,666.
Our net income of $1.7 million for the first quarter of 2014 was impacted by a tax charge on operations of $1.2 million. In March 2014 we entered into the UK Tonnage Tax system, which will replace the taxation on operations and result in minor future tax charges.
Our fleet currently operates in the North Sea.
The Company's operating cash flow was $6.5 million for 1Q2014.
As a matter of policy, the Company will always try to keep a strong balance sheet with low net debt and a focus on limiting the Company's financial risk. At the end of 1Q2014 the net debt per NAO vessel in operation was $3.0 million.
The Company has in place a non-amortizing credit facility of $60 million, of which $40m has been drawn at this time. Net working capital, undrawn amounts of the credit facility and cash on hand amounted to $34 million.
We concentrate on keeping our vessel operating costs low, while always maintaining our strong commitment to safe operations. As we expand our fleet, we do not anticipate that our administrative costs will rise correspondingly.
Our primary objective is to enhance total return for our shareholders, including our quarterly dividend.
The Fleet
Our fleet is comprised of eight high-quality PSVs, from the renowned Ulstein yard.
| Vessel | Delivered |
| Blue Protector | December 5, 2013 |
| Blue Thunder | December 17, 2013 |
| Blue Guardian | December 16, 2013 |
| Blue Fighter | January 10, 2014 |
| Blue Prosper | January 10, 2014 |
| Blue Power | January 14, 2014 |
| Blue Viking | Expected to be delivered by January 2015 |
| Blue Storm | Expected to be delivered by January 2015 |
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING 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," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect," "pending" 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, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe 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 our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand in the tanker market, as a result of changes in OPEC's petroleum production levels and world wide oil consumption and storage, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the prospectus and related prospectus supplement.
i Operating cash flow (a non-GAAP measure) represents income from vessel operation administrative charges. The figure is calculated by adding depreciation expense, a non-cash item, to net operating gain.
1st Quarter 2014 Result: http://hugin.info/159489/R/1784211/611276.pdf
Contacts:
Scandic American Shipping Ltd
Manager for:
Nordic American Offshore Ltd.
P.O Box 56, 3201 Sandefjord, Norway
Tel: + 47 33 42 73 00 E-mail: nao@scandicamerican.com
Tor-Øyvind Bjørkli, Chief Executive Officer
Nordic American Offshore Ltd.
Tel: +47 90 62 70 14
Turid M. Sørensen, Chief Financial Officer
Nordic American Offshore Ltd.
Tel: +47 90 57 29 27
Jacob Ellefsen, Manager, IR and Research, Monaco
Nordic American Offshore Ltd.
Tel: + 377 93 25 89 07 or + 33 678 631 959
Gary J. Wolfe
Seward & Kissel LLP, New York, USA
Tel: +1 212 574 1223
Herbjørn Hansson, Executive Chairman
Nordic American Offshore Ltd.
Tel: +1 866 805 9504 or + 47 901 46 291
