Costamare Bulkers Holdings Ltd (CMDB) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Costamare Bulkers Holdings Limited conference call on the third quarter 2025 financial results. We have with us Mr. Gregory Zikos, Chief Executive Officer of the company. (Operator Instructions) I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, Friday, November 14, 2025.

We would like to remind you that this conference call contains forward-looking statements. Please take a moment to read slide 2 of the presentation which contains the forward-looking statements.

And I would now like to pass the floor to your speaker today, Mr. Zikos. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is the first full quarter during which the company reports financial results as an independent publicly traded entity. During the quarter, Costamare Bulkers generated net income of $7.4 million. With total costs of about $206 million and debt of $160 million, the company is net negative, owning a fleet of 31 dry bulk vessels with an average age of 92,000 deadweight and -- with an average size of 92,000 deadweight and an average age of about 13 years.

As previously announced, in September we entered into a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Cargill whereby, among other things, we agreed to gradually transfer to Cargill the majority of our trading book. We have effectively transferred our entire forward cargo book and FFA positions, as well as the majority of the chartered-in vessels. We intend to maintain our operating platform as an integral part of our business, mainly focusing on Kamsarmaxes, with the goal to optimize earnings and tightly manage downside exposure.

We are progressing on our strategy to divest older and smaller tonnage and replacing it with younger and bigger-sized vessels. During the quarter, we concluded the disposals of five Handysize ships and one Supramax vessel and we accepted delivery of one Capesize.

Regarding the market, the Capesize index retreated from late July by the end of August due to excess tonnage and softer Brazil flows, before rebounding in late September on the back of end-of-quarter Australia iron ore and Pacific weather disruptions.

In October, China’s plan to impose reciprocal port restrictions on US-linked vessels triggered a brief spike in FFAs despite limited physical market impact. However, following the October 30 US-China meeting, the measures were suspended for a year under a trade de-escalation framework, leading Capes FFAs to ease. Panamax rates were lifted as well during October, however, as measures were suspended they have since retreated since then.

Moving now to the slide presentation. On slide 3, you can see our first full quarter results as an independent publicly traded entity. Net income was around $7.4 million or $0.30 per share. Total cost stands at about $206 million, while debt at $160 million, making us net negative.

On slide 4, you can see the evolution of the cooperation agreement with Cargill, which has been executed to a great extent. In parallel, we have early delivered three vessels and agreed to charter out two more for periods, effectively matching the charter in tenors. Almost all of our periods are in fleet as of the end of Q325. It's expected to be redelivered by the end of Q126. The realigned trading platform will focus on customer vessels, complementing their own fleet to enhance market intelligence and greater operational flexibility.

Slide 5. Regarding our own vessels, the majority of the fleet is employed on index-linked charter agreements with the option to convert to fixed rate.

Slide 6. On the S&P side, we are progressing on our strategy to divest older and smaller tonnage and replacing it with younger and bigger-sized vessels. We have concluded the sale of one Supramax and five Handysize ships. In parallel, we have concluded the acquisition of one Capesize vessel.

Slide 7. Regarding financing, we have funded the acquisition of the recently acquired Imperator through an existing hunting license facility. We do have available around $85 million from this line in order to fund future acquisitions. And finally, we have no major maturities until 2029.

Moving to the last slide 8. The FFA curve depicts a positive momentum for 2026. Capesize fundamentals are supportive, underpinned by recovering volumes and more long-haul trades. Market is expecting Capesize rates to remain resilient, also supported by low growth. On the Panamax market, grain trades are expected to underpin demand amid recovering global supply and stockpiling. Net field growth, however, is the highest since 2013.

With that, we can conclude our presentation, and we can now take questions. Thank you, operator, we can take questions now.

(Operator Instructions) Clement Mullins, Value Investors Edge.

Hi, good afternoon, and thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to start by asking whether you could provide some insight on your fixtures so far in Q4. It would be especially helpful if you could break it down by vessel class, but any commentary will be appreciated.

I'm afraid we don't provide this. We have done all I can tell you, because the market in Q4 in general, charter rates are at quite healthy levels. So what we do, it is a combination of converting index-linked vessels to fixed rate for the quarter, and we do something similar for Q1 and like for Q2 of 2026. We may have a couple of sports vessels which as well are enjoying the market upside, so it is a very healthy market, but I'm afraid this is not a breakdown we are currently providing.

Makes sense. Should we expect any impact on Q4 earnings from, let's call it the wind down of CBI? And secondly, are the remaining time charterings that are set to expire over the coming months all on variable higher or are some fixed?

Sorry, for CBI, it's I think by the -- by Q4 of 2026 because the agreement on Cargill, first of all, it was concluded end of September. So all the execution takes place in Q4 of this year practically now. So the results of that, which should not be that substantial, are going to be factored in in the Q4 results. This sort of together with the saturated environment and the positive EBITDA from the own ships in the water, the exposure we have in CBI practically as we move into the next year, as we stated, it's going to be pretty much minimized. We do have some trading income, and which are subject to market conditions. Our intention is to grow further. However, legacy CBI positions by the end of Q1 -- by Q1 of '26 should be eliminated, together with any remaining market exposure from the operating platform.

Very well. That's helpful. And final question from me, your Capsize acquisitions over the past year have proven present. As you look forward, would you like to continue expanding your Capsize fleet, or are you comfortable, as is considering current asset valuations? And any commentary you can provide on whether we should expect the institution of a dividend policy or share repurchases going forward?

Yeah, first of all, for the Capes, yeah, I mean asset values have been relatively high for the Capes, so I mean the Capes we have bought in the past in total today we own seven Capes. On a market to market basis, they are positive. They are sort of yielding a profit both from trading and also from the value of the asset itself.

Now, in general, our goal is to migrate towards larger vessels as we -- as you saw, we sold the (inaudible) and we have been buying Capes. However, where the market is today, where asset values are, we may be a bit more careful and, cautious before proceeding with acquisitions.

Now, the second part of the question regarding dividend policy, probably by (inaudible), et cetera. This is something that during this quarter, the Board did not consider this is a Board decision, of course. We like dividends. Insiders own close to 66% of the company, so we are fully aligned, but I'm afraid I will have to defer the answer to this question for the next quarterly results. For the time being, no specific decision has been taken regarding changing the dividend policy.

Yeah, thanks for the color. I'll turn it over. Thank you for taking my questions.

(Operator Instructions) All right, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Zikos for any closing remarks.

Thank you for dialing in today and for your interest in the Costamare Bulkers. We're looking forward to speaking with you again during our next quarterly results call. Thank you, operator, we can conclude the presentation.

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.