Costamare Inc (CMRE) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Costamare Inc. conference call on the second quarter 2024 financial results. We have with us Mr. Gregory Zikos, Chief Financial Officer of the company. (Operator Instructions).

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的耐心等待，歡迎參加 Costamare Inc. 關於 2024 年第二季度財務業績的電話會議。與我們在一起的還有公司財務長 Gregory Zikos 先生。（操作員說明）。

I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. We'd 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.

我必須通知您，本次會議將於今天（2024 年 7 月 31 日星期三）錄製。我們想提醒您，本次電話會議包含前瞻性陳述。請花點時間閱讀簡報的投影片 2，其中包含前瞻性陳述。

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

現在我將請今天的發言者齊科斯先生發言。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. During the second quarter of the year, the company generated net income of about $91 million. As of quarter end, liquidity was above $1.1 billion. In the containership sector, continued vessel diversions around Africa and an early peak season, with higher-than-expected cargo demand have resulted in charter rates remaining on an upward trajectory against the backdrop of short supply of prompt tonnage.

謝謝你們，早安，女士們、先生們。今年第二季度，該公司淨利潤約為 9,100 萬美元。截至季末，流動性超過 11 億美元。貨櫃船領域，非洲各地船舶持續改道，旺季提前，貨運需求高於預期，導致在即期噸位供應短缺的情況下，租船費率仍維持上升趨勢。

During the quarter, we chartered on a forward basis seven containerships for a minimum period of between two to three years. The new charter agreements are expected to generate incremental contracted revenues of above $220 million.

本季度，我們遠期租用了七艘貨櫃船，租期至少兩到三年。新的包機協議預計將產生超過 2.2 億美元的增量合約收入。

Our fleet employment stands at 100% and 88% for '24 and '25, respectively, and total contracted revenues amount to $2.4 billion, with the remaining time charter duration of 3.5 years. On the dry bulk side, we are now progressing with our strategy to renew the owned fleet and increase its average size having concluded the sale of one 2011 built Handysize and agreed the sale of one 2009-built Supramax vessel while simultaneously acquiring two 2012 built Capesize ships.

我們的船隊使用率在 24 年和 25 年分別為 100% 和 88%，合約總收入達 24 億美元，剩餘期租期限為 3.5 年。在乾散貨方面，我們目前正在推進更新自有船隊並增加其平均規模的策略，已完成出售一艘2011 年建造的靈便型船舶，並同意出售一艘2009 年建造的超靈便型船舶，同時收購兩艘2012 年建造的好望角型船舶船舶。

CBI, our dry bulk trading platform is commercially managing a fleet of 54 ships, the majority of which are on index-linked charter in agreements. As mentioned in the past, we have a long-term commitment to the sector which has been a strategic decision for us.

我們的乾散貨交易平台 CBI 正在商業管理一支由 54 艘船舶組成的船隊，其中大部分採用與指數掛鉤的租船協議。正如過去所提到的，我們對該行業做出了長期承諾，這對我們來說是一個策略決策。

Finally, regarding Neptune Maritime Leasing, the platform has been steadily growing, having currently funded 25 shipping assets for a total amount of approximately $285 million on the back of a healthy pipeline.

最後，關於 Neptune Maritime Leasing，該平台一直在穩步增長，目前在健康的管道支持下已為 25 個航運資產提供了總金額約為 2.85 億美元的資金。

Moving now to the slide presentation.

現在轉到幻燈片演示。

On Slide 3, you can see our second quarter results. Net income for the quarter was above $91 million or $0.77 per share. Our liquidity was above $1.1 billion.

在投影片 3 上，您可以看到我們第二季的業績。該季度淨利潤超過 9,100 萬美元，即每股 0.77 美元。我們的流動性超過 11 億美元。

Slide 4. We have proceeded with the full redemption of our Series E Preferred Stock resulted to annual cash flow savings of approximately $10.1 million.

幻燈片 4。我們已全面贖回 E 系列優先股，每年節省現金流量約 1,010 萬美元。

Slide 5. On the containership side, we have chartered 7 containerships with incremental contracted revenues of above $220 million. Our revenue days are fixed 100% for this year and 88% for '25 while our contracted revenues are $2.4 billion with the TEU weighted remaining time charter duration of 3.5 years. In parallel, we continue to charter all our dry bulk prices in the spot market, having entered into more than 25 chartering agreements since our last earnings release.

幻燈片 5。貨櫃船方面，我們已租用7艘貨櫃船，增量合約收入超過2.2億美元。我們今年的營收天數固定為 100%，25 年固定為 88%，而我們的合約收入為 24 億美元，TEU 加權剩餘期租期限為 3.5 年。同時，我們繼續以現貨市場價格租船所有乾散貨，自上次財報發布以來已簽訂了超過 25 份租船協議。

Slide 6. We have concluded the acquisition of two Capesize dry bulk vessels as well as the sale of 100 size dry bulk ship. In addition, we have agreed to dispose of one more Supramax vessel.

幻燈片 6。我們已經完成了兩艘海岬型乾散裝貨船的收購以及100型乾散貨船的出售。此外，我們也同意處置另外一艘超靈便型船舶。

Slide 7. Regarding CBI, we have chartered in 54 period vessels, where the majority of the fleet is being charted on index-linked agreements. Our leasing platform has already an investment of about $123 million from our side. As of the date of this presentation, NML is financing 25 ships through sale and leaseback transactions and has a very healthy pipeline.

幻燈片 7。關於 CBI，我們已經租用了 54 艘定期船舶，其中大部分船隊都是根據指標掛鉤協議租用的。我們的租賃平台已經獲得了約1.23億美元的投資。截至本報告發布之日，NML 正在透過售後回租交易為 25 艘船舶提供融資，並且擁有非常健康的管道。

Slide 8. We have refinanced the existing indebtedness of three dry bulk vessels without an increase in leverage. This deal was coupled with improvement of funding cost and extension of maturities. In addition, we have roughly available $116 million for financing vessel acquisitions. Finally, we do continue to have a long uninterrupted dividend track record.

幻燈片 8。我們在不增加槓桿的情況下對三艘乾散貨船的現有債務進行了再融資。這項交易也伴隨著融資成本的改善和期限的延長。此外，我們還有約 1.16 億美元可用於融資船舶收購。最後，我們確實繼續擁有長期不間斷的股息記錄。

Slide 9. Liquidity is above EUR1.1 billion. This liquidity gives us the ability to look for opportunities to grow the company on a healthy basis.

幻燈片 9。流動性超過11億歐元。這種流動性使我們能夠尋找機會使公司健康發展。

Moving to Slide 10. Charter rates in the containership markets have increased across all segments since the beginning of the year, remaining stable the last couple of weeks. The continuous injection of new building capacity remains, however, the principal threat of the markets. Idle fleet remains at low levels of 0.6%. And last slide, on Slide 11, you can see the recent dry bulk market trends in the spot and forward markets. The order book is at 9.4% of the total fleet.

轉到投影片 10。自今年年初以來，貨櫃船市場各領域的租船費率均有所上升，並在過去幾週保持穩定。然而，新建產能的不斷注入仍然是市場的主要威脅。閒置機隊仍保持在 0.6% 的低水平。最後一張投影片，即投影片 11，您可以看到現貨和遠期市場的近期乾散貨市場趨勢。訂單量佔機隊總數的 9.4%。

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

至此，我們的演講就結束了，現在我們可以問問題了。謝謝。接線員，我們現在可以提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Ben Nolan from Stifel.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Ben Nolan。

This is Don O'Malley on for Ben Nolan. We were hoping you could add a little rough context on the rate levels for the seven new containerships or the seven new containership charters you mentioned earlier in your press release.?

我是本·諾蘭的唐·奧馬利。我們希望您能就您先前在新聞稿中提到的七艘新貨櫃船或七艘新貨櫃船租船的費率等級添加一些粗略的背景資訊。

Yeah, These are ships, I mean, we don't announce specifically the charter rates, but these are ships which were charted on a forward basis. One of them is like 2000-built vessel. So it is like 24 years old. And those have been chartered at a very healthy rate amount in the mid-30s.s.

是的，這些是船舶，我的意思是，我們沒有具體公佈租船費率，但這些船舶是遠期租船的。其中一艘就像是2000年建造的船。所以就像24歲一樣。這些都是在 30 年代中期以非常健康的價格出租的。

Yes. We're also hoping you can add a little bit of color on your perspective on why dry bulk purchase activity has slowed and your outlook for the rest of the year?

是的。我們也希望您能就您對乾散貨採購活動為何放緩的原因以及您對今年剩餘時間的前景的看法添加一些色彩？

Yes. In total, I mean, you have seen that we have been buying bigger vessels like Capesizes and in total, we have acquired six of those. I mean five Capes and one 2013 build Ultramax. Now we are quite price sensitive. So depending on market conditions, our strategy is to dispose of smaller handysize vessels and move towards the larger sizes. But it's only a matter of pricing and where asset levels are.

是的。總的來說，我的意思是，你已經看到我們一直在購買像海岬型船這樣的更大的船舶，我們總共購買了其中六艘。我的意思是五艘 Cape 和一艘 2013 年建造的 Ultramax。現在我們對價格非常敏感。因此，根據市場情況，我們的策略是處置小型靈便型船舶，轉向大型船舶。但這只是定價和資產水準的問題。

So we take our time. I think that since we bought up to now those six ships, they have been bought at quite attractive prices. But at the same time, we don't have to rush. We will see and wait and where we feel that the price makes sense, then we have the ability to execute fast based on our cash balances and also access to commercial bank debt.

所以我們慢慢來。我認為從我們購買到現在這六艘船，它們都是以相當有吸引力的價格購買的。但同時，我們不必著急。我們將拭目以待，當我們認為價格合理時，我們就有能力根據我們的現金餘額和商業銀行債務快速執行。

Yeah, Thank you. That's all.

是的，謝謝。就這樣。

(Operator Instructions).

（操作員說明）。

Climent Molins of Value Investor's Edge.

價值投資者邊緣的克萊門特·莫林斯。

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to start by asking about the strategy on the CBI segment. It seems the proportion of vessels and charting on fixed contracts has increased slightly quarter-over-quarter. Could you provide some insight on the reasoning behind this? And is it a directional bet on the market? Or are you hedging the positions with FFAs or physical volumes?

午安.感謝您回答我的問題。我想先詢問 CBI 細分市場的策略。固定合約船舶和海圖的比例似乎比上一季略有增加。您能否提供一些關於這背後原因的見解？而且是市場的定向押注嗎？或者您是否使用 FFA 或實體交易量來對沖頭寸？

Yes, a couple of things. Yes, you are right, it's slightly -- there's a slight increase in fixed rate charter in vessels. But this is just because of the specific deals that were available in the market. It's not that we have taken a direction of approach that going forward. We need to have more ships charter in on a fixed rate rather than on index.

是的，有幾件事。是的，你是對的，固定費率租船略有增加。但這只是因為市場上有特定的交易。這並不是說我們已經採取了前進的方向。我們需要以固定費率而不是索引費率租用更多的船舶。

It's just that it happened that those deals with the specific vessels, vessel with specific charter hires. We found them to be attractive, but there is no more than that. We are quite flexible and depending on market conditions, we may hope to have more vessels on index-linked period. All fixed rate to the contrary. So there's nothing specific there. And what was the second part of your question?

只是這些交易恰好涉及特定的船舶，並具有特定租用的船舶。我們發現它們很有吸引力，但僅此而已。我們非常靈活，根據市場情況，我們可能希望有更多的船舶處於指數掛鉤時期。全部固定利率相反。所以那裡沒有什麼具體的。你問題的第二部分是什麼？

Yes, whether this was like it was hedged via FFAs or physical volumes?

是的，這是否像是透過 FFA 或實物交易量來對沖的？

We buy a lot of FFAs and yes, we definitely use them as a hedging tool. We have quite a book for the FFAs, for the capes and also for the Panamaxes. FFAs can be used as hedging instruments or if someone has a positive view of the market and they cannot secure assets in the water can also buy long FFA days. But regarding hedging, yes, this is hedging tool that we have been utilizing quite a lot.

我們購買了大量的 FFA，是的，我們肯定將它們用作對沖工具。我們有一本關於 FFA、海角船和巴拿馬型船的書。FFA 可以用作對沖工具，或者如果有人對市場持正面看法，但他們無法獲得水中資產，也可以購買較長的 FFA 天。但關於對沖，是的，這是我們經常使用的對沖工具。

That's helpful. Thank you. And pro forma for the redemption of the Series C preferred, you continue to see it on a very large cash position. Is there any appetite to redeem additional preferreds service or to prepay debt? Or are you comfortable keeping cash balances at current levels?

這很有幫助。謝謝。預計 C 系列優先股的贖回，您將繼續看到它擁有非常大的現金部位。是否有興趣贖回額外的優先服務或提前償還債務？或者您是否願意將現金餘額保持在當前水平？

Yes. We'll see. Look, the Series E Preferred Stock we redeemed. It was the most expensive we had. It was 8.875%. So it was quite expensive. We redeemed this having savings of slightly above $10 million per year. Now whether we're going to go ahead and also redeem CSD, for example, or not which has been the second most expensive series outstanding.

是的。我們拭目以待。看，我們贖回的E系列優先股。這是我們擁有的最貴的。為 8.875%。所以它是相當昂貴的。我們贖回這筆資金每年可以節省略高於 1000 萬美元的資金。現在我們是否要繼續贖回 CSD，例如，它是第二昂貴的系列。

This is a more generic question of capital allocation, where we feel that we can utilize our equity in order to buy ships, also to repay debt or like redeem the Preferred. But I mean, compared to the cost of debt, I think the preferred is a bit -- it's more flexible, but it is more expensive. We'll see. But this is a decision taken at the Board level, considering all the circumstances like -- and whether we feel that there is room for new transactions where equity -- where our equity will be used.

這是一個更普遍的資本分配問題，我們認為我們可以利用我們的股權來購買船舶、償還債務或贖回優先股。但我的意思是，與債務成本相比，我認為首選有點——它更靈活，但更昂貴。我們拭目以待。但這是董事會層面做出的決定，考慮了所有情況，例如——以及我們是否認為有空間進行新的股權交易——我們的股權將被使用。

So I'm afraid I'm not ready to tell you now whether and like when we're going to be redeeming Series E, for example, or Series D. It remains to be seen. But now -- but regarding the last one, considering our cash balances, I think it was quite obvious that at some point that a series of Preferred Stock will be paid.

因此，恐怕我現在還沒有準備好告訴您我們是否以及何時會贖回 E 輪或 D 輪。但現在 - 但關於最後一個，考慮到我們的現金餘額，我認為很明顯，在某個時候將支付一系列優先股。

Makes sense. Thanks for the color. That's all for me. Thank you for taking my questions.

有道理。謝謝你的顏色。這就是我的全部。感謝您回答我的問題。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to hand the call back over to Mr. Zikos for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將電話轉回 Zikos 先生，讓他發表結束語。

Thank you for being with us today and for dialing in the Costamare second quarter 2024 results. We are looking forward to speaking with you again during our Q3 results call. Thank you.

感謝您今天接受我們採訪並收聽 Costamare 2024 年第二季業績。我們期待在第三季業績電話會議上再次與您交談。謝謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。