Nordic American Tankers Ltd (NAT) 2009 Q2 法說會逐字稿

International tanker company, Nordic American, out with second-quarter results this morning. Basically breakeven, very small loss. But the quote from the Company's statement may say the most. They did have to cut their dividend. And the CEO, Herbjorn Hansson, said, "presently the world economy shows a significant contraction of demand".

Nordic American shares are up 30% since the Haines bottom, trading as you can see down about 1%. Now let's go inside the numbers with Herbjorn Hansson, Nordic American Tanker's CEO.

Herbjorn, good to have you with us. So we get this better-than-expected jobs number in the US. Everyone is focusing on maybe improvement. But you're still talking about a world economy with significant contraction of demand.

Yes, we see two features. Firstly, things are in fairly good shape in the Far East. And there is a lot of potential in the Far East. They consume about less than 2 [balance] per person per year. In this country you consume 26 balance per person per year. And everybody would like to have a car.

And the Far East is moving. The Western world and Europe is lagging behind. But I think it is important to understand that the dynamics of the world economy, they are very strong at this time.

In the past we were sitting behind a protectionist [wolf]. Now they have injected a lot of funds into the world economy, improving liquidity, improving the stock market.

The government stimulus?

Stimulus packages, yes. And they are indeed improving the situation. And also we have new routes now, carrying oil from Brazil to China, and we are carrying oil from Venezuela to China. And China is all over the place. And they seem indeed to have gotten their act together. And the question is are we turning around now. Well --

Wait a minute, hold it. See, the reason I am here is to ask the questions.

Yes.

So are we turning around now?

I think we are crawling along the bottom. And I think that if you can avoid protectionism, we are close to a turnaround. But it may take time. It may take a year or two. But for us as a Company, we are in an excellent position being --

Well, wait a minute, you have just cut your dividend. I think it is --

Well, but, no, we did not cut the dividend. That is not the correct semantic expression. We -- the dividend -- our dividend is following the stock market.

It is following the stock market.

So we keep our dividend policy. And our commitment and my commitment is to pay all money coming in, we pay to shareholders. And we --

Right. And you have no debt.

No. And this time we even put a little bit of cream on the top of the cake, because we paid a little bit more. And now we are strategically very well-positioned.

Herbjorn, we just have a headline crossing from President Obama. This is actually interesting. He could have said something very different, Mark, but he says he still thinks the jobless rate will hit 10% this year. Now it just --

That sounds poor mouthing, to me.

It might be. But --

Ratcheting down expectations so it will look good no matter what happens.

That could be it. But it does raise the question, Herbjorn, and I know you're taking shipments day in and day out. You don't operate on a broader -- your job isn't to forecast where the economy is going. But that does raise the question. Are things -- you say, we are crawling along the bottom. Are you confident that things are at least stable? That we are not going to have that double-dip down?

Well, it is always the darkest before dawn. But we are crawling along the bottom. If the policymakers take the right measures, and we may argue about the nuances, but I think they are on the right path -- on the right track.

But I am concerned about our Company. And if the market becomes strong, we shall be making tons of money. And if the market is weak, we shall buy a lot of ships. So we have it both ways.

Then you'll make 100 weights of money.

Yes.

A couple of quick questions. You are shipping product from Brazil to the Far East?

Right.

If that gasoline, oil or ethanol?

No, that is crude oil. I ship crude oil only.

It's crude? Okay. And do you go around the Horn or through the Canal?

We go around the Horn.

But they're going to have the Canal finished soon, right? And then you're going to be able to use the Canal?

Yes, and we can still do that, but at this time ago we are around South Africa.

But our position is -- I must tell you this -- is like, as we say in Norway, like the fox in the cage. You know? We always had two exits in the back. And we do have that as a Company, you know.

All right. It is time for us to exit. Thank you very much, Herbjorn Hansson.