May 10 - TBS International has seen a significant improvement to its results for the first quarter of 2010.
Joseph E. Royce, chairman, chief executive officer and president stated: "TBS is making positive progress in emerging from the economic crisis and financial malaise that has affected world trade. Our handymax and handysize bulk carriers have enabled us to benefit from improving freight rates for the carriage of bulk cargoes. Our multipurpose tweendeckers showed marked impr ovement in Q1 2010 in both cargo volumes and freight rates as our traditional customer base increased exports of steel, liner, project and general cargoes. We are optimistic that the volume of finished goods cargoes we carry will continue to improve throughout 2010 and that TBS will return to a more balanced rotation of its tweendecker fleet in the second half of this year.
"In Q1 2010, top line revenues, average daily Time Charter Equivalent ("TCE") voyage earnings and EBITDA showed marked improvement over Q1 2009. Commencing with Q3 2009, we have also experienced steady quarterly improvement in top line revenues, average daily TCE and EBITDA.
Equally important, as recently announced, TBS has successfully modified its loan agreements.
"Our business plan is to capitalize on the alliances we built during the past year to expand the TBS brand and Five Star Service in Latin America and Africa, which we view as emerging continents, rich in energy and mineral resources that will sustain viable growth for decades to come."
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2010, total revenues were USD100.1 million, an increase of 40.6 percent compared to the USD71.2 million for the same period in 2009. Net loss for the first quarter 2010 was USD7.8 million, an improvement of 63.4 percent compared to USD21.3 million loss for the same period in 2009.
An average of 46 vessels (excluding off-hire) were operated during the first quarter 2010 compared to 44 vessels (excluding off-hire) during the same period in 2009.
Today's results are a significant improvement for TBS from the position it occupied only a couple of months ago, when concerns were raised about the company's future status. However, the Dublin-based owner has always been confident of resolving its troublesome loan issues, which arose following the global financial crisis.
Further details on TBS' new agreements with banks, including Bank of America, RBS, DVB, and Credit Suisse, are expected to be released to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) later today.
