Sovcomflot increases net profit and contract backlog by more than double in first 9 months of 2020

Moscow, November 17 - Neftegaz.RU. Sovcomflot (SCF Group), a global leader in marine energy transportation services, released its consolidated financial statements for the Q3 and 9 months (9M) ended 30 September 2020.

For 9M SCF Group’s time-charter equivalent (TCE) revenue increased by 22.1% YoY to $ 1,069.8 mln, EBITDA was up 37.5% to $ 741.4 mln, maintaining LTM EBITDA at above $1 bn. EBITDA margin improved 8pp to 69.3%. Net profit more than doubled to $ 249.5 mln. Positive dynamics were driven by continued and sustainable growth of the industrial business segments, as well as a strong performance of the conventional tanker fleet in the 1st half of the year.

Q3 2020 TCE revenue was up 1.6% to $ 287.1 mln, with Q3 2020 EBITDA declining 1.6% to $ 162.8 mln and a decline in net profit of 10.9% to $ 23.1 mln (as compared to Q3 2019), reflecting a weaker conventional tanker market over the quarter and some one-off maintenance expenses.

SCF Group’s industrial business portfolio, which provides a long-term fixed income revenue stream, contributed $ 501.3 mln to 9M 2020 TCE revenue, delivering 7.5% YoY growth. It came as a result of 2 new LNG carriers employed under long-term contracts with international energy majors, delivered and put into operation.

Conventional tanker fleet TCE revenue increased 44.6% to $ 531.0 mln in 9M 2020, on the back of strong freight market dynamics in the first 6 months of 2020. The market has started to adjust in the third quarter, which is seasonally the lowest quarter due to the summer decline in crude oil and oil products demand. This year seasonality effect was more pronounced due to COVID-19-driven impacts on demand.

SCF Group continued to grow its long-term industrial business portfolio, with a special focus on operations in harsh environments and ice conditions. The current contract backlog has reached $ 24 bn compared with $ 10 bn as at 31 December 2019.

Commenting on the 9M 2020 results, Igor Tonkovidov, CEO of SCF Group, said: “SCF demonstrated an exceptionally strong performance with 9 months net profit doubling, compared with last year. Furthermore, the Group was able to secure new industrial business with an additional $ 14 bn of future contracted revenues, booked in the LNG segment just over the past couple of months, fully in line with the Group’s strategy. This clearly shows the resilience of Sovcomflot’s business model to the pandemic-related operational challenges and to adverse and volatile market conditions.”