GNRT Gener8 Maritime, Inc.

NEW YORK, May 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gener8 Maritime, Inc. (NYSE: GNRT) ("Gener8 Maritime" or the "Company"), a leading U.S.-based provider of international seaborne crude oil transportation services, today announced its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2017.

Highlights

• Recorded net income of $26.9 million, or $0.32 basic and diluted earnings per share, for the three months ended March 31, 2017, compared to $60.9 million, or $0.74 basic and diluted earnings per share for the same period in the prior year. Recorded adjusted net income of $38.5 million, or $0.46 basic and diluted adjusted earnings per share, for the three months ended March 31, 2017, compared to $64.8 million or $0.78 basic and diluted earnings per share for the same period in the prior year.
• Increased vessel operating days by 24.4% to 3,510 in the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to 2,822 in the same period in the prior year. Increased full fleet "ECO" operating days to 49% in the three months ended March 31, 2017, compared to 20% in the same period in the prior year.
• Took delivery of two "ECO" newbuilding VLCCs, the Gener8 Hector and the Gener8 Ethos during the three months ended March 31, 2017.
• Sold the 2003-built VLCC tanker Gener8 Ulysses in February 2017 for net proceeds of $10.2 million after prepaying $20.0 million of associated debt.
• Entered into a series of transactions subsequent to the end of the quarter that are expected to increase cash on the balance sheet by more than $82 million. These include:
• • Modified the Company's interest rate swap agreements, which resulted in aggregate net cash proceeds of $18.2 million in April 2017.
  • Entered into agreements to sell two 2016-built VLCCs, the Gener8 Noble and the Gener8 Theseus, for expected combined gross proceeds of $162 million and expected net cash increase of $61.5 million following prepayment of debt and the release of working capital from the pool.
  • Entered into agreement to sell the 2002-built Aframax tanker Gener8 Daphne prior to the vessel's special survey.

"We are pleased that our "ECO" vessels continue to earn a demonstrable premium.  This is a significant competitive advantage for us, particularly as the market enters a somewhat weaker rate environment amplified by growth in the size of the global fleet," said Peter Georgiopoulos, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gener8 Maritime.  "Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we made a series of important decisions to provide us significant flexibility to manage our business.  The resulting stronger financial platform will serve as a buffer through any extended market downturn and also allow us to be opportunistic going forward.  Importantly, we were able to improve our financial profile without diluting our shareholders.  In the meantime, following the completion of our newbuilding program expected in the third quarter and assuming no further changes to our fleet, the DWT-weighted average age of our fleet will be 4.9 years, and our VLCCs will have an average age of just 2.7 years, giving us the youngest and most modern VLCC fleet among our public company peers.  This is significant as we believe the modernity of our fleet will contribute to competitive operating expenses and ultimately to our profitability."

Leo Vrondissis, Chief Financial Officer, added, "Our balance sheet was strengthened during the first quarter, primarily as a result of solid operating results and the sale of the 2003-built Gener8 Ulysses, which resulted in net proceeds of $10.2 million.  Subsequent to the first quarter we are expecting to add cash to the balance sheet through a series of transactions which include the re-couponing of our interest rate swaps and entering into agreements to sell three of our vessels which are expected to, on a combined basis, add more than $82 million of cash to our balance sheet."

Fleet Performance

The average TCE rates earned by Gener8 Maritime's vessels are detailed below:

First Quarter 2017 Results Summary 

The Company recorded net income for the three months ended March 31, 2017 of $26.9 million, or $0.32 basic and diluted earnings per share, compared to net income of $60.9 million, or $0.74 basic and diluted earnings per share, for the prior year period.

Adjusted net income was $38.5 million, or $0.46 basic and diluted adjusted earnings per share, for the three months ended March 31, 2017, compared to adjusted net income of $64.8 million, or $0.78 basic and diluted adjusted income per share, for the prior year period.

Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended March 31, 2017 was $86.0 million, compared to $87.7 million for the prior year period. Please refer to the tables at the end of this press release for a reconciliation of adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA to net income.

The average daily spot TCE rates obtained by the Company's VLCC fleet, including its vessels that were deployed in the Navig8 pools, were $43,143 for the three months ended March 31, 2017. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company's "ECO" VLCC fleet earned an average daily TCE of $43,965, and the Company's non-"ECO" VLCC fleet earned an average daily TCE of $39,343.  The average daily TCE rate obtained by the Company on a full-fleet basis was $34,493 during the three months ended March 31, 2017, compared to $43,119 for the prior year period. 

Net voyage revenue was $121.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017, substantially unchanged as compared to $121.7 million in the prior year period.  A decrease in average daily fleet TCE rate resulted in a decrease in net voyage revenue of approximately $24.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to the prior year period. The decrease in net voyage revenues was partially offset by an increase in the Company's vessel operating days by 688 days, or 24.4%, to 3,510 days, compared to 2,822 days for prior year period. The increase in the Company's vessel operating days resulted in an increase in net voyage revenue of approximately $23.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to the prior year period. The increase in the Company's vessel operating days was primarily the result of the deployment of 12 additional VLCC newbuilding vessels since the end of the prior year period.

Direct vessel operating expenses, which include crew costs, provisions, deck and engine stores, lubricating oil, insurance, and maintenance and repairs, increased by $4.3 million, or 17.3%, to $28.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $24.5 million for the prior year period. The increase in direct vessel operating expenses was primarily due to the increase by 8.8 vessels, or by 28.8%, in the average size of the Company's fleet to 39.5 vessels for the three months ended March 31, 2017, as compared to 30.7 vessels for the prior year period.  The increase in direct vessel operating expenses was partially offset by a decrease in daily direct vessel operating expenses per vessel of $701, or 8.0%, to $8,081 per day for the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $8,782 per day for the prior year period, primarily as a result of lower operating costs, including crew cost, repair and maintenance and other costs, associated with the Company's newly delivered vessels. 

Navig8 charterhire expenses of $6.0 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2017 comprised of profit share adjustments related to the profit share plan for Nave Quasar, a vessel chartered-in by Gener8 Maritime Subsidiary Inc. (formerly known as Navig8 Crude Tankers, Inc.), which became our subsidiary as a result of the 2015 merger. We had $3.3 million of Navig8 charterhire expenses for the prior year period. The time charter under which this vessel had been chartered-in expired, and the vessel was redelivered to its owner, in March 2016.

General and administrative expenses increased by $0.3 million, or 4.2%, to $8.4 million during the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $8.1 million for the prior year period.  The increase was primarily due to a net increase in the stock-based compensation expense of $0.6 million during the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to the prior year period, partially offset by a decrease of $0.3 million in legal expense and other professional fees, primarily associated with the Company's refinancing activities as well as other matters that occurred in the prior year period.                          

Depreciation and amortization expenses increased by $10.2 million, or 58.4%, to $27.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $17.5 million for the prior year period. Depreciation of vessel costs increased by $10.4 million, or 66.7%, to $26.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $15.6 million for the prior year period. This increase was primarily due to an increase in the Company's fleet size compared to the prior year period.

Loss on disposal of vessels, net increased by $9.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $0.1 million for the prior year period, as the Gener8 Daphne and the Gener8 Elektra were moved to assets held for sale.

Net interest expense increased by $12.8 million to $20.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $7.3 million for the prior year period. The increase was primarily attributable to the decrease in capitalized interest of $8.4 million, or 85.7%, to $1.4 million compared to $9.8 million for the prior year period related to the capitalization of interest expense associated with vessels under construction as a result of the funding of the acquisition of the Company's VLCC newbuildings. Capitalized interest results in a reduction of interest expense, net. The Company does not capitalize interest expense associated with the funding of the Company's VLCC newbuildings after delivery of the vessels. Contributing to the increase in interest expense, net during the three months ended March 31, 2017, was an increase in interest expense associated with the Company's credit facilities of $4.0 million, or 48.6%, to $12.4 million compared to $8.4 million for the prior year period due to the increase in outstanding borrowings under the Company's credit facilities and senior notes. The Company's outstanding borrowings under its credit facilities and senior notes were $1.6 billion and $1.2 billion as of March 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. In addition, in May 2016, the Company entered into six interest rate swap transactions that effectively fix the interest rate on a portion of its outstanding variable rate debt to a range of fixed rates. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company recorded $0.8 million related to interest rate swaps settlements as interest expense, net.

Also contributing to the increase in interest expense, net was an increases in amortization of deferred financing costs of $0.7 million, or 30.0%, to $3.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $2.4 million for the prior year period. These increases in interest expense, net was partially offset by a decrease in commitment fees of $1.6 million, or 85.7% to $0.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017 compared to $1.9 million for prior year period.

The Company incurred these additional deferred financing costs and commitment fees in connection with its entry into the refinancing credit facility, which refinanced its former senior secured credit facilities, and the Amended Sinosure Credit Facility and the Korean Export Credit Facility, which it has used to fund a portion of the installment payments due under the its VLCC newbuildings contracts.

During the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company's interest rate swap agreements were highly effective; the Company recognized $0.7 million of earnings, as other (expense) income, net, related to the impact of its interest rate swap agreements.

As of March 31, 2017, the Company's cash balance was $143.4 million, compared to $94.7 million as of December 31, 2016. As of March 31, 2017, the Company's total debt was $1.6 billion and net debt was $1.4 billion.

As of March 31, 2017, there were 82,960,194 shares of the Company's common stock outstanding. 

Gener8 Maritime Fleet Profile (as of May 9, 2017)

Financial Information

Consolidated Statements of Operations for the Three Months ended March 31, 2017 and March 31, 2016

Selected Balance Sheet Data

Reconciliation Tables

EBITDA represents net income (loss) plus net interest expense and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA represents EBITDA adjusted to exclude the items set forth in the table below, which represent certain non-cash, one-time and other items that the Company's believes are not indicative of the ongoing performance of its core operations. Adjusted Net Income represents Net Income adjusted to exclude the same non-cash, one-time and other items, as well as commitment fees. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are included in this presentation because they are used by management and certain investors as measures of operating performance. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are used by analysts in the shipping industry as common performance measures to compare results across peers. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are not items recognized by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("GAAP"), and should not be considered in isolation or used as alternatives to net income, operating income, cash flow from operating activity or any other indicator of the Company's operating performance or liquidity required by GAAP. The Company's presentation of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income is intended to supplement investors' understanding of its operating performance by providing information regarding its ongoing performance that exclude items the Company believes do not directly affect its core operations and enhancing the comparability of its ongoing performance across periods. The Company presents Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income in addition to EBITDA and Net Income because Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income eliminate the impact of additional non-cash, one-time and other items not associated with the ongoing performance of its core operations, including charges associated with stock-based compensation, gains and losses on the sale of vessels and costs associated with its financing activities, that the Company believes further reduce the comparability of the ongoing performance of its core operations across periods. The Company's management considers EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income to be useful to investors because such performance measures provide information regarding the profitability of its core operations and facilitate comparison of its operating performance to the operating performance of the Company's peers. Additionally, the Company's management uses EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income as performance measures and they are also presented for review at the Company's board meetings. While the Company believes these measures are useful to investors, the definitions of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income used here may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. In addition, these definitions are also not the same as the definition of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income used in the financial covenants in the Company's debt instruments.

Please see below for a reconciliation of the following adjusted amounts to Net Income (dollars in thousands)

Net debt represents total debt less cash, discounts and deferred financing costs. Net debt is included is this presentation because it is used by management and certain investors as a measure of the Company's overall liquidity, financial flexibility and leverage. Furthermore, certain investors, creditors, and credit analysts monitor the Company's net debt as part of their assessments of its business.  Net debt is not recognized by GAAP, and should not be considered in isolation or used as alternatives financial condition or liquidity required by GAAP. In particular, the Company typically needs a portion of its cash for purposes other than debt reduction. The deduction of these items from total debt in the calculation of net debt should thus not be understood to mean that any of these items are available exclusively for debt reduction at any given time.

Long-term debt reconciliation table

Please see below for a reconciliation of the following adjusted amounts to long-term debt (dollars in thousands)

Net Voyage Revenue & Operating Days Reconciliation Tables

Conference Call Information

A conference call to discuss the results will be held today, May 9, 2017 at 8:00 a.m. ET. The conference call can be accessed live by dialing 1-844-802-2435, or for international callers, 1-412-317-5128, and requesting to be joined into the Gener8 Maritime call.  A replay will be available at 11:00 a.m. ET and can be accessed by dialing 1-877-344-7529 or for international callers, 1-412-317-0088. The pass code for the replay is 10106521. The replay will be available until May 16, 2017.

A live webcast of the conference call will also be available under the Investor Relations section at www.gener8maritime.com. The Company plans to place additional materials related to the earnings announcement, including a slide presentation, on its website prior to the conference call.

About Gener8 Maritime
As of May 9, 2017, Gener8 Maritime has a fleet of 41 wholly-owned vessels comprised of 25 VLCCs, including one newbuilding, 10 Suezmaxes, four Aframaxes, and two Panamax tankers.  On a fully-delivered basis, Gener8 Maritime's fleet has a total carrying capacity of approximately 9.7 million deadweight tons ("DWT") and an average age of less than 5 years on a DWT basis. Gener8 Maritime is incorporated under the laws of the Marshall Islands and headquartered in New York.

Website Information
The Company intends to use its website, www.gener8maritime.com, as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Such disclosures will be included in its website's Investor Relations section. Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investor Relations portion of the Company's website, in addition to following its press releases, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), public conference calls, and webcasts. To subscribe to the Company's e-mail alert service, please click the "Investor Alerts" link in the Investors section of the Company's website and submit your email address. The information contained in, or that may be accessed through, the Company's website is not incorporated by reference into or a part of this document or any other report or document the Company files with or furnish to the SEC, and any references to the Company's website are intended to be inactive textual references only.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This press release contains forward-looking statements, made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are not historical facts and are based on management's current beliefs, expectations, estimates and projections about future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond the Company's control. Included among the factors that, in the Company's view, could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward looking statements contained in this press release are the following: (i) loss or reduction in business from the significant customers of the Company's or of the commercial pools in which the Company participates; (ii) changes in the values of the Company's vessels, newbuildings or other assets; (iii) the failure of the Company's significant customers, shipyards, pool managers or technical managers to perform their obligations owed to the Company; (iv) the loss or material downtime of significant vendors and service providers; (v) the Company's failure, or the failure of the commercial managers of any pools in which the Company's vessels participate, to successfully implement a profitable chartering strategy; (vi) termination or change in the nature of the Company's relationship with any of the commercial pools in which it participates; (vii) changes in demand for the Company's services; (viii) a material decline or prolonged weakness in rates in the tanker market; (ix) changes in production of or demand for oil and petroleum products, generally or in particular regions; (x) greater than anticipated levels of tanker newbuilding orders or lower than anticipated rates of tanker scrapping; (xi) adverse weather and natural disasters, acts of piracy, terrorist attacks and international hostilities and instability; (xii) changes in rules and regulations applicable to the tanker industry, including, without limitation, legislation adopted by international organizations such as the International Maritime Organization and the European Union or by individual countries; (xiii) actions taken by regulatory authorities; (xiv) actions by the courts, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Department of Justice or other governmental authorities and the results of the legal proceedings to which the Company or any of its vessels may be subject; (xv) changes in trading patterns significantly impacting overall tanker tonnage requirements; (xvi) any non-compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or other applicable regulations relating to bribery; (xvii) the highly cyclical nature of the oil-shipping industry; (xviii) changes in the typical seasonal variations in tanker charter rates; (xix) changes in the cost of other modes of oil transportation; (xx) changes in oil transportation technology; (xxi) increases in costs including without limitation: crew wages, insurance, provisions, repairs and maintenance; (xxii) changes in general political conditions; (xxiii) the adequacy of insurance to cover the Company's losses, including in connection with maritime accidents or spill events; (xxiv) changes in the condition of the Company's vessels or applicable maintenance or regulatory standards (which may affect, among other things, the Company's anticipated drydocking or maintenance and repair costs); (xxv) changes in the itineraries of the Company's vessels; (xxvi) adverse changes in foreign currency exchange rates affecting the Company's expenses; (xxvii) the fulfillment of the closing conditions under, or the execution of customary additional documentation for, the Company's agreements to acquire or sell vessels and borrow under its existing financing arrangements; (xxviii) the effect of the Company's indebtedness on its ability to finance operations, pursue desirable business operations and successfully run its business in the future; (xxix) financial market conditions; (xxx) sourcing, completion and funding of financing on acceptable terms; (xxxi) the Company's ability to generate sufficient cash to service its indebtedness and comply with the covenants and conditions under the Company's debt obligations; (xxxii) the impact of electing to take advantage of certain exemptions applicable to emerging growth companies; (xxxiii) the failure to obtain consent from the Company's lenders to amend the Korean Export Credit Facility to extend the period in which it is permitted to borrow under this facility through September 30, 2017, in connection with the delivery of its remaining VLCC newbuilding; and (xxxiv) other factors listed from time to time in the Company's filings with SEC, including, without limitation, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 and its subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. Accordingly the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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SOURCE Gener8 Maritime, Inc.