StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS) Q2 2022 Earnings Conference Call August 24, 2022 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Harry Vafias - CEO
Konstantinos Sistovaris - IR
Conference Call Participants
Tate Sullivan - Maxim Group
Operator
Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the StealthGas Q2 2022 results call and webcast. [Operator instructions]. Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand over to your first speaker, Mr. Harry Vafias, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Harry Vafias
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2022 earnings conference call. This is Harry Vafias, CEO, and joining me on our calls today is Mr. Sistovaris, who is handling our Investor Relations, to discuss the financial aspects.
Before we commence our presentation, I'd like to remind you that we'll be discussing forward-looking statements, which reflect current views with respect to future events and financial performance. At this stage, if you could all take a moment to read that disclaimer on Slide 2 of the presentation. Risks are further disclosed in StealthGas’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I would also like to point out that all amounts quoted, unless otherwise clarified, are implicitly stated in US dollars.
Today, we released our earnings results for a second quarter 2022, which was also the second quarter of trading as a pure LPG company, and we showed a fantastic improvement compared to last year. So, let's proceed to discuss these results and what we see in the market in general. In Slide 3, we summarize the highlights of the second quarter. In the second quarter of 2022, the strong charter market that we experienced in the first quarter, continued, particularly west of Suez, but also in Asia we show healthy number of inquiries for charting our ships. In terms of operational utilization of our fleet, at 97%, it was similar levels to last year, and better than the previous quarter. Idle days for spot vessels were reduced. However, we did not drydock any vessels during this quarter. That will happen in Q3 and Q4. We now have 62% of our fleet days secured on period charters for the remainder of 2022, with total fleet employment days for all subsequent periods generating about $72 million, excluding JV vessels in contractors’ revenues.
In terms of our selling and purchase activity during the quarter, we completed the previously announced sales of our oldest 5,000 cubic meter vessel, the 1997-built Gas Monarch, for further trading. And furthermore, during the current quarter, together with our JV partners, we entered into an agreement to sell to a third party, our largest vessel, the 38,000 cubic meter MGC vessel, the Eco Nebula. It was a profitable sale and the profits and accumulated profits after the debt repayment will be distributed to the partners during the current quarter. As a result, we estimate to increase our available cash by an additional $16 million. As we always aim to renew our fleet with more modern vessel, we also entered into an agreement with a related party to purchase two newbuilding Medium Gas Carriers 40,000 cubic meters each, already under construction in Korea, with delivery in the third and fourth quarter of 2023. If we were to place a new order today, we’d expect delivery of these vessels in 2025. The relevant CapEx of circa $117 million for these vessels, we expect to fund through our existing cash and new debt. We have approached one of our financiers, and are already in the commitment phase.