Frontline plc (NYSE:FRO) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 31, 2023 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Lars Barstad - Chief Executive Officer
Inger Klemp - Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Jon Chappell - Evercore ISI
Chris Robertson - Deutsche Bank
Omar Nokta - Jefferies
Chris Tsung - Webber Research
Operator
Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2023 Frontline PLC Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]
I would now like to hand the conference over to the CEO, Mr. Lars Barstad. Please go ahead.
Lars Barstad
Thank you very much dear all, and thank you for tuning into Frontline's first quarter earnings call. We’re a bit late, but we’re [indiscernible] expression is. We’ve had a seasonally strong first quarter of the year. Russia still has an impact on the market or there are sanctions on Russia, but I think kind of the key part of the action in Q1 was related to China. The strong Q1 has given us ability to book quite strong numbers into Q2 as well as the Frontline team relentlessly growing to create shareholder value.
Before I give the word to Inger, [indiscernible] TCE numbers on Slide 3 in the deck. In the third quarter, sorry, in the first quarter Frontline achieved $52,500 per day on our VLCC fleet, $64,000 per day on our Suezmax fleet, and $56,300 per day on our LR2/Aframax fleet. And we are, in fact, back to a somewhat reverted earnings relationship between our segments with the Suezmax is outperforming the VLCCs and the same for LR2s.
We have secured quite firm numbers as we progressed into Q2, with 78% of our VLCC [days] [ph] booked $75,000 per day, 71% of our Suezmax days booked at $65,000 dollars per day, and 63% of our LR2/Aframax days at a very respectable $65,700 per day. Again, all these numbers in the table are on a load-to-discharge basis, and they will be affected by the amount of ballast days we end up having at the end of Q2. And mind you, this is Q2, which is supposed to be the weak point in the market.
With that, I'll give Inger the word. She will take you through the financial highlights.
Inger Klemp
Thanks, Lars. Good morning and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Then let's then turn to Slide 4. The profit statement and look at some highlights. As Lars already has stated, Q1 2023 is the highest first quarter profit since 2008. Q1 2023 is also the first interim financial information presented by the company on IFRS. And following in that transition to IFRS, one important thing is that drydocking costs will be capitalized and subsequently depreciated over the period to the next scheduled drydocking, which is from 2.5 years to 5 years.