The company announced a USD 10,000,000 share repurchase program in November 2014 and has up to date purchased 1.500.000 common shares for a total of USD 9 million.
The announcement comes as StealthGas records net income of USD 12.7 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2014, compared to net income of USD 21.2 million for the same period in 2013.
The company had a net loss for the three months ended December 31, 2014 of USD 1.2 million, compared to net income of USD 5.5 million for the same period in the preceding year.
The latest full year results include a USD 6.2m impairment on older vessels intended for scrap this year coupled with losses on derivatives and hedging instruments.
“Our revenues for the fourth quarter and the year were affected by the continued decline in charter rates that was driven primarily by falling oil prices. Although the charter market was sluggish we managed to improve our operating profitability significantly compared to the previous quarter and slightly over last year,” CEO Harry Vafias commented.
Vafias said that the company is also focused on renewing and diversifying its fleet with 15 newbuildings scheduled for delivery from this year until 2017.
” We have about USD 130 million in cash and cash equivalents at year end. Our strong balance sheet, with a ratio of debt to total assets of 34.4%, puts us in a position to address any investment need that might arise. In addition we are boosting our share repurchase program with another 20 million on top of the 10 million that was announced in November 2014,” he added.
According to Vafias the outlook for 2015 is for LPG charter rates to likely remain at similar levels.
