StealthGas reports Q2 adjusted EPS 75c vs 28c last year

Reports Q2 revenue $41.8M vs $36.7M last year. CEO Harry Vafias Commented, “Today we announce yet another record breaking quarter. Profits that were more than double compared to last year of $25.8 million for the second quarter of 2024 are an all time high for our company in the 20 years since its inception. While we managed to contain our operating costs we took full advantage of a strong chartering market fixing vessels at higher rates during that and previous quarters whose benefits we are enjoying now. The bottom line was furthered bolstered by the return from our investments related to the sale of a vessel by one of our joint ventures. We continue with the strategy of debt reduction and in the current quarter we have so far repaid over $21 million of debt and now have 24 unencumbered vessels, the vast majority of the fleet, and a net debt ratio below 5%. Market sentiment continues to be bullish and as we leave the seasonally weaker third quarter and enter into the winter months we are starting to see a strengthening in the market and, as a positive sign, interest from charterers to fix for longer than one year periods. As such we have recently fixed a number of longer charters that we announced today, bringing the contract coverage to 55% for next year, while all of our 27 fully owned vessels are currently fixed under period charters.”