Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Anthony Gurnee: I can assure you, it’s something we discuss at every board meeting rigorous. And so, look, we’re trying to find the right balance. And we’re very, very happy to pay special dividends if we feel that there’s no better use of cash.

Unidentified Analyst: Is there a low you want the debt-to-cap going below, which it’s not an efficient capital structure?

Anthony Gurnee: Not really. But I think our delevering is going to slow down from here because we’re paying a dividend. Two-third, one-third of that cash and the market is not quite where it was. We had some other specific factors in 2022. So I think the delevering will happen slower even if we do not . I also think that there’s real benefit in that low leverage in terms of just the quality of the cash flow and earnings.

Bryan Degnan: Few from the webcast here. Most of them have been already €“ actually, a handful of them by Greg. So I guess maybe reading my email, I’m not sure. But in any case, do MRs are outperforming? Is that something you would expect to be the case? Or is that something related to February 5?

Anthony Gurnee: Yes. MRs and LRs are correlated. So in a way, everything that’s good for product tankers is good for kind of all vessel classes. What I think it’s worth highlighting that in an environment of extreme volatility as we have experienced and an environment of extreme uncertainty as we have also experienced that our customers, oil traders and refiners really like that flexibility, ability to continue selling their cargoes as the ship is already underway and the ship that offers the most trading flexibility and the most traded stem sizes are the MRs. For us, of course, also we can access nonpetroleum trade more easily with MRs, it’s not really possible with LRs. So for us, it also creates more flexibility in how we trade ships and how we combine cargoes and how we combine voyages.

So in a way, the MRs, I think inherently offer more flexibility to both our customers and us, which is why I believe that MR should continue to do quite well. Looking at some of the maps we started in terms of shifts in trade flows from short haul within Europe to long haul, that’s, of course, structurally the bullish MRs bearish handies, these are traditional handy trades. I think on the LRs, it’s important to point out that LR2s are already trading as clean as they usually do. There’s always a slice of the market that just stays in dirty trades. So I think overall, mainly due to its kind of structural layout, MRs provide a lot of flexibility for both us and the customers and I think should continue to do well.

Unidentified Analyst: Given where rates are and also where asset prices are, would you expect to capturing this you look at potentially crystallizing the value in the assets by doing some sales of older vessels? Or would you €“ for a vessel that you would otherwise look at selling now look to hold on to that vessel? How do you think about €“ does that change at all your normal process for sort of the aging-out process?

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