TORM plc (NASDAQ:TRMD) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Jacob Meldgaard: Yes. Okay. So they are very different questions, obviously. But if we take consolidation, the door is always open at Torm for consolidation. I think the fact is that we are doing really well. I can see that, of course, our peers in the market are also benefiting from these strong consol. So I think even though that I could, I would say, have an open invitation for consolidation, I can and I say that there is no active dialogue. And I think in the current environment that most investors are pretty happy with the positions that they have. That’s my instinct. So I don’t expect a lot of activity on that. If you look at disposal, well, we are obviously utilizing our vessels for as long. We have the luxury in Torm that we’ve got a One Torm platform.

So we are not discriminating against age. We are looking at what gives us over time the highest return on our invested capital and that includes vessels that are between 15 and 20. But if you look at it, then historically, I think the average age of assets that we have been selling are somewhere in the very high teens. So it seems logical that when and if we dispose of assets, it’s in that age bracket. So I would expect over time that there will be further disposals of vessels in that age range. That seems totally plausible.

Andreas Abildgaard-Hein: Then we have one more question for you, Jacob. Are you mostly committed to spot markets and hedge with FFAs?

Jacob Meldgaard: Yes. That has been at least the way we have played the market since, let’s say, first quarter of last year. When we saw the market have a step change, we think that there is value to be had in being open to the spot market with this high volatility. Just as an example, we’re experiencing that exactly, let’s say, two months ago, in the middle of June, the spot market for our MRs in the U.S. Gulf would be hovering around earning of 20,000. And today, as we speak, it’s probably closer to 50,000. And I think to sort of close down that optionality of being able to also have these spikes in the market, I think we benefit as a company and our shareholders benefit from still being able to be open to that. And then we, from time to time, do hedge when and if we think that the value on FFAs is significantly close to where we think the market will be then we will utilize that.

Could we do [indiscernible] I think, clearly, if some of our clients, our top-tier clients came to us and requested tonnage for a longer period, of course, we are willing to do that at a price also.

Andreas Abildgaard-Hein: Thank you. And a question for you, Kim. Your staffing cost has increased significantly since one year ago. Is this something you can put some more details on? And do you expect the G&A to stay around at the current level?

Kim Balle: Thank you very much for that question. Well spotted if we take SG&A admin cost in general, that is one of the common KPIs we have across the One Torm platform. So every employee has that as a KPI meaning that we are in TORM super focused on maintaining stricter — have a strict cost focus. So the underlying SG&A level is very much under control. We have key KPIs on it, and we want to maintain it more or less at the levels we’ve had for quite a while. But as we published in conjunction with the January report, the Board of Directors have decided at that point in time that they wanted to grant an LTIP program for selected employees in TORM, a retention program running over 3.5 years. And when you have a program like that, you need to provision for that in your accounts, and we’ve done that over the 3.5 years.