Nordic American Tanker Ltd (NYSE:NAT) board declared a dividend of $0.25 per share to its shareholders. The record date is August 17, 2016 and the dividend payout date is anticipated to be around or on August 31.
The highlights
Nordic American reported that the recent deliveries of 4 Japanese-developed second hand ships costing $106 million and the purchase of 2 vessels from Korea costing $64 million are to be delivered in the coming six-months. They are being funded from company’s own resources, without any need of raising equity.
The cash payment of $170 million of the aforesaid purchases, which will increase the fleet count to 30 vessels and also support the future earnings, led the company in setting the dividend amount for 2Q2016.
The current scenario
Nordic American reported that the tanker segment is volatile. An increased demand for tankers can result in better dividend payouts. The management believe that in the prevailing scenario, the plan of deploying the cash both to purchase ships and to pay dividend and this enhance the dividend capacity remains in the best ineptest of the company’s shareholders.
Going forward, a strong balance sheet, a high liquidity in NAT shares and competitive dividend payouts, compared with the company’s peers, continue to be major goals for the company. They have been also working on the organizational strengthening and streamlining, which was evident when earlier in June Marianne Lie took the role of Executive vice Chair of company.
Prior to that, Lie had been the non-executive Vice Chairperson since 2014, shortly after Nordic American was established. In her new position, Lie continues to report to Mr. Herbjorn Hansson, who is the Chairman of company. The management believes that this organizational streamlining will further strengthen the company’s structure and operations in the prevailing tough conditions in the offshore oil industry.
