EuroDry reports Q3 adjusted EPS ($1.42) vs. (24c) last year

Reports Q3 revenue $14.7M vs. $10M last year. Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of EuroDry (EDRY) commented: “During the third quarter of 2024, the average earnings for Kamsarmax/Panamax and Ultramax vessels declined, with these declines continuing through October and early November. Although fleet growth during 2024 has been modest by recent historical standards, demand for vessels has weakened, especially, during the second half of the year due partly to the reversal of certain short term factors like Panama Canal throughput constraints but more importantly due to weak demand from China. China’s economic growth and the resulting demand for drybulk trade is one of the key factors affecting the drybulk market and one of the main challenges the latter faces. The recent announcement of additional stimulus by China could change the near and medium term prospects of the Chinese economy but its final effect remains to be seen. Still, the biggest source of optimism in the market comes from the supply side which is expected to grow very modestly over the next couple of years. In the third quarter of 2024, we exploited the weakness of the market during the summer to early drydock two of our ships to improve their commercial prospects. In addition, two more of our vessels underwent their scheduled drydock. Consequently, our quarterly results were influenced by both the weakness of the market and the cost of the drydockings and related offhire days. With those drydockings completed, our fleet is better positioned to benefit from potential market increases in 2025. At the same time, we continue exploring investment opportunities in secondhand or newbuilding projects, especially, as recent market declines resulted in lower vessel values. In this context, we also increased our “firepower” through loan refinancings securing about $16 million in extra liquidity. As always, our focus remains to identify and undertake accretive investment opportunities to generate returns for our shareholders.”