GOGL – Fourth Quarter 2023 Results

Golden Ocean Group Limited (NASDAQ/OSE: GOGL) (the “Company” or “Golden Ocean”), the world's largest listed owner of large size dry bulk vessels, today announced its unaudited results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023.

Highlights

• Net income of $57.5 million and earnings per share of $0.29 (basic) for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with net income of $28.7 million and earnings per share of $0.14 (basic) for the third quarter of 2023.
• Net income of $112.3 million and earnings per share of $0.56 (basic) for full year 2023, compared with net income of $461.8 million and earnings per share of $2.30 (basic) for full year 2022.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $123.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with $78.9 million for the third quarter of 2023.
• Adjusted net income of $64.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to $22.0 million for the third quarter of 2023.
• Reported TCE rates for Capesize and Panamax vessels of $25,176 per day and $16,738 per day, respectively, and $21,958 per day for the entire fleet in the fourth quarter of 2023.
• Completed a purchase and sale of a Supramax vessel, recording a gain of $5.8 million upon delivery of the vessel to its new owner.
• Entered into an agreement to sell one Panamax vessel for net consideration of $15.8 million.
• Arranged financings in an aggregate amount of $625 million at highly attractive terms. Upon completion, the Company will have fully funded its remaining capex obligations and refinanced all of its debt maturities until 2026.
• Estimated TCE rates, inclusive of charter coverage calculated on a load-to-discharge basis, are approximately:
  • $25,000 per day for 74% of Capesize available days and $15,400 per day for 84% of Panamax available days for the first quarter of 2024.
  • $25,000 per day for 25% of Capesize available days and $14,200 per day for 19% of Panamax available days for the second quarter of 2024.
• Announced a cash dividend of $0.30 per share for the fourth quarter of 2023, which is payable on or about March 25, 2024, to shareholders of record on March 13, 2024. Shareholders holding the Company’s shares through Euronext VPS may receive this cash dividend later on or about March 27, 2024.

Lars-Christian Svensen, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“The Company’s large, modern fleet has been predominantly exposed to the spot market, resulting in strong performance in the fourth quarter of 2023 and thus far in 2024. The market for large size dry bulk vessels continues to outperform the broader freight market due to increasing tonne-mile demand for various key commodities, including iron ore, coal, and bauxite. We have entered 2024 with strong demand in Asia and a broad-based global economic recovery underway, creating an overall healthy demand picture. Fleet growth, particularly in the Capesize segment, remains at historically low levels, and the global fleet is trading at historically high efficiency levels. The Company maintains a positive outlook, and with no unfunded capex or near-term debt maturities, we are well positioned to continue to return value to our shareholders through dividends. Golden Ocean has now paid a dividend for 11 consecutive quarters, demonstrating the Company’s potential as well as the resilience of its performance in weaker market conditions.”

The Board of Directors

Golden Ocean Group Limited

Hamilton, Bermuda

February 28, 2024

Questions should be directed to:

Lars-Christian Svensen: Chief Executive Officer, Golden Ocean Management AS

Peder Simonsen: Chief Financial Officer, Golden Ocean Management AS

The full report is available in the link below.

Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this earnings report may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, or the PSLRA, provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company is taking advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the PSLRA and is including this cautionary statement in connection therewith. This document and any other written or oral statements made by the Company or on its behalf may include forward-looking statements, which reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. This earnings report includes assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs about future events. These statements are intended as "forward-looking statements." The Company cautions that assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs about future events may and often do vary from actual results and the differences can be material. When used in this document, the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “targets,” “projects,” “likely,” “will,” “would,” “could” and similar expressions or phrases may identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this report are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Company's records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Company's control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements.

In addition to these important factors and matters discussed elsewhere herein, important factors that, in the Company’s view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, include among other things: general market trends in the dry bulk industry, which is cyclical and volatile, including fluctuations in charter hire rates and vessel values; a decrease in the market value of the Company’s vessels; changes in supply and demand in the dry bulk shipping industry, including the market for the Company’s vessels and the number of newbuildings under construction; delays or defaults in the construction of the Company’s newbuildings could increase the Company’s expenses and diminish the Company’s net income and cash flows; an oversupply of dry bulk vessels, which may depress charter rates and profitability; the Company’s future operating or financial results; the Company’s continued borrowing availability under the Company’s debt agreements and compliance with the covenants contained therein; the Company’s ability to procure or have access to financing, the Company’s liquidity and the adequacy of cash flows for the Company’s operations; the failure of the Company’s contract counterparties to meet their obligations, including changes in credit risk with respect to the Company’s counterparties on contracts; the loss of a large customer or significant business relationship; the strength of world economies; the volatility of prevailing spot market and charter-hire charter rates, which may negatively affect the Company’s earnings; the Company’s ability to successfully employ the Company’s dry bulk vessels and replace the Company’s operating leases on favorable terms, or at all; changes in the Company’s operating expenses and voyage costs, including bunker prices, fuel prices (including increased costs for low sulfur fuel), drydocking, crewing and insurance costs; the adequacy of the Company’s insurance to cover the Company’s losses, including in the case of a vessel collision; vessel breakdowns and instances of offhire; the Company’s ability to fund future capital expenditures and investments in the construction, acquisition and refurbishment of the Company’s vessels (including the amount and nature thereof and the timing of completion of vessels under construction, the delivery and commencement of operation dates, expected downtime and lost revenue); risks associated with any future vessel construction or the purchase of second-hand vessels; effects of new products and new technology in the Company’s industry, including the potential for technological innovation to reduce the value of the Company’s vessels and charter income derived therefrom; the impact of an interruption or failure of the Company’s information technology and communications systems, including the impact of cyber-attacks, upon the Company’s ability to operate; potential liability from safety, environmental, governmental and other requirements and potential significant additional expenditures (by the Company and the Company’s customers) related to complying with such regulations; changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities and the impact of government inquiries and investigations; the arrest of the Company’s vessels by maritime claimants; government requisition of the Company’s vessels during a period of war or emergency; the Company’s compliance with complex laws, regulations, including environmental laws and regulations and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977; potential difference in interests between or among certain members of the Board of Directors, executive officers, senior management and shareholders; the Company’s ability to attract, retain and motivate key employees; work stoppages or other labor disruptions by the Company’s employees or the employees of other companies in related industries; potential exposure or loss from investment in derivative instruments; stability of Europe and the Euro or the inability of countries to refinance their debts; the central bank policies intended to combat overall inflation and rising interest rates and foreign exchange rates; fluctuations in currencies; acts of piracy on ocean-going vessels, public health threats, terrorist attacks and international hostilities and political instability; potential physical disruption of shipping routes due to accidents, climate-related (acute and chronic), political instability, terrorist attacks, piracy, international sanctions or international hostilities, including the ongoing developments in the Ukraine region; general domestic and international political and geopolitical conditions or events, including any further changes in U.S. trade policy that could trigger retaliatory actions by affected countries; the developments in the Middle East, including the armed conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip; the impact of adverse weather and natural disasters; the impact of increasing scrutiny and changing expectations from investors, lenders and other market participants with respect to the Company’s Environmental, Social and Governance policies; changes in seaborne and other transportation; the length and severity of epidemics and pandemics; fluctuations in the contributions of the Company’s joint ventures to the Company’s profits and losses; the potential for shareholders to not be able to bring a suit against us or enforce a judgement obtained against us in the United States; the Company’s treatment as a “passive foreign investment company” by U.S. tax authorities; being required to pay taxes on U.S. source income; the Company’s operations being subject to economic substance requirements; the volatility of the stock price for the Company’s common shares, from which investors could incur substantial losses, and the future sale of the Company’s common shares, which could cause the market price of the Company’s common shares to decline; and other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2022.

The Company cautions readers of this report not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. Except to the extent required by applicable law or regulation, the Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this report or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of the Company’s future performance, and actual results and future developments may vary materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachment