Pacific Basin announces solid performance

(Posted on 04/03/26)

Pacific Basin Shipping Limited, one of the world’s leading dry bulk shipping companies, has announced the results of the Company and its subsidiaries for the year ended 31 December 2025.

Mr. Martin Fruergaard, CEO of Pacific Basin, said, “In 2025, we generated an underlying profit of US$59.2 million, a net profit of US$58.2 million and EBITDA of US$263.1 million, yielding basic EPS of HK8.9 cents. 2025 was a year in which we put the breadth of our integrated platform and core strengths to work, showing agility and resilience to deliver a solid performance amid evolving geopolitical and market challenges. Dry bulk freight markets in the first quarter of 2025 were the weakest in five years, and despite strengthening from Lunar New Year onwards, average Handysize and Supramax index earnings for the full year were 5% and 10% below 2024 levels respectively.

Our core business contributed US$117.2 million before overheads, with average Handysize and Supramax daily time-charter equivalent (“TCE”) earnings of US$11,490 and US$12,850 per day respectively. While down 11% and 6% year on year, our Handysize TCEs continued to outperform the BHSI 38k dwt tonnage-adjusted index by US$910 per day or 9% and our Supramax TCEs outperformed the BSI 58k dwt index by US$1,220 per day or 10% – despite the market strengthening over most of the year and the usual lag between market rates at the time of fixing and the period in which revenue is recognised. Complementing our core business, our operating activity contributed US$22.9 million before overheads – up 32% year on year – corresponding to a margin of US$820 per operating day. This equates to increasing our core business’ outperformance by 11% for Handysize and 16% for Supramax, representing a valuable extra contribution to our group results by providing a service to our customers even when our core ships are unavailable.

In line with our dividend policy and supported by our strong balance sheet and disciplined capital management, we have committed to distribute a total of US$90.5 million in value to our shareholders for 2025. This comprises total dividends declared for the year of US$50.5 million and share buybacks completed during the year of US$40 million, and is equivalent to about 179% of net profit excluding vessel disposal gains.

Total shareholder return was 46%, driven by dividends paid in 2025 and a strong increase in our share price over the year. The Board recommends a final dividend of HK6.0 cents per share, bringing total dividends for 2025 to 100% of net profit for the full year, excluding vessel disposal gains. With effect from 2026, the Company’s amended dividend policy is to pay dividends of 50% of annual net profit, excluding vessel disposal gains, increasing up to 100% of net profit (also excluding vessel disposal gains) when the Company is in a net cash position at year end. The Board may decide to make additional distributions in the form of special dividends and/or share buybacks. We completed our 2025 share buyback programme in December 2025 after repurchasing and cancelling 150.7 million shares for a total consideration of approximately US$40 million. With strong liquidity and cash flow, buying our shares at a discount to the prevailing market value of our assets served as a good way to enhance returns for our shareholders – more so than acquiring vessels at prevailing market prices. The Board has for the third consecutive year approved a new share buyback programme of up to US$40 million in 2026. After completing our share buyback programme and US$116.4 million of capital expenditure in 2025, the Company remains debt free on a net basis with a net cash position of US$134 million and available committed liquidity of US$756 million as of 31 December 2025.

In 2025, dry bulk demand faced a mixed landscape shaped by macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitically impacted trade flows. Global dry bulk trade volumes decreased by about 2% year on year, whereas tonne-mile demand remained level due to longer average voyage distances–driven by the growing long-haul bauxite trade from Guinea to China, a surge in China’s exports of semiprocessed goods to Atlantic emerging markets, and continued disruption in the Red Sea and consequent rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope. Minor bulks and grains provided support with a 1% increase in volumes and 4% increase in tonne-mile demand, mainly due to China’s exports of steel, cement and fertilisers and its imports of minor metal ores and concentrates.”

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