Nordic Shipholding announces divestment of its chemical tanker operations
On 27 March 2012 Nordic Shipholding and Triton reached a conditional agreement on the divestment of the company’s chemical tanker operations for a price of USD 30 million subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting on 20 April 2012, said in the company's press release.In connection with the sale, the Company was granted a 12 month extension of the moratorium until 31 March 2013, Following the divestment of the chemical tanker business the employees, commercial and financial management have been outsourced to Tankers Inc. Holdings A/S. Subsequently, the Company has focused on adjusting the operation and corporate structure including liquidating dormant companies, the company has been in a close dialogue with its banks in 2012 and several potential solutions to the Company’s financial problems have been considered. However, it has been agreed that:
The banks will defer the instalments and loan covenants by three months until 30 June 2013, As a consequence of this the impairment test performed is based on the average value from three independent ship brokers. Hence the Company has written-down the value of its vessels by USD 37.7 million to the estimated market level of USD 123 million, Accordingly, the share capital is lost, and the debt is reclassified as short-term, The Company and the Company's banks will strive to contract with a new investor within the next three months, and In case the search for a new investor proves futile, the Company's banks desire to carry out a controlled winding up of the Company.
Nordic Shipholding realised a total loss for 2012 of USD 64.3 million, including loss of USD 9.3 million from discontinuing operations, which is in line with the latest expectations, TCE revenue from continuing operations ended at USD 26.4 million while EBITDA was USD 6.5 million and equity is negative by USD 37.4 million, which is in line with latest expectations, and
The Board of Directors considers the financial results to be unsatisfactory, but as expected in light of the prevailing market situation.
