Sovcomflot hit bottom in Q1, expects recovery - CEO

ST. PETERSBURG. June 25 (Interfax) - Sovcomflot's (SCF) operating results hit bottom in the first quarter of 2025 after the imposition of tough sanctions in January and the Russian shipping company has "cautious optimism" for its second-quarter financing results, SCF chief executive Igor Tonkovidov said in an interview with Interfax at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"The low point in the first quarter has been passed and current operational accounting data give us reason to talk about the beginning of a recovery in operating results. I want to stress that even amid total sanctions pressure the company showed a near-zero net loss on an adjusted bases. We are in stable financial condition considering the balanced structure of capital and high reserve of liquidity," Tonkovidov said.

"We are maintaining cautious optimism regarding results. Being virtually at the end of the reporting period, we can, indeed, talk about an emerging positive trend in terms of our financial results," he said.

The United States Treasury Department announced sanctions against 69 SCF vessels in January, including 54 tankers for shipping crude oil and oil products and four liquefied natural gas tankers.

SCF reported a net loss to IFRS of $393 million for the first quarter of 2025 compared to a profit of $216 million a year earlier. EBITDA totalled $105 million in the quarter and time charter equivalent revenue fell to $222 million. The company had an adjusted net loss of 104 million rubles ($1 million) compared to an adjusted net profit (the base for dividends) of 18.9 billion rubles a year earlier.

SCF, which specializes in shipping LNG, oil and oil products, is one of the largest tanker fleet operators in the world. The Russian government owns 82.8% of the company, the free float is 15.6% and quasi-treasury stock amounts to about 1.6%.