Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA) reported Q2 EPS of $0.04, $0.02 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.06. Revenue for the quarter came in at $9.75 million versus the consensus estimate of $12.49 million.

Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented:

“In the second quarter of 2018, we achieved a significant milestone in executing our strategy by completing the spin-off of six of our drybulk vessels into EuroDry Ltd., a shipping company also listed on NASDAQ. We are pleased to see that our shareholders benefited by having the market value of their combined EuroDry Ltd. and Euroseas holdings increase by more than 40% as a result of the spin-off. Separately, we sold the only remaining drybulk vessel we owned and, thus, Euroseas has become the only publicly listed company focused on the feeder containership sector.

During the second quarter, the containership market continued its recovery. Although charter rates peaked in early May and have softened since, they remain at levels noticeably higher than their respective periods of last year. Expectations for continued economic growth across many developed and developing countries and low levels of orderbook support our guarded optimism that charter rates, especially for feeder vessels, will further improve in the latter part of the year and in 2019, provided that U.S. induced trade wars do not escalate significantly. Thus, we have been fixing our vessels that open up for recharter for periods between 3-12 months at profitable levels but also aiming to have staggered renewal periods to be able to participate further in the strengthening market which we anticipate.

“We remain focused at growing Euroseas to a significant publicly listed consolidating platform for the feeder containership sector. We continuously evaluate investment opportunities of either individual vessels or fleets that could be accretive to our shareholders.”

Tasos Aslidis, Chief Financial Officer of Euroseas commented: “The results of the second quarter of 2018 reflect the improving levels of the containership markets compared to the same period of 2017.

“Adjusted EBITDA during the second quarter of 2018 was $2.4 million versus $0.6 million in the second quarter of last year. As of June 30, 2018, our outstanding debt (excluding the unamortized loan fees) was $32.7 million versus restricted and unrestricted cash of $13.6 million. As of the same date, our scheduled debt repayments over the next 12 months amounted to about $11.8 million (excluding the unamortized loan fees) of which $7.9 million is a balloon payment for one of our loans which we expect to be able to refinance.

“Total daily vessel operating expenses, including management fees, general and administrative expenses but excluding drydocking costs, averaged $6,278 per vessel per day during the second quarter of 2018 as compared to $6,220 per vessel per day for the same quarter of last year, and $6,543 per vessel per day for the first half of 2018 as compared to $6,055 per vessel per day for the same period of 2017, reflecting a 0.9% and 6.4% increase, respectively, which is attributed to the different composition our fleet during the periods. As always, we want to emphasize that cost control remains a key component of our strategy. We are in compliance with all our loan covenants.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Euroseas Ltd. (ESEA) click here.