Ardmore Shipping (NYSE: ASC) reported Q1 EPS of $0.20, $0.06 better than the analyst estimate of $0.14. Revenue for the quarter came in at $65.19 million versus the consensus estimate of $39.21 million.

Anthony Gurnee, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"That the tanker market is achieving record-high charter rates is no source of satisfaction given the cause: the coronavirus pandemic, with its human toll and economic impact. Our principal concern is for the well-being of our staff ashore and afloat; in particular we want to thank all seafarers regardless of company or sector for their dedication and professionalism during these difficult times.

Much attention has been on the crude tanker market, in particular on the impact of higher cargo volumes, floating storage, and the resulting extraordinarily high rates achieved. More recently those conditions have arrived for the product tanker market and we believe they may be more persistent, potentially for many months, as the physical oil market continues its extreme gyrations around demand and supply.

In particular, if and when the oil market reaches max capacity for shore oil storage, we may enter a new and potentially more volatile phase of the tanker market, and if and when oil demand rebounds with an economic recovery sometime in the third quarter as the IEA are forecasting, we would expect more demand-driven volatility, potentially carrying into the winter.

To fully explain the impact of these events, we have to describe our recent chartering activity: last week we fixed a 55-day voyage at $72,000 per day, equivalent to a VLCC at $200,000+ per day. Our MR voyages in progress, representing roughly the last three weeks\' fixtures, now stands at $28,200 per day; lower than brokerage reports or the above fixture, but higher than anything we achieved before. If rates for our fleet averaged $28,200 per day for a full year, taking 1Q20 as a base, we estimate that our annual earnings would be $110 million or $3.30 per share; we are not forecasting any future results, but rather just contextualizing what is happening.

The fact the tanker market is soaring at a time when virtually every other industry is suffering is not illogical: shipping rates typically strengthen with volatility and disruption. We are saddened by the widespread suffering from the pandemic, but it should be understood that as an industry we respond to demand shifts through a market mechanism whose function is to optimally allocate transport (and storage) resources, often in surplus, sometimes in scarcity."

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Ardmore Shipping (ASC) click here.