Exhibit 99.1

 

Castor Maritime Inc. Reports Net Income of $33.7 Million for the Three Months Ended December 31, 2022 and a Record $118.6 Million Net Income for the Year Ended December 31, 2022. Spin-Off of Tanker Business Completed on March 7, 2023.

Limassol, Cyprus, March 8, 2023 – Castor Maritime Inc. (NASDAQ: CTRM) (“Castor” or the “Company”), a diversified global shipping company, today announced its results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022.

 

Highlights of the Fourth Quarter Ended December 31, 2022:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earnings Highlights of the Year Ended December 31, 2022:

 

 

 

 

 

Management Commentary:

 

Mr. Petros Panagiotidis, Chief Executive Officer of Castor commented:

 

“2022 was a record year for the net earnings of Castor aided, mainly, by the higher Aframax/LR2 and Handysize vessel earnings following the timely acquisitions we made in the tanker sector during 2021. We enjoyed strong cash flows as our operating cash flow more than doubled in 2022 compared to 2021 to $123.8 million and our balance sheet is strong, positioning us to further pursue our growth strategy in 2023.

The Aframax/LR2 and Handysize tanker segments further improved their performance these segments' with combined operating income for the twelve months of 2022 of $53.7 million (of which $26.1 million was generated in the fourth quarter of 2022), and the combined book value of these segments' assets was $157.5 million as of December 31, 2022, while our dry bulk segment continued to be robust with operating income for the twelve months of 2022 of $80.1 million (of which $12.4 million was generated in the fourth quarter of 2022), and the book value of its assets was $339.6 million as of December 31, 2022.

 

On March 7, 2023, we completed the previously announced spin-off of our Aframax/LR2 and Handysize tanker segments through the distribution of all of the common shares of Toro Corp. (“Toro”) to our shareholders of record as of February 22, 2023 (the “Spin-Off”). We believe the Spin-Off, which represents a substantial payment by Castor to its shareholders, is an important strategic step that will establish Toro as a ‘pure play’ tanker business at a time of increased focus on energy supplies and as the tanker shipping market enjoys strong supply demand fundamentals, as demonstrated especially in the second half of 2022.

 

Castor has retained 20 dry bulk and two container vessels, totaling a sizeable fleet of 22 vessels with an average age of 13.7 years enjoying a strong balance sheet. The dry bulk fundamentals remain healthy given the historically low order book and the improved outlook of the Chinese economy.”

 

Fourth Quarter ended December 31, 2022, and 2021 Results

 

Total vessel revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2022, increased to $69.3 million from $60.0 million in the same period of 2021. This variation was mainly driven by (i) the improved Aframax/LR2 and Handysize tanker charter rates and pool earnings that our vessels earned, and (ii) the increase in our Available Days (defined below) from 2,433 in the three months ended December 31, 2021, to 2,522 in the three months ended December 31, 2022, following the expansion of our fleet.

 

The decrease in voyage expenses to $4.9 million in the three months ended December 31, 2022, from $5.8 million in the same period of 2021, is mainly associated with decreased port costs and bunkers consumption for our Aframax/LR2 tankers, attributable to their gradual entry during the fourth quarter of 2022 into the V8 Plus Pool, a pool of Aframax tankers aged fifteen (15) years or more. When our vessels operate in pools, we incur no third-party brokerage commissions and port costs are handled by our pool operators.

 

The increase in vessel operating expenses by $1.3 million, from $14.8 million in the three months ended December 31, 2021 to $16.1 million in the same period of 2022, as well as the increase in vessels’ depreciation and amortization costs by $1.5 million, from $5.5 million in the three months ended December 31, 2021 to $7.0 million in the same period of 2022, mainly reflect the increase in our Ownership Days following the expansion of our fleet.

 

General and administrative expenses in the three months ended December 31, 2022, amounted to $2.6 million, whereas, in the same period of 2021 general and administrative expenses totaled to $1.2 million. This increase stemmed from higher corporate fees primarily due to the Toro Spin-Off and a higher fee paid to Castor Ships, our manager, following entry into an amended and restated master management agreement with Castor Ships with effect from July 1, 2022.

 

Management fees in the three months ended December 31, 2022, amounted to $2.5 million, whereas in the same period of 2021, management fees totaled $2.2 million. This increase in management fees is mainly due to the increase in our Ownership Days for which our managers charge us a daily management fee, stemming from the expansion of our fleet and the aforementioned amendments to our management agreements with Castor Ships.

 

During the three months ended December 31, 2022, we incurred net interest costs and finance costs amounting to $1.9 million compared to $1.1 million during the same period in 2021. The increase is due to our higher weighted average interest rate, as well as the increase in our weighted average indebtedness, during the three months ended December 31, 2022, as compared with the same period of 2021.

 

Equity update

 

From January 1, 2022 to date, no issuances of common shares have taken place. As of March 6, 2023, we had 94,610,088 common shares issued and outstanding.

 

Liquidity/ Financing/ Cash flow update

Our consolidated cash position (including our restricted cash) as of December 31, 2022 increased by $108.9 million to $152.3 million, as compared with our cash position on December 31, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2022, our cash position improved mainly as a result of: (i) $123.8 million of net operating cash flows generated, (ii) $12.6 million of net proceeds from the sale of M/T Wonder Arcturus to an unaffiliated third-party buyer and (iii) net financing cash inflows of $76.5 million following our entry into two secured loan facilities in January 2022 and November 2022. During the year ended December 31, 2022 we used $76.4 million to fund the acquisitions of the M/V Magic Callisto, M/V Ariana A, M/V Gabriela A and other capital expenditures relating to our fleet, whereas $27.5 million were used for scheduled principal repayments on our debt.

 

As of December 31, 2022, our total debt, gross of unamortized deferred loan fees, was $153.7 million of which $32.5 million is repayable within one year, as compared to $103.8 million of gross total debt as of December 31, 2021.

 

Completion of the tanker business Spin-Off

 

On March 7, 2023, we completed our previously announced Spin-Off of our tanker fleet comprising one Aframax, five Aframax/LR2 and two Handysize tankers. In the Spin-Off distribution, Castor shareholders received one common share of Toro for every ten Castor common shares held at the close of business on February 22, 2023. Additional information about Toro and the Spin-Off transaction can be found in the Toro registration statement filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on Form 20-F, which is available at www.sec.gov.

 

Fleet Employment Status (as of March 6, 2023) During the three months ended December 31, 2022, we operated on average 28.8 vessels earning a Daily TCE Rate⁽²⁾ of $25,559 as compared to an average of 26.8 vessels earning a Daily TCE Rate⁽²⁾ of $22,299 during the same period in 2021. Our current employment profile is presented immediately below.

 

 

 

 

 

Financial Results Overview (Consolidated):

 

Set forth below are selected financial data for each of the three months and year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively:

 

 

APPENDIX A

 

CASTOR MARITIME INC.

 

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

 

(Expressed in U.S. Dollars—except for number of share data)

 

CASTOR MARITIME INC.

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(Expressed in U.S. Dollars—except for number of share data)

CASTOR MARITIME INC.

Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

 

 

 

(2)

All comparative numbers of share and earnings per share amounts in these unaudited condensed financial statements have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the Company’s one-for-ten reverse stock split effected on May 28, 2021.

APPENDIX B

 

Non-GAAP Financial Information

 

Daily Time Charter (“TCE”) Rate. The Daily Time Charter Equivalent Rate (“Daily TCE Rate”) is a measure of the average daily revenue performance of a vessel. We calculate Daily TCE Rate by dividing total vessel revenues (time charter and/or voyage charter revenues, and/or pool revenues, net of charterers’ commissions), less voyage expenses, by the number of Available Days during that period. Under a time charter, the charterer pays substantially all the vessel voyage related expenses. However, we may incur voyage related expenses when positioning or repositioning vessels before or after the period of a time or other charter, during periods of commercial waiting time or while off-hire during dry docking or due to other unforeseen circumstances. Under voyage charters, the majority of voyage expenses are generally borne by us, whereas for vessels in a pool, such expenses are handled by the pool operator. The Daily TCE Rate is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP (non-GAAP measure) and should not be considered as an alternative to any measure of financial performance presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. However, the Daily TCE Rate is a standard shipping industry performance measure used primarily to compare period-to-period changes in a company’s performance and, management believes that the Daily TCE Rate provides meaningful information to our investors since it compares daily net earnings generated by our vessels irrespective of the mix of employment (i.e., time charter, voyage charter, pool agreement or other) under which our vessels are employed between the periods while it further assists our management in making decisions regarding the deployment and use of our vessels and in evaluating our financial performance. Our calculation of the Daily TCE Rates may not be comparable to that reported by other companies. The following table reconciles the calculation of the Daily TCE Rate for our fleet to Total vessel revenues for the periods presented (amounts in U.S. dollars, except for Available Days):

EBITDA. We define EBITDA as earnings before interest and finance costs (if any), net of interest income, taxes (when incurred), depreciation and amortization of deferred dry-docking costs. EBITDA is used as a supplemental financial measure by management and external users of financial statements to assess our operating performance. We believe that EBITDA assists our management by providing useful information that increases the comparability of our operating performance from period to period and against the operating performance of other companies in our industry that provide EBITDA information. This increased comparability is achieved by excluding the potentially disparate effects between periods or companies of interest, other financial items, depreciation and amortization and taxes, which items are affected by various and possibly changing financing methods, capital structure and historical cost basis and which items may significantly affect net income between periods. We believe that including EBITDA as a measure of operating performance benefits investors in (a) selecting between investing in us and other investment alternatives and (b) monitoring our ongoing financial and operational strength. EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, does not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, operating income, cash flow from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. EBITDA as presented below may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. The following table reconciles EBITDA to Net income, the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, for the periods presented:

 

Reconciliation of EBITDA to Net Income

 

 

 

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts. We are including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “believe”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “project”, “plan”, “potential”, “will”, “may”, “should”, “expect”, “pending” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management’s examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these forward-looking statements, including these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward‐looking statements include our business strategy, shipping markets conditions and trends, the rapid growth of our fleet, our relationships with our current and future service providers and customers, our ability to borrow under existing or future debt agreements or to refinance our debt on favorable terms and our ability to comply with the covenants contained therein, our continued ability to enter into time or voyage charters with existing and new customers and to re-charter our vessels upon the expiry of the existing charters, changes in our operating and capitalized expenses, our ability to fund future capital expenditures and investments in the acquisition and refurbishment of our vessels, instances of off-hire, the effects of the Spin-Off, future sales of our securities in the public market and our ability to maintain compliance with applicable listing standards, volatility in our share price, potential conflicts of interest involving members of our board of directors, senior management and certain of our service providers that are related parties, general domestic and international political conditions or events (including “trade wars”, global public health threats and major outbreaks of disease), changes in seaborne and other transportation, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, and the impact of adverse weather and natural disasters. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward‐looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.

CONTACT DETAILS

For further information please contact:

Petros Panagiotidis

Chief Executive Officer & Chief Financial Officer

Castor Maritime Inc.

Email: ir@castormaritime.com

Media Contact:

Kevin Karlis

Capital Link

Email: castormaritime@capitallink.com

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