Tanker market boom propels OMI’s results

Tanker market boom propels OMI’s results    Stamford, Conn.-based tanker shipowner OMI Corp. is headed for a record net income of “at least” $237.2 million this year, as the company reaps the benefits of the tanker-shipping boom.
   In 2003, the New York Stock Exchange-listed company had net earnings of $76.5 million.
   OMI also expects its fourth quarter net income to be “at least $100 million,” or $1.10 per share. The forecast is ahead of Wall Street’s average fourth-quarter earnings estimates of 97 cents a share for the company, the Dow Jones newswire reported.
   If achieved, the net profit predicted by OMI would be more than six times the $14.6 million earnings reported for the fourth quarter of 2003.
   OMI, whose stock price has more than doubled in the past year, said Monday the predicted fourth-quarter income does not include a “small net gain” on the sale in that quarter of the company’s last two single-hull vessels.
   OMI’s rates for “Suezmax” tankers have averaged about $84,500 per day for the 80 percent of the days booked in the current quarter. Its expected earnings are based on an assumed rate of $97,000 per day for the unbooked portion of the quarter and on no new occurrences or events which affect the company’s operations.
   OMI’s fleet comprises 42 vessels, including 15 “Suezmaxes” and 25 product carriers, aggregating about 3.5 million deadweight tons.