Greeks occupy the bottom ten spots in the latest of a regular corporate governance poll carried by investment bank Wells Fargo and its equity analyst Michael Webber.
Webber has been through 56 listed shipping companies in compiling his twice-a-year corporate governance list, and once again George Economou’s DryShips lies rock bottom. DryShips is joined by StealthGas, Danaos, Tsakos Energy Navigation, Safe Bulkers, Diana Shipping, Dynagas, Aegean Marine Petroleum and Costamare at the bottom of the scorecard, which is now in its fifth edition.
At the top is Gary Vogel’s Eagle Bulk, which beat out the previous winner Avance Gas.
Webber used data in his latest report to highlight how shipping companies with the best corporate governance were also the ones offering the best returns. The top 14 companies on his list outperformed the other 42 by 21% over the past year and 60% over the past five years while the bottom 14 underperformed the rest by 24% over the past year and 21% over the past five years.
“We believe there is no longer a place in the public shipping markets for companies that do not prioritize strong corporate governance and capital stewardship. We believe the data is clear, the evolution is obvious, and the market’s verdict is unambiguous – decided long before we began publishing this scorecard,” Webber wrote.
