New York-listed Scorpio Tankers is continuing to release its fleet out of sale-and-leaseback debt with four more ship repurchases.
The Monaco-based product tanker giant said in its quarterly earnings report it had given notice to exercise the purchase options on two MRs STI Gramercy and STI Queens and a pair of LR2s STI Oxford and STI Selatar.
The ships financed via AVIC Leasing are expected to change ownership in the second quarter of 2024, and reduce Scorpio Tanker’s debt by $102.4m.
In January, the Emanuele Lauro-led company bought five MRs out of lease financing, slashing debt by about $61m. Another most recent series of vessel repurchases took place in December last year when 13 ships were lined up to be freed of debt or lease obligations.
Scorpio Tankers counts a fleet of 111 ships. The company ended 2023 with a net profit of nearly $547m, or $10.44 basic and $10.03 diluted earnings per share. It declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.40 per common share on Wednesday, to be paid on March 27 to all shareholders of record as of March 8.
