Aegean Reports Another Big Jump in Bunker Sales Volume

Sales volume for the 3 months ended September 30, 2016 was 4,258,954 metric tonnes.

Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. [NYSE: ANW] (Aegean) Wednesday reported another big jump in bunker sales volumes for 3Q 2016 to make it the fourth consecutive quarter with more than 4 million metric tonnes (mt) sold.

Sales volume for the 3 months ended September 30, 2016 was 4,258,954 mt, an increase of 25.8 percent compared to the 3,386,511 mt sold in the same period in 2015.

"We delivered another quarter of solid results against a backdrop of slowness in the container segment and volatile commodity markets. Despite these headwinds, we continue to achieve profitability and strong volumes with our fourth consecutive quarter of selling more than 4 million metric tons of bunker fuel," commented Aegean President E. Nikolas Tavlarios.

"Our diversified platform, recent expansion in new attractive markets and our back-to-back trading businesses contributed to our growth during the quarter."

In terms of financial performance, Aegean reported total revenue of $1.1 billion for the third quarter of 2016, an increase of 5.4 percent compared to the same period in 2015, which the bunker supplier attributed primarily to a moderate increase in oil prices.

Gross Profit increased by 4.7 percent to $88.4 million for the period, compared to $84.4 million in the same period in 2015.

"We are proud of what we have created and our ability to serve more customers across our global footprint as a leader in the physical supply and marketing of marine fuel," said Tavlarios.

Spyros Gianniotis, Aegean's Chief Financial Officer, noted that Aegean has sold five non-core vessels year to date, including two in the third quarter, which he says will reduce operating costs by $9.5 million annually.

"We will continue to evaluate our markets and redeploy capital to opportunities we believe will generate the best return," he added.

In September Aegean announced that it had renewed its $1 billion Secured Global Borrowing Base Multicurrency Revolving Credit Facility, as well as its $250 million Secured U.S. Borrowing Base Revolving Credit Facility.