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Forward contract cover locked in for 93% of 2025 days and 75% of 2026 days
Annualized dividend increased to $2.10 per Class A Common Share
Athens, Greece - May 19, 2025
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First Quarter of 2025 Highlights and Other Recent Developments
• 1Q 2025 operating revenue of $191.0 million; up 6.3% on 1Q 2024.
• 1Q 2025 net income available to common shareholders of $121.0 million, or $3.40 Earnings per Share (EPS); up 35.2% on 1Q 2024.
• 1Q 2025 normalized net income3 of $94.3 million, or $2.65 normalized EPS up 5.8% on 1Q 2024.
• 1Q 2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $132.3 million; up 5.5% on 1Q 2024.
• Added $352 million of contracted revenues during 1Q 2025, bringing total contracted revenues as of March 31, 2025 to $1.87 billion, over a weighted average remaining duration of 2.3 years.
• Completed the sales of Tasman (5,900 TEU, built 2000), Akiteta (2,200 TEU, built 2002), and Keta (2,200 TEU, built 2003) for an aggregate gain of $28.5 million; the vessels were delivered to their new owners in 1Q 2025.
• Took delivery, in January 2025, of Czech, the fourth in a series of four high-reefer, ECO-9,000 TEU containerships contracted for purchase with charters attached in 4Q 2024 ("the Newly Acquired Vessels").
• Agreed, in March 2025, to an $85.0 million Credit Facility with UBS to fully prepay certain of our outstanding credit facilities which would otherwise have matured between May 2026 and July 2026. The new loan is priced at SOFR + 2.15%, matures in the second quarter of 2028, and brings the weighted average cost of our debt to 3.99% and weighted average maturity of debt to 5.1 years.
• Declared a dividend of $0.525 per Class A common share for the first quarter of 2025, to be paid on or about June 3, 2025 to common shareholders of record as of May 23, 2025. Paid a dividend of $0.45 per Class A common share for the fourth quarter of 2024 on March 6, 2025.
• Approximately $33.0 million of capacity remains available under our opportunistic share repurchase authorization.
George Youroukos, our Executive Chairman, stated: "While geopolitical factors loom large throughout the transportation industry and the wider economy, we have managed to continue to build our charter coverage at attractive rates. The US tariff situation remains dynamic and, as we are all seeing play out in real time, the initial impact is disruptive to supply chains. However, the breadth and nature of future ramifications are difficult to predict, making flexibility, optionality, and agility more important than ever. Against this backdrop, we have seen continued demand for our mid-sized and smaller container ships from the liner operators as they look to maximize flexibility in their networks to accommodate changing cargo flows. In addition to the continued commercial appetite for our ships, we are pleased to see top-tier banks underline their confidence in Global Ship Lease by supporting our most recent successful re-financing. Moments of pronounced uncertainty and volatility have the potential to yield opportunities with outsized returns for a focused, disciplined, and well-capitalized shipowner; and it is our intention to be precisely that."
Thomas Lister, our Chief Executive Officer, stated: "Uncertainty, volatility, disruption, and cyclicality present both challenges and opportunities in shipping. In order to rise to those challenges and pounce on the opportunities, however, a combination of resilience and optionality is key; and we have focused our efforts over the last several years on building both. Our ships are operationally and commercially flexible and are not captive to any single trade or region; our balance sheet is in great shape, with financial leverage below 1x; our debt has a weighted average cost of 3.99% and a weighted average maturity runway of 5.1 years; and we have available cash dry powder for opportunistic purchases and fleet renewal. Meanwhile, we have continued to reinforce our forward contract cover, which now stands at just under $1.9 billion over a weighted average period of 2.3 years, we have grown our quarterly earnings per share to $2.65 (normalized), and we are increasing the return of capital to our shareholders by upsizing our quarterly dividend to $0.525 per common share ($2.10 per share, annualized). In short, our strategy and business model continue to deliver on our mission to provide investors with a stable and liquid platform from which to build shareholder value by participating in the cyclicality and upside volatility of our industry, while mitigating exposure to downside risk."
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About Global Ship Lease
Global Ship Lease is a leading independent owner of containerships with a diversified fleet of mid-sized and smaller containerships. Incorporated in the Marshall Islands, Global Ship Lease commenced operations in December 2007 with a business of owning and chartering out containerships under fixed-rate charters to top tier container liner companies. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2008.
Our fleet of 69 vessels as of March 31, 2025 had an average age weighted by TEU capacity of 17.5 years. 39 ships are wide-beam Post-Panamax.
As of March 31, 2025, the average remaining term of the Company's charters, to the mid-point of redelivery, including options under the Company's control and other than if a redelivery notice has been received, was 2.3 years on a TEU-weighted basis. Contracted revenue on the same basis was $1.87 billion. Contracted revenue was $2.37 billion, including options under charterers' control and with latest redelivery date, representing a weighted average remaining term of 3.0 years.
Global Ship Lease press release
