SFL - Q3 2023

Transcript

Sander Borgli (VP of Investor Relations)

Welcome to SFL's third quarter 2023 conference call. My name is Sander Borgli, and I'm an analyst in SFL. Our CEO, Ole Hjertaker, will start the call by briefly going through the highlights of the quarter. Following that, our Chief Operating Officer, Trym Sjølie, will comment on vessel performance matters before our CFO, Aksel Olesen, will take us through the financials. The call will be concluded by opening up for questions, and I will explain the procedure to do so before the Q&A session. Before we begin our presentation, I would like to note that this conference call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, estimates, or similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

These statements are based on our current plans and expectations and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause future activities and results of operations to be materially different from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, conditions in the shipping, offshore, and credit markets. You should therefore not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Please refer to our filings within the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of risks and uncertainties, which may have a direct bearing on our operating results and our financial condition. Then, I will leave the word over to our CEO, Ole Hjertaker, with highlights for the third quarter.

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Thank you, Sander. The charter revenues were $214 million in the quarter, which is up 23% from the previous quarter, primarily due to the drilling rig, Hercules, now back in service. The EBITDA equivalent cash flow in the quarter was approximately $130 million, which was also higher than the second quarter, and over the last 12 months, the EBITDA equivalent cash flow has been $485 million in total. The net income came in at around $29 million in the quarter, or $0.23 per share. The net income was impacted by some one-off items in the quarter, including gains on a vessel sale in the third quarter and some mark-to-market effects.

This was offset by two tankers that were dry docked in the quarter, and an on-schedule off-hire of around 14 days on the jackup rig, Linus, due to repair works on the top drive, with associated higher OpEx in the quarter. In line with the improved results and commitment to return value to our shareholders, we're also increasing our quarterly dividend to $0.25 per share. We have now paid dividends every quarter since our inception in 2004, and this has accumulated to $30 per share, or more than $2.6 billion in total. And we have a robust charter backlog supporting continued dividend capacity going forward. Our fixed rate backlog stands at approximately $3.4 billion, and importantly, the backlog is concentrated around long-term charters to very strong end users.

This transition has been gradual, as we have changed the business model from a maritime leasing company to maritime infrastructure provider over the last 10 years. This includes switching from primarily bareboat charters or financing arrangements to long-term time charters to end users. I would note that the backlog figure excludes revenues from the vessels traded in the short-term market and also excludes future profit share optionality, which we have seen can contribute significantly to our net income. In September, we took delivery of the first of our four dual fuel car carrier new builds. The vessel, named Emden, will go on charter to Volkswagen Group for 10 years, together with a sister vessel, and we will deliver the vessels to Volkswagen in Europe.

The short-term market is red piping hot right now, and we have secured a very attractive interim charter from the shipyard in Asia to Europe, generating around $8.5 million in EBITDA per vessel over a period of only two months. In addition to the new builds, we also have two existing vessels on charter to Volkswagen that have been extended for an additional three years firm, plus extension options, generating approximately $23.5 million in EBITDA per vessel per year. We have a very close business relationship with Maersk Line, with 17 vessels on long-term charters. Maersk Line recently exercised an option to extend a time charter for a 9,500 TEU vessel until mid-2025. This is at a higher rate than the current charter rate, adding $13 million to the charter backlog.

In addition, we have a profit share relating to scrubber benefits on that vessel, where our share currently is 70%. In the third quarter, we also fully repaid a Norwegian kroner-denominated bond loan issued in 2018, where there was for $48 million remaining at maturity. This was paid down from our cash balance. This loan was originally the equivalent of approximately $85 million, and the rest had already been repurchased opportunistically in the market. We have recently raised significant amounts in the new debt funding at very attractive terms in Asia and don't see a need to refinance the recently repaid bond loan with new financing in the near term. After the extensive SPS and upgrade works to our harsh environment, semi-submersible Hercules, in the first half of 2023, the rig has been in Canada and drilled a well for ExxonMobil.

This was finalized in September, and since then, the rig has mobilized to Namibia with a stopover in Las Palmas, and is scheduled to start drilling for Galp Energia in Namibia next week. This is for two wells, plus an optional well testing, estimated to take around four months, including mobilization. When we calculate average day rates, we include mobilization of the rig from Las Palmas and back again, and this is compensated by the customer. This started in early October, and the estimated contract value is approximately $50 million, implying a day rate of approximately $435,000 per day for the period. After Namibia, the rig will move back to Canada to commence a contract with Equinor.

The contract is for one well, plus one optional well, and the duration for the firm contract period is six to seven months, including transit to and from Canada, implying a day rate of approximately $520,000 per day for the period. The rig will then be open for new contracts from the fourth quarter 2024 onwards. This rig is one of only a handful harsh environment, ultra-deepwater, semi-submersible rigs available, and market analysts are positive to long-term market prospects based on recent tender activity and a tighter supply-demand balance. With that, I will give the word over to our Chief Operating Officer, Trym Sjølie.

Trym Sjølie (COO)

Thank you, Ole. Over the years, we have changed both our fleet composition and structure, and we are now a maritime infrastructure company with 73 maritime assets in our portfolio. Our backlog from owned and managed shipping assets stands at $3.4 billion. The current fleet is made up of 15 dry bulk vessels, 36 container ships, 13 tankers, two drilling rigs, and seven car carriers, where four are on the water and three are under construction in China. The remaining newbuildings are scheduled for delivery over the next seven months, starting in November. We have evolved from having a single asset class chartered to one single customer to a diversified fleet and multiple counterparties.

The fleet composition has varied from originally 100% tankers via majority offshore assets 10 years ago, to container vessels now being the largest segment, with just under 50% of the backlog. Most of our vessels are on long-term charters, but we have, over the last 10 years, completely transformed the company's operating model and have moved away from financing type bareboat charters and instead assumed full operating exposure. This makes us relevant for large industrial end users like Volkswagen, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and others. In the third quarter, 94% of charter revenues from all assets came from time charter contracts and only 6% from bareboats or dry leases. In addition to fixed-rate charter revenues, we've had significant contribution to cash flow from profit share arrangements over time, both relating to charter rates and cost savings on fuel.

Last 12 months, the aggregate profit share has been more than $16 million. Out of the current 73 vessels, we have 13 on bareboat type contracts and 60 on time charter and spot. Our operation is quite complex, with vessels across multiple sectors, and we have our own commercial operation out of Oslo, as well as operational management out of Singapore and Stavanger. Our OpEx philosophy is to continuously invest in our fleet to optimize the vessel's performance and maintain a high level of service to our customers. This includes investing to minimize off-hire, as well as investments to increase cargo carrying capacity and reducing energy consumption. This has become increasingly important with the implementation of IMO Carbon Intensity Indicator, which will impact vessels' operational profile, including routing and speed. EU ETS is also another hot issue becoming live from next year.

In Q3, we had a total of over 6,300 operating days, defined as calendar days, less technical off-hire and dry, and dry dockings. Three vessels have been dry docked in the quarter, and our overall utilization across the the shipping fleet was 99% in Q3 and 80.5% for the drilling rigs. For the rigs, as Ole explained, operating days are days on rate or in transit, covered by mobilization fees, less days off-hire and days spent in port, not on drilling rate. One of the key ESG targets for SFL is the reduction of carbon emissions on our fleet. Such a reduction can either be met by fleet renewal in more efficient ships and with greener fuels, increased efficiency of existing fleet, or a combination of both.

As part of our fleet renewal program, we have four LNG dual fuel carriers under construction in China, of which one was delivered during the quarter, so three left. These vessels are among the most modern and efficient ships in the car carrier market. The hull has been improved and optimized with a new hull form, with an S bow, as can be seen in the picture. And the LNG fuel system is of a high-pressure type, and the vessels are adapted for both ship-to-ship and port-to-ship LNG bunkering. In LNG mode, we expect a 25% lower carbon footprint per vehicle carried compared to a standard 6,500 CEU conventional PCTC. The vessels are also fitted with the shore connection for zero emissions operation in port.

And in addition to being able to carry EVs, the ships will also be able to carry hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The first ship, Emden, is on her first voyage from Asia to Europe under Hyundai Glovis, and she will be delivered to Volkswagen in about one week's time. And with that, I will give the word over to our CFO, Aksel Olesen, who will take us through the financial highlights of the quarter.

Aksel C. Olesen (CFO)

Thank you, Trym. On this slide, we are showing our pro forma illustration of cash flows for the third quarter. Please note that this is only a guideline to assess the company's performance, and it's not in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and also net of extraordinary and non-cash items. The company generated gross charter hire of approximately $214 million in the third quarter, including approximately $2.6 million of profit share, with approximately 94% of the revenue coming from our fixed charter rate backlog, which currently stands at $3.4 billion, providing us with strong stability on the cash flows going forward. In the third quarter, the container fleet generated gross charter hire of approximately $91 million, including approximately $2.6 million in profit share related to fuel savings on seven of our large container vessels.

During the quarter, we took delivery of the first of our four dual fuel LNG car carriers. With four car carriers on charter at the end of the quarter, our gross charter hire increased to approximately $9 million in the third quarter, compared to approximately $6 million in the second quarter. Our tanker fleet generated approximately $30 million in gross charter hire during the third quarter, compared to approximately $35 million in the previous quarter. During the quarter, two Supramax tankers were off-hire for a total of 46 days in connection with scheduled periodic dry dockings. These costs are expensed directly for our shipping fleet, and OpEx for the tankers in the quarters was therefore higher than normal. The company has 15 dry bulk car carriers, bulk carriers, which eight were employed on long-term charters during the quarter.

The vessels generated approximately $20 million in gross charter hire in the third quarter. Seven of these vessels were employed in the spot and short-term market and contributed approximately $6.2 million in net charter hire during the quarter, compared to approximately $7.2 million in the previous quarter. SFL owns two harsh environment drilling rigs, the jackup rig, Linus, and a semi-submersible rig, Hercules. During the third quarter, the rigs generated approximately $64 million in contract revenues, compared to approximately $19 million in the second quarter. The Linus is currently under long-term contract to ConocoPhillips Scandinavia until the end of 2028.

In the third quarter, the rig generated approximately $16.6 million in contract revenues, which is down from the approximately $19 million in the second quarter, as the rig was off-hire for approximately 16 days relating to an unscheduled repair of the top drive. Due to the repair works, the OpEx for the rig was also $2 million higher than budgeted for during the quarter. Hercules completed the drilling contract for ExxonMobil in Canada in September and has now been mobilized to Namibia, which is expected to commence a contract with Galp Energia shortly. During the quarter, the rig recorded approximately $48 million in contract revenues, as the mobilization fees paid by ExxonMobil and associated costs is recognized over the actual drilling period pursuant to U.S. GAAP. The same principle has been applied for the mobilization fees due after the drilling contract was completed.

Our operating and G&A expenses for the quarter was $86 million, compared to $68 million in the previous quarter, primarily due to Hercules being back in operation, scheduled dry dockings, and downtime and repair on the Linus. This summarizes to an adjusted EBITDA for approximately $130 million in the third quarter, compared to $109 million in the previous quarter. We then move on to the profit and loss statement as reported under U.S. GAAP. As we have described in previous earnings calls, our accounting statements are different from those of a traditional shipping company. And as our business strategy focuses on long-term charter contracts, a large part of our activities are classified as capital leasing. Therefore, a significant portion of our charter revenues are excluded from U.S. GAAP operating revenues.

This includes repayment of investment in sales type, direct financing leases, and leaseback assets, and revenues from entities classified as investment in associates for accounting purposes. The third quarter report total operating revenues according to U.S. GAAP for approximately $205 million, which is less than approximately $214 million of charter hire actually received for the reasons just mentioned. During the quarter, the company recorded profit share income of approximately $2.6 million from fuel savings on some of our large container vessels and a car carrier. As previously mentioned, the Hercules was back in operation during the third quarter and contributed with $48 million in contract revenue. Furthermore, this net result was impacted by non-recurring and non-cash items, including a gain from the sale of the Landbridge Wisdom for approximately $2 million.

A net positive mark-to-market effect from swaps of approximately $2.3 million, a positive mark-to-market effect from equity investments of $300,000, and a decrease of $300,000 on credit loss provisions. Due to corporate taxes and withholding taxes in Canada, the company also recorded approximately $2.3 million of taxes in the third quarter related to the Hercules. SFL also expects to pay similar types of customer taxes in Namibia. So overall, and according to U.S. GAAP, the company reported a net profit of approximately $29.3 million or $0.23 per share, compared to approximately $17 million or $0.13 per share in the previous quarter.

In terms of near-term outlook, we expect lower revenues for the Hercules in fourth quarter due to a long mobilization period from Canada to Namibia, where the rig is due to commence the contract to Galp Energia shortly. As mentioned previously, revenue from the Hercules will, due to U.S. GAAP accounting standards, be recognized only from the drilling commencement date, and hence mobilization fees will be allocated throughout the respective quarters of drilling operations. For our car carriers, revenues are set to increase as we have three new buildings delivering from Q4 to Q2, with the second vessel being delivered from the yard in China second half of November.

Following the handover to Volkswagen of the first and second new building during Q4 and Q2, the SFL Conductor and SFL Composer will continue the charters to Volkswagen for another two years, plus optional years, with an estimated EBITDA contribution of $23.5 million per vessel per year. Moving on to the balance sheet. At quarter end, SFL had approximately $118 million of cash and cash equivalents. Furthermore, the company had marketable securities of approximately $6.2 million, based on market prices at the end of the quarter. During the quarter, the company fully redeemed a NOK bond, of which $49 million was outstanding, with cash on balance sheet.

The outstanding capital expenditure of approximately $136 million on our three car carriers under construction has been fully financed by $194 million of net senior Yoco financing, yet to be drawn. During the quarter, the company redelivered the Landbridge Wisdom, following a declaration of a purchase option. The sale had a $10 million positive cash effect after repayment of secured debt relating to the vessel, and a corresponding book gain of approximately $2 million has been recorded in the third quarter. So based on Q3 numbers, the company had a book equity ratio of approximately 28.4%. Then to conclude, the company has delivered another strong quarter with growth in both revenues and EBITDA. The board has declared a 79 consecutive cash dividend, to increase the dividend to $0.25 per share.

This represents a dividend yield of approximately 9% based on the closing share price last Friday. The company has a strong balance sheet and liquidity position. So far in 2023, the company has secured new financing arrangements of more than $1 billion, and we recently repaid a NOK bond with cash on balance sheet. Furthermore, our three new buildings are fully financed with attractive long-term financing, which will free up additional liquidity upon delivery. Our fixed charter rate backlog currently stands at $3.4 billion, which provides us with strong visibility on our cash flow going forward. And finally, with the Hercules now back in operation, and delivery of our new building car carriers, together with new contracts for existing vessels, this is strong revenue generation in the quarters to come as vessels are delivered and new charters commencing.

With that, let me conclude the presentation and move on to the Q&A session.

Sander Borgli (VP of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Aksel. We will now open up for our Q&A session. For those of you who are following this presentation through Zoom, please use the Raise Hand function to ask a question. When your name is called out, please unmute your speaker to ask your question. Thank you.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director)

Yeah. Hey, guys, can you hear me?

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Oh, absolutely. Thank you.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director)

Yeah, hi. I couldn't find the raise hand function, so I figured I'd just hop in. This is Greg from Greg Lewis. Hey, hey, hey, all. How are you?

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Yeah. Hi, Greg.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director)

I had a few questions I was hoping we could walk through. You know, it was good to see the dividend increase. You know, and you know, I guess two things. One is, as you think about managing the trajectory of the dividend over the next, I don't know, one to two years, how should we think about balancing, you know, potential dividend growth and the drilling rigs? Just because, you know, it seems, you know, it's clearly a very cyclical industry. We're clearly in a strong part of the cycle, and those assets look like they're in a probable...

The Hercules looks like it's gonna be able to generate a lot of cash here, you know, over the next two to three years, but maybe not as, you know, it's definitely a more volatile asset than, say, your car carriers or container ships. So just trying to understand how you think about, you know, uses of cash from the Hercules as we recontract this over the next couple of years.

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Yeah, I appreciate that. I mean, the Hercules, as you mentioned, you know, we just spent quite a bit of money on that rig in the first and second quarter of the year, and when it was out of service. And now it's really only got started. So the charter rate in Canada, you know, that was fixed, you know, more than a year ago. So it was at a lower rate, so that charter rate should be mounting now as it is expected to start drilling in Namibia already next week. And the charter rate in Namibia is, you know, based on the... You know, if we include both mobilization to and from Namibia, and the drilling rate should be well above the drilling rate we had or the rate we had in Canada.

And then it's going back to Canada later next year for an even higher rate. And in fact, you know, the drilling rate we have on Hercules, it's the highest, you know, drilling rate, I would say, in this cycle to date. So this rig is a very capable unit, and customers are clearly willing to pay for the services. Of nature, you know, that market is a shorter-term charter market. So it's not- this is not a market where you normally get sort of 10, you know, eight, 10, you know, 15-year charters. It's typically shorter charters. And we have deliberately not been so keen on fixing it long-term because we see this market really building, and you don't really want to fix something at the low end of the cycle.

We think this is a cycle that has legs, and therefore we're holding back a little bit before we want to, what we say, look for really long-term charters on that unit. I think if we were to look at long-term charters for the unit, you would have to accept lower rates than what we are fixing it at currently. So that's one asset. Of course, it's a big asset, you could say. But also if you look at the history of that drilling rig, I mean, this is a drilling that used to be on charter to Seadrill. Seadrill ended up in two Chapter 11s.

You know, we were offered in the last round a very, you know, I would, in our minds, a very poor, call it, treatment in the restructuring. We decided to take it back, and I think, you know, I think we can be honest and say it's, it's been a really good decision from, from the company side to do that. Because returns we've had on this rig now with the rates we see is spectacularly better than the alternative would have been. But, you know, that, that is, that is the history and the setting around that rig. If you look at some of the other assets, look at the car carriers. That, I think it's sort of a segment. We used to have two vessels, then we ordered the four vessels, then we bought another vessel.

And then we have these, you know, quite spectacular, both, you know, the transportation lag, if you could call it that, on two of these vessels, you know, where we make, you know, more than 10% of construction costs just moving the vessel from Asia to Europe. So you have a lot of other bits and pieces here that's also generating a lot of cash flow. And then we have the rechartering of the two older vessels to Volkswagen, where we, you know, where we increased the dividend by, you know, times five compared to where it was originally. You know, simply because we own those assets, and we negotiated it, and Volkswagen seem to be quite happy with the service we provide them. So there is not...

The rig is one piece, but there are also other elements in our portfolio that is also adding. Of course, our mindset is, yes, our Principal objective in SFL is to return cash to shareholders. I mean, that's why we're here. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any point in having a company like SFL if we don't really, you know, do that over time. You know, it's been 79 quarters now, and we've always made money operationally every single quarter based on our distribution. So I think, you know, yeah, yes, you know, we are, I think that we are really just at the starting point in our minds of where we... You know, in terms of cash flow from some of these assets.

So, you know, hopefully there is more, you know, there is more dividend potential also going forward.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director)

Yeah, again, super helpful. Thank you for that. I did want to ask kind of a bigger picture question. You know, clearly across the more conventional shipping space, where, you know, it's definitely a market that you continue to look at and, you know, have assets in. As you know, SOFR's gone up, spreads have gone up, you know, how has that changed the potential opportunities for SFL? I.e., you know, I'm talking to some shipowners, and they're looking at 8%, 9% or even higher borrowing costs. Has that created more opportunities for SFL, i.e., is the transactions team bit busy here as we sit here in November relative to maybe where they were earlier this year?

Or is it, "Hey, the market's been good for a couple of years, and it's kind of, it's kind of steady as she goes?

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, if you go back to 2022, we screened or did really work on more than $20 billion of potential deal flow, and we ended up doing one in the end, you know, for various reasons. I think this year has been, the volume has been lower, you know, in aggregate. And I think, you know, with the rising interest rate market, it's also, I would say, you know, the way we see it, it's a little time lag from where the underlying metrics and interest rates is one, you know, asset replacement cost is another. Maybe to a certain degree, operating expenses, you know, to the extent there has been, you know, call it a little inflation in those metrics.

It takes a little time for that to filter through in a customer's, you know, willingness to pay up for those services. So that's why I think, you know, so you know, 2023 has been, I would say, the more interesting deal flow opportunities has been, I would say, you know, on a gross number, a little lower than 2022, but I think this is going to pick up again.

But I think, you know, the ones, I mean, if you look at, if you look at the ones who offer more of financing structures, you know, maybe, maybe for them it, there is more deal flow opportunity right now simply because, you know, funding cost is higher, and therefore, the alternative cost of doing like a bareboat type lease, you know, is relatively smaller. But we have, you know, we have strategically, you know, moved a little away from the bareboat type offering. Because what we have seen is that for those kind of deals, you typically do that with intermediaries. You don't do a bareboat deal with an end user, and therefore, there is a risk element here that I think is underappreciated.

You know, right now, most of the shipping segments are booming, you know, strong markets, nobody talks about it. But we've been through this, you know, over 20 years now. We've seen some cycles over the years. So our focus is do deals with strong counterparties, end users, focus on getting the right deals done, and don't be nervous if there is a quarter where you do that many deals. You know, the deal flow is out there. There is a continued need for transportation assets and logistic solutions on the water. But just don't be desperate to do a deal, because that's when you do the wrong deals. Maybe that, you know, that's the short answer to that. We are constantly screening deal opportunities. We are looking at opportunities.

We cannot communicate specifically what we look at, but there are deals that you know could potentially be done, but we try to be disciplined. It's got to be the right type of asset. We have to focus on the right, as we call it, residual value exposure, i.e., what kind of residual risk are we willing to take on after a deal? What's the financing structure? And maybe importantly, who's the counterparty? Is this counterparty strong enough? And in you know underlying volatile market, is this counterparty someone who can honor their obligation also in a down cycle? Because that's what we've seen over the years, is that you know anybody can do a deal you know in an up cycle market. You just pay a little more than the next guy.

The problem is how do you manage the down cycles? And that's, I think, something that we hope our history brings along, is that, you know, yes, markets are volatile, but we managed through some pretty rough cycles, and hopefully we're set up to deal even better with cycles, you know, going forward.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director)

Okay, great. And then I did just have one other question, on the balance sheet. I noticed we saw, you know, I guess we, sequentially, some of the, you know, the long-term lease liability went into, short-term lease liability. Is that just gonna unwind, or should we think about that being, either renewed or extended, you know, over the next call? I don't know, couple quarters.

Aksel C. Olesen (CFO)

Yeah, that is... Thanks, great. It's Aksel here. So I think you should look at that as all our, like, like our ordinary traditional debt on, on, on the vessels, that there are always opportunities to, to basically roll this going forward as well. We haven't finally concluded if we kind of do a new Yoco or if we do that bit traditional bank financing, but both options are, are, are likely. So I could just assume rolling that on, on the same level. Yeah.

Greg Lewis (Managing Director)

Okay, perfect. Thank you for that. And thanks, everybody.

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Yes, thank you.

Aksel C. Olesen (CFO)

Thank you.

Sander Borgli (VP of Investor Relations)

What else are you following this presentation? Please assume the Raise Hand function can be found under Reactions in the toolbar.

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Ooh, Richard-

Sander Borgli (VP of Investor Relations)

The next question will come from Richard Diamond. Please unmute your speaker.

Richard Diamond (Principal)

Yeah, great quarter, great job building cash flow. Ole, you and the team have incredible deal flow at SFL. What do you think are the most interesting areas looking out to the fourth quarter and next year?

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Yeah, thanks, thanks for that, Richard. Thanks for the kind words. You know, we are, we are focusing on, you know, across the board, our preference are for deals that are, I would say, logistics sort of oriented, i.e., where we go into a logistics chain with counterparties. You know, so, so car carriers, for instance, is a segment that we've been spending quite a bit of time on. We've grown a bit- grown a lot in that segment. We still think there could be interesting opportunities on the, on the container side.

Yes, the market is volatile, and yes, you know, you could say it's not the super cycle we saw a year or two ago, but there's still underlying, you know, demand for transportation capacity, and certainly with the modern high-end assets, the more fuel efficient, that is reducing both, you know, call it, you know, the energy footprint or, you know, emissions footprint per loaded box, you know, where that matters. And that's also where we have been concentrated our investments. We've also seen some of the opportunities on the tanker side. So I would say there are opportunities across the board here. We...

The only segment you can say we don't have in our portfolio that would be natural would be LNG in particular. But our dilemma there has been, you know, one, it's sort of the, you know, the investment level in that segment and the charter rates, where you don't really amortize down so much of the investment, which means that we have been a little conservative in our willingness to take on residual exposure in that segment. So, but otherwise, we are active across the board and looking opportunities, and I think we have quite good access to deal flow.

Richard Diamond (Principal)

Thank you.

Ole Hjertaker (CEO)

Yes, thank you.

Aksel C. Olesen (CFO)

Thank you.

Sander Borgli (VP of Investor Relations)

As there are no further questions from the audience, I would like to thank everyone for participating in this conference call. If you have any follow-up questions to management, there are contact details in the press release, or you can get in touch with us through the contact pages on our web page, www.sflcorp.com. Thank you very much.