Fast-expanding dry bulk and logistics company Navios Maritime Holdings said its appetite for new ships had not been sated as it unveiled stronger than expected earnings for thee second quarter of 2010.
"We always like to acquire vessels at a good relative evaluation," said chairman and chief executive Angeliki Frangou, when asked whether the company was still looking at distressed opportunities in the dry bulk field.
But she came close to ruling out joining many of Navios' Greece-based compatriots in containership investments. "We cannot exclude any market but we are not interested in allowing ourselves to be distracted," she commented.
Navios owns a majority stake in newly activated Navios Maritime Acquisition, which has taken the group into tankers seriously for the first time.
The new tanker-owning spin-off has been "temporarily" consolidated into Navios Holdings' balance sheet and contributed a healthy $17.7m accounting gain to its profits in the second quarter.
Overall net income more than doubled to $46.5m compared with net profit of $22.1m in the same quarter of 2009.
Navios boosted operating profits by 70.4% to $91m from $53.4m in the second quarter last year.
Net income was also positively affected by $16.8 in gains from two ship sales and $6.1m from non-cash compensation from Navios Partners, another affiliate.
However, these windfalls were partly offset by $13.8m in paper losses on accounting of Navios PArtner common units.
Navios has an orderbook of eight newbuilding capesizes for delivery over the next three quarters, starting this month with the 180,000dwt Navios Melodia.