Aries rebuilding

Aries Maritime Transport's new chief executive spoke confidently Monday of turning around what he described as the company's bad reputation and leadership problems.

Michail Zolotas, who took the reigns of the Nasdaq-listed owner in a takeover by Greece's GrandUnion, also said new management's relationships with banks will give Aries access to more transactions, allowing further growth.

"We believe Aries can grow and prosper by fixing the factors causing the prior underperformance," Zolotas said in a conference call following the company's earnings report. "These were an inflexible balance sheet, high debt ratio, and most importantly, a poor reputation with the financial and shipping communities."

The CEO also said new management has been pleased with Aries' employees, a comment that reserved criticism for prior management who oversaw the company's plunge into financial troubles.

Aries' 73,400-dwt Fortius (built 2004)

The most difficult challenge for new managers is "transforming Aries from an also-ran, virtually irrelevant company to a vibrant, growing organisation," the executive said.

The Greek shipowner made his comments on the same day Athens-based Aries posted a $111m loss and revealed that it has sold its two containerships. The loss includes a $91.6m impairment charge for vessel values, which Zolotas said allows Aries to "move forward with a clean slate and a clear vision."

As TradeWinds reported earlier Monday, GrandUnion also signed a letter of intent to sell the company six vessels and a shipmanagement company.

The transaction follows the October deal to give GrandUnion, the shipowner controlled by Zolotas and Nicholas Fistes, a 34.2% stake but 71% control of Aries. The takeover added three bulkers to Aries' fleet of nine products tankers and two containerships.

Zolotas said Aries six new bulkers will bring $20.6m in operational earnings per year.

Aries' new management team plans to have a diversified and balanced business model focused on bulkers and tankers, he said.

"We think that this diversification will prove to be a competitive advantage in the cyclical shipping industry and act to provide a more stable P&L," Zolotas said, refering to profit and loss.

After reporting earnings, Aries' shares gained 4.8% to hit $1.09 in early-morning trading Monday.

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