CPLP eyes acquisitions

Greek owner Capital Product Partners saw profits slip in the second quarter but its fleet swelled after adding an additional unit.

And chief executive Ioannis Lazaridis says the spending spree could continue.

"We will continue to monitor market developments and explore further accretive acquisitions and as a result we will revisit our annual distribution guidance," he said in a statement released Friday.

Nasdaq-listed CPLP used its latest earnings release to reveal its acquisition of the 36,200-dwt products tanker Alkiviadis (built 2006).

The company says it paid cash, splashing $31.5m to grab the ship from affiliate Capital Maritime.

CPLP chartered its seventeenth MR tanker back to Capital Maritime at a base rate of $13,000 per day in a contract lasting two years.

The sale-and-leaseback came as welcomed news for the Capital cartel.

As TradeWinds has reported, earlier this year affiliates of Greece’s Capital Ship Management won a pair of identical arbitration awards worth $7.9m over the collapsed sale of two products tankers, one of which was the Alkiviadis.

While it isn't known if the companies were able to track down the cash following a fight to secure the award, CPLP says its earning power has grown after the latest Alkiviadis deal tipped the company's fleet profile to 20.

Following the second-quarter transaction, Lazaridis said CPLP has revised its annual distribution guidance by three pennies to $0.93 per unit.

Net income rang in at $5.1m in the three months to 30 June, a marginal drop against an $8m profit posted during the same period a year prior.

The result amounted to $0.16 in earnings per share.

CPLP reported $31.8m in second-quarter revenues against $33.4m in 2009.

It ended the period with $7m in available cash while long-term debt remained unchanged at $474m.

Shares in the Evangelos Marinakis-led products player jumped 0.55% to hit $8.95 in early trading.

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