Gulf Navigation, a Dubai-listed maritime and shipping company, narrowed its third quarter loss by nearly 37 per cent as costs declined.
Net loss attributable to owners of the company for the three months to the end of September, dropped to Dh11.49 million, the company said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares trade.
Operating costs fell to Dh33.42m at the end of the third quarter from Dh43.36m from the year-earlier period. The quarterly operating income climbed to Dh1.93m from an operating loss of Dh6.35m recorded for a year-earlier period.
Gulf Navigation’s accumulated losses at the end of September, however, reached Dh507.82m, about 50 per cent of its capital. The company attributed the accumulated losses to a decrease in revenue of all vessels, an increase in net finance costs and fluctuations in vessel rates due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company said it wrote off Dh197.54m for a vessel during the third quarter, but it recovered the same amount from an insurance claim. The company lost Gulf Livestock 1 vessel when it capsized with 43 crew and almost 6,000 cattle on board in the East China Sea in September.
Gulf Navigation's nine-month loss widened to Dh62.63m from Dh45.88m a year earlier as operating revenue dropped nearly 15 per cent to Dh110.97m.
The company made changes to its senior executive management and appointed a new board during the quarter as it sought to turn its business around amid tough market conditions exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The board is now led by Sheikh Theyab bin Tahnoon, and includes Abdulla Atatreh, Mohamed Alhammadi, Abdulaziz Alongary, Waleed Mohammad, Abdul Rahman Al Afifi and Ahmad Kilani.
In September, Gulf Navigation also appointed Rudrik Flikweert as group chief financial officer.
The company’s fleet of vessels includes petrochemical tankers, livestock transport ships and marine support vessels, which allows it to service different market segments.
