Both George and Jim are iconoclastic personalities. They both have had a mixed performance record with personal ups and downs. Until 2008, DRYS had an exceptionally successful strategy of building up its fleet by retained earning from profitable operations and vessel sale transactions. The company seems often a one-man show with lack of transparency with the Principal appearing to use his private company for business development and passing the transactions to the public company for financing. Stockholders have benefited by this process in results in the past but lately they have been taking some hard hits. The turning point for DRYS was Economou's decision to diversify into the offshore drilling business acquiring OceanRig and ordering additional deep water oil rigs. The financial crisis hit DRYS very hard. Since then, DRYS has been increasing capital with major share dilution. George Economou is not as bad as Kramer says but he has been struggling lately.
The offshore transaction was large for the existing DRYS balance sheet. It absorbed the companies reserves and required a substantial increase in leverage. The company postured itself by reducing spot market exposure on its fleet and moving to longer term employment. The timing was good.
Last fall Economou added some new building contracts generated from his private company that later DRYS was forced to cancel and take losses. This caused some negative comments.
This year, DRYS has been raising capital by issuing new shares and dribbling them out at the market prices. This increase of capital was initially needed in the Groups arduous loan restructuring negotiations for its loan/ asset coverage clauses. In subsequent share issues, DRYS announced a strategy to acquire additional vessels, but there has been some market skepticism about company capacity for additional finance to leverage this new capital.
The China story has enthralled investors in the dry cargo sector for many years now. In the boom years, Far East demand consistently soaked up new tonnage in the market and drove rates to ever higher levels. China now has a great deal of over capacity that it has built largely to service its export markets in the US and EU. These markets have now collapsed.
The US seems to be improving since March this year if one takes Wall Street as a guide but mainly in the financial sector due public monetary policies to bail out lame duck companies and reflate asset prices. The EU has been worsening. It is still an open question how robust the recovery will be so the revival of Chinese export markets is still in question.
China has ample reserves for stimulus and they have probably outperformed the US in putting this money quickly to work. They have renegotiated their commodities contracts and moved to inventory replenishment that has brought a revival in the BDI for dry cargo sector. The Capesize tonnage has had the most benefit with a recent mini-boom. It is not clear whether this is sustainable.
China will most likely need to restructure their export model and this could have a negative impact on future demand projections for dry bulk commodities cargoes in coming years. Meanwhile the dry cargo orderbook is large and China has a significant share of the newbuilding contracts.
DRYS has taken large asset impairment charges for its foray into the offshore sector. It has new rigs on order that need to be financed. It also has had plans to spin off this business to a separate entity.
DRYS is facing large challenges in the present environment. Whatever the outcome, shareholders have gone through significant share dilution this year that will affect future share value. There is the issue of dry market recovery. This year things so far have gone pretty well for the sector. DRYS is completing its first round of debt restructuring. Prolonged market weakness in 2010 could lead to a much more difficult period with its senior lenders but markets may also improve and beat expectations. The main issue in the offshore side of the business is the future of the spinoff plans and its impact on DRYS shareholders. If it goes well, it could boost share value but the company is right now carrying the debt liabilities for this.
Kramer has the ease of being a pundit who can say whatever he likes without much responsibility. George Economou has a lot more weight on his shoulders. I have been critical of George for his excesses in the boom years but I appreciate his struggle in present market conditions. I think that Kramer should show a bit more generosity here. I have outlined the risks for shareholders.
The offshore transaction was large for the existing DRYS balance sheet. It absorbed the companies reserves and required a substantial increase in leverage. The company postured itself by reducing spot market exposure on its fleet and moving to longer term employment. The timing was good.
Last fall Economou added some new building contracts generated from his private company that later DRYS was forced to cancel and take losses. This caused some negative comments.
This year, DRYS has been raising capital by issuing new shares and dribbling them out at the market prices. This increase of capital was initially needed in the Groups arduous loan restructuring negotiations for its loan/ asset coverage clauses. In subsequent share issues, DRYS announced a strategy to acquire additional vessels, but there has been some market skepticism about company capacity for additional finance to leverage this new capital.
The China story has enthralled investors in the dry cargo sector for many years now. In the boom years, Far East demand consistently soaked up new tonnage in the market and drove rates to ever higher levels. China now has a great deal of over capacity that it has built largely to service its export markets in the US and EU. These markets have now collapsed.
The US seems to be improving since March this year if one takes Wall Street as a guide but mainly in the financial sector due public monetary policies to bail out lame duck companies and reflate asset prices. The EU has been worsening. It is still an open question how robust the recovery will be so the revival of Chinese export markets is still in question.
China has ample reserves for stimulus and they have probably outperformed the US in putting this money quickly to work. They have renegotiated their commodities contracts and moved to inventory replenishment that has brought a revival in the BDI for dry cargo sector. The Capesize tonnage has had the most benefit with a recent mini-boom. It is not clear whether this is sustainable.
China will most likely need to restructure their export model and this could have a negative impact on future demand projections for dry bulk commodities cargoes in coming years. Meanwhile the dry cargo orderbook is large and China has a significant share of the newbuilding contracts.
DRYS has taken large asset impairment charges for its foray into the offshore sector. It has new rigs on order that need to be financed. It also has had plans to spin off this business to a separate entity.
DRYS is facing large challenges in the present environment. Whatever the outcome, shareholders have gone through significant share dilution this year that will affect future share value. There is the issue of dry market recovery. This year things so far have gone pretty well for the sector. DRYS is completing its first round of debt restructuring. Prolonged market weakness in 2010 could lead to a much more difficult period with its senior lenders but markets may also improve and beat expectations. The main issue in the offshore side of the business is the future of the spinoff plans and its impact on DRYS shareholders. If it goes well, it could boost share value but the company is right now carrying the debt liabilities for this.
Kramer has the ease of being a pundit who can say whatever he likes without much responsibility. George Economou has a lot more weight on his shoulders. I have been critical of George for his excesses in the boom years but I appreciate his struggle in present market conditions. I think that Kramer should show a bit more generosity here. I have outlined the risks for shareholders.
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