This story requires a subscription
This includes a single user license.
The firm reported a net profit of about 1.64 billion riyals ($450.4 million) for the year ending December 2024.
This compares to 1.56 billion riyals in 2023.
According to Nakilat, net profit in 2024 was driven by revenue from wholly-owned vessels, lower depreciation, and lower finance costs
Total income reached 4.53 billion riyals ($1.24 billion) last year, down by 2.7 percent.
Nakilat said this was due to lower income received from LNG, LPG income, reduced shipyard activities, and lower interest received as a result of investment in Nakilat’s newbuild program.
The LNG shipping firm said its expenses dropped by 6.6 percent to 2.89 billion riyals in 2024, mainly due to lower finance charges, reduction in G&A, and lower depreciation and amortization.
According to Nakilat, the total dividend distribution amount is 14 Qatari Dirhams per share for 2024.
“Transformative” year
Nakilat said 2024 had been a “transformative” year for the company.
The company said it has high earning visibility with 872 years on firm contract backlog.
Additionally, the company has 585 years of option period for wholly-owned vessels.
Nakilat’s fleet currently includes 24 conventional LNG carriers, 31 Q-Flex vessels (210,000-217,000 cbm), 14 Q-Max vessels (263,000-266,000 cbm), and also one FSRU. This includes jointly-owned LNG carriers.
In January last year, Nakilat placed orders worth about $955 million with South Korea’s Hyundai Samho for the construction of two LNG tankers and four LPG/ammonia carriers.
Moreover, Nakilat signed charter agreements in March with LNG giant QatarEnergy for 25 conventional-size LNG carriers as part of the second phase of its massive shipbuilding program.
Seventeen of the 25 LNG vessels are being constructed at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyards in South Korea, while the remaining eight are being constructed at Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.
QatarEnergy also signed a time charter and operation agreement with Nakilat for nine 271,000-cbm LNG carriers.
The nine QC-Max vessels will be constructed at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua.
Nakilat now has 36 LNG carriers and four LPG/ammonia carriers on order.
The total vessel count in the company’s fleet will reach 114 once all the vessels are delivered, including 105 LNG carriers.