Flex LNG (FLNG) Q2 2026 Earnings Call: Starker Umsatz, Prognose bestätigt

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Der Umsatz im zweiten Quartal 2026 erreichte 106,8 Mio. US-Dollar bzw. 102,7 Mio. US-Dollar ohne EUAs, was das zweitbeste Quartal von Flex LNG seit dem vierten Quartal 2021 darstellt.
• Das Zeitcharter-Äquivalent (TCE) im Flottendurchschnitt lag bei 86.100 US-Dollar pro Tag. Der Jahresüberschuss belief sich auf 44,9 Mio. US-Dollar bzw. 0,83 US-Dollar je Aktie, während der bereinigte Jahresüberschuss 42,5 Mio. US-Dollar bzw. 0,79 US-Dollar je Aktie betrug.
• Starke Spotmarkt-Erlöse der Flex Volunteer und Flex Artemis stützten den Umsatz, zusammen mit den Beiträgen aus den neuen Verträgen für die Flex Constellation und Flex Aurora über das gesamte Quartal.
• Flex LNG bestätigte seine Prognose für das Gesamtjahr 2026 mit einem Umsatz von 345 Mio. bis 370 Mio. US-Dollar, einer TCE-Rate von 73.000 bis 78.000 US-Dollar pro Tag und einem bereinigten EBITDA von 255 Mio. bis 280 Mio. US-Dollar.
• Der Verwaltungsrat beschloss eine Quartalsdividende von 0,75 US-Dollar je Aktie, was die 20. aufeinanderfolgende Dividende auf diesem Niveau ist. Die Ausschüttungen der letzten 12 Monate summierten sich auf 3 US-Dollar je Aktie.
• Die vertragliche Auslastung liegt bei mindestens 51 Jahren fester Auftragsreserve und könnte auf 78 Jahre steigen, wenn alle Optionen ausgeübt werden. Rund 89 % der verbleibenden verfügbaren Flottentage im Jahr 2026 sind abgedeckt.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

Flex LNG tilgte im Quartal planmäßige Schuldenraten in Höhe von 28 Mio. US-Dollar und schüttete 41 Mio. US-Dollar an die Aktionäre aus. Das Zinsderivate-Portfolio wies einen Nominalwert von 775 Mio. US-Dollar und einen durchschnittlichen Festzinssatz von 2,46 % auf, bei einem Marktwert von 22 Mio. US-Dollar zum Quartalsende.

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Die Flex Volunteer und Flex Artemis profitierten im zweiten Quartal von einem starken Spotmarkt. Beide Schiffe werden voraussichtlich Ende des dritten Quartals verfügbar, und das Unternehmen vermarktet sie für Spotmarkt-Einsätze sowie neue Zeit-Charterverträge.

Die Flex Vigilant schloss im Juni ihren Werftaufenthalt in Dänemark ab und beendete damit alle geplanten fünfjährigen Klasseerneuerungen der 13 Schiffe umfassenden Flotte. Die drei Werftaufenthalte im Jahr 2026 dauerten durchschnittlich jeweils 17 Tage und kosteten rund 6 Mio. US-Dollar pro Schiff. Für 2027 sind keine Werftaufenthalte vorgesehen, während die erste 10-Jahres-Klasseerneuerung für 2028 geplant ist.

Das globale LNG-Handelsvolumen ging seit Jahresbeginn um weniger als 1 % zurück. Laut Management sanken die Exporte Katars um rund 29 Millionen Tonnen, während die US-Exporte um 23 % bzw. knapp 14 Millionen Tonnen stiegen. Der wachsende Anteil der US-Lieferungen könnte die Transportnachfrage durch längere Routen vom Atlantik nach Asien stützen.

Das Auftragsbuch für LNG-Tanker bleibt mit etwa 285 Schiffen beträchtlich, was rund 38 % der bestehenden Flotte entspricht. Das Management wies darauf hin, dass die meisten davon bereits Katar oder anderen langfristigen Verträgen zugesagt sind, sodass nur relativ wenige Schiffe unverchartert bleiben.

Prognose des Managements

Flex LNG bestätigte die folgende Prognose für das Gesamtjahr 2026:

Das Management geht davon aus, dass die Absicherungsquote für das Zinsrisiko bis Mitte 2027 bei rund 70 % bleiben wird. Das Unternehmen gab an, vor der Fälligkeit der Verbindlichkeiten im ersten Quartal 2029 zusätzliche Absicherungen oder Umfinanzierungen zu prüfen, falls die Marktbedingungen attraktiv werden.

Risiken und wichtige Beobachtungspunkte

Das Management behielt eine „orangefarbene“ Einschätzung für den Marktausblick bei und verwies auf einen schwächeren Spotmarkt sowie einen vollen Lieferplan für Neubauten. Die steigende Schiffsverfügbarkeit östlich und westlich von Suez hat die Spotraten zuletzt unter Druck gesetzt.

Die geopolitische Unsicherheit bleibt hoch. Dem Management zufolge lagen die kombinierten LNG-Exporte aus Katar und den VAE rund 63 % unter dem normalen Niveau; zudem geht das Unternehmen davon aus, dass die Straße von Hormus das gesamte Jahr 2026 über geschlossen bleiben wird. Der Zeitpunkt einer Normalisierung der Lieferungen aus Katar bleibt ungewiss.

Die europäischen Gasspeicher waren zu 61 % gefüllt, verglichen mit 73 % im Vorjahr – das niedrigste Niveau seit mehr als 15 Jahren. Das Management erwartet, dass der Wettbewerb zwischen Europa und Asien um flexible US-LNG-Ladungen weiterhin ein wichtiger Treiber des Transportmarktes bleiben wird.

Höhepunkte der Fragerunde

• Risikoposition in der Straße von Hormus: Das Management bestätigte, dass keines der 13 Schiffe von Flex LNG seit Ende Februar in diesem Gebiet gefahren ist. Etwaige zusätzliche Versicherungen für Hochrisikogebiete würden vom Charterer getragen, der dem Schiff die Einfahrt in ein solches Gebiet anweist.
• Spotmarkt-Ausblick: Das Management beschrieb das dritte Quartal als saisonale Übergangsphase und gab an, dass die Spotraten für Hin- und Rückfahrten von rund 120.000 US-Dollar im Vorjahresquartal auf etwa 30.000 US-Dollar pro Tag gefallen seien. Das Unternehmen bleibt zuversichtlich, dass der historisch stärkere Wintermarkt die Auslastung seiner zwei verbleibenden freien Schiffe im vierten Quartal stützen könnte.
• Nachhaltigkeit der Dividende: Der Verwaltungsrat prüft die Dividende jedes Quartal. Das Management verwies auf die Liquiditätslage, die Bilanz und den Auftragsbestand des Unternehmens als Stütze für die jüngste Ausschüttung von 0,75 US-Dollar je Aktie und betonte zugleich, dass zukünftige Dividenden weiterhin einer vierteljährlichen Neubewertung unterliegen.

Vollständiges Transkript des Earnings Calls

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

H. Foss

Welcome back to Flex LNG's Second Quarter 2026 Results Presentation. Hope you all have a great summer. My name is Marius Foss. I'm the CEO of Flex LNG. And today, I'm joined by our CFO, Knut Traaholt, who will walk you through the financials later in the presentation. Today, we will summarize the second quarter results and provide an update on the LNG shipping market. As always, we will conclude this webcast with a Q&A session.

Knut Traaholt

If you would like to ask questions, please use the chat functions on the webcast or send questions to -- by e-mail to ir@flexlng.com. Before we start, we would like to highlight the following. We are using certain non-GAAP measures such as TCE, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted net income. These are supplements to the earnings reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are available in the earnings report released today. There are also limitations to the completeness of our presentation. Therefore, we encourage you to read the quarterly report together with today's presentation.

And with that, back to you, Marius.

H. Foss

Thank you, Knut. Let's begin with the highlights of the quarter. We are happy to present very strong results for the second quarter. We sailed in revenues of close to $107 million or close to $103 million, excluding the EUAs. This is our second best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021. The fleet average TCE during the quarter ended up at $86,100 per day. Net income for the second quarter came in at $44.9 million, implying an earnings per share of $0.83.

When adjusting for unrealized gains and interest rates swaps and FX, we ended up with adjusted net income of $42.5 million or adjusted earnings per share at $0.79.

Flex Artemis and Flex Volunteer have traded in a strong spot market in the second quarter and contributed to our solid quarterly results. We continue to see elevated geopolitical uncertainty in the LNG space as the conflict in Iran causes disruption to the LNG flow from the region.

Lastly, with the dry docking of Flex Vigilant in June, we have completed all scheduled 5-year special surveys for our fleet. We maintain our full year guidance from last quarter and expect revenues to come in between $345 million and $370 million. Similarly, we expect the TCE to come in somewhere between $73,000 and $78,000 per day. We expect adjusted EBITDA to come in between $255 million and $280 million.

With our strong quarter, contract coverage and solid balance sheet, the Board has declared another dividend of $0.75 per share. This is the 20th consecutive dividend of $0.75 per share, and we have now distributed around $850 million since 2021, including special dividends. Our last 12 months dividend is $3 per share, implying a dividend yield of around 9.7%.

Flex Vigilant completed her dry dock in Denmark in June, and this was the third and final dry docking for 2026. The average cost per dry docking came in around $6 million per vessel as guided, and we spent averagely 17 days in dry dock per vessel. Flex Vigilant marks the final 5-year special survey in our fleet of 13 vessels. Looking ahead, we have no dry dockings coming up in 2027, and we will commence our first 10-year docking in 2028.

Let's have a look at our contract backlog. Looking at our total contract coverage, we have 51 years of minimum firm backlog, which may grow to 78 years if all options are declared. In the near term, we have close to 89% coverage for the remaining available days in 2026. Flex Artemis and Flex Volunteer have both been trading in the spot market in the second quarter and will come open at the end of the third quarter. We are now marketing the vessels both for spot and new term contracts.

With our good contract coverage for the remainder of the year, we maintain our guiding which we upgraded last quarter. This means that we expect full year revenues to come in between $345 million to $370 million. Similarly, we expect TCE to come in somewhere between $73,000 and $78,000 per day. Lastly, we expect the adjusted EBITDA to come in between $255 million and $280 million. We are pleased to announce that the Board has declared a dividend of $0.75 per share.

Let us briefly revisit decision factors for the dividends. We maintain the orange level for market outlook. This reflects a softer spot market and heavy schedule of newbuilding deliveries. Looking ahead, we note that low European storage levels going into the cold winter season. Confidence in the long-term structural demand story remains intact, supported by the third wave of U.S. LNG export capacity currently under construction. We keep other considerations in orange given the continued elevated geopolitical risk. There is still uncertainty around the duration of the Iran conflict and the timing of normalization of the Qatar supply.

Taking all factors into account, the Board has declared another quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share. This brings dividends paid over the last 12 months to $3 per share. The dividend will be paid on or about 17th of September to shareholders of record as of 3rd of September.

And with that, I hand it over to you, Knut, for final financial updates.

Knut Traaholt

Thank you, Marius. And the second quarter was significantly improved quarter-over-quarter, mainly driven by higher revenues. And revenues were $106.8 million or $102.7 million, excluding EUAs. The higher revenues were driven by high spot earnings for Flex Volunteer and Flex Artemis, while both Flex Constellation and Flex Aurora contributed by having a full quarter of earnings under the new contracts that commenced in March.

On the cost side, vessel OpEx was higher quarter-over-quarter as the second quarter was impacted by higher crew travel costs related to the disruptions in the Middle East. The average OpEx per day in the second quarter was $16,260, while the average OpEx for the first 6 months of the year was around $16,100 per day. We maintain our OpEx guidance of $16,000 per day for the full year.

Interest expense continued to improve, reflecting lower loan margins and active management of our RCF facilities. We booked $4.7 million in gains on our interest rate derivatives, of which $2.3 million was realized gains and $2.4 million was unrealized gains. Net income came in at $44.9 million or $0.83 per share, and adjusting for noncash items like unrealized gains from the interest derivative portfolio, the adjusted net income was $42.5 million or equivalent to adjusted earnings per share of $0.79. This is more than double than of the first quarter. So overall, this was a very strong quarter, impacted by improved revenues from the spot market, new contracts, completion of dry docking and continued cost control and improved financial efficiency.

On the cash flow, during the quarter, we generated strong cash flow from operations of $63 million, up from $37 million in the first quarter. The increase was mainly driven by higher revenues, as explained on the previous slide. This excludes $19 million in positive change in working capital and $5 million of CapEx related to the dry dockings this year. And the reduction in receivables during the quarter was related to timing of advanced charter hire receipts.

We repaid $28 million in scheduled debt installments and distributed $41 million to our shareholders. And then in sum, our net cash flow was $8 million in the quarter, and that resulted in a cash position of $397 million at the end of the quarter. So looking at our balance sheet, we maintain a clean balance sheet with mainly ships and close to $400 million in cash. And our debt financing is comprised of a combination of bank loans, which gives us flexibility and attractive long-term leases.

Our first debt maturity is in the first quarter of 2029. And if we look at the book equity ratio, it's robust at 27.4%. And as noted before, our book values reflect the historical cost adjusted with regular depreciation. Our interest rate swap portfolio is unchanged and was valued at $22 million at the end of the second quarter. The notional value of the portfolio is $775 million, with an average fixed rate of 2.46%. We expect to maintain a hedge ratio of around 70% into mid-next year.

And with that, I hand it back to you, Marius, for the market outlook.

H. Foss

Thank you, Knut. Let's have a look at the LNG trade. Global LNG trade volumes are broadly flat year-to-date, down less than 1% compared with the same period last year. On the supply side, the key development has been significant reduction in the Qatari exports, down around 29 million tonnes. This shortfall has to a large extent been offset by strong growth from the U.S., where exports are up 23% or close to 14 million tonnes. We have also seen continued growth from Australia and Russia.

Other exporters have contributed strongly and are up 6 million tonnes from last year. These include LNG Canada, but also West Africa exporters, including Nigeria and Senegal. Industry sources report that global export capacity ran at 96% utilization in July, excluding Qatar. This is above 90% utilization seen last year and a 5-year average of 86%. On the demand side, imports into JKT remained resilient, while Europe and China are down compared to last year. At the same time, India and other importing markets have continued to grow. The key takeaway is that despite a significant disruption from one of the world's largest LNG exporters, Qatar, global trade volumes have remained resilient. And more importantly, for shipping, the growing share of U.S. supply means more LNG coming into the Atlantic Basin. This will likely have a positive ton-mile effect when those volumes move into Asia.

Let's have a look a bit closer to the supply side. The reduction in Middle East LNG volumes has been significant. Combined exports from Qatar and UAE are currently down around 63% compared to normal levels. As you can see from the left-hand side, exports dropped very sharply earlier in the year. And while volumes have started to recover, they remain below historical levels. At the same time, the U.S. has continued to ramp up LNG exports. U.S. liquefaction capacity is up around 14 million tonnes year-on-year, supported by the ramp-up of new capacity, particularly in the Plaquemines. It is also worth to mention that the long anticipated Golden Pass is slowly but steadily increasing its production. We expect to see increased loading from Golden Pass going forward and from Port Arthur as it comes on stream next year. So despite substantial loss from Middle East supply, this has mitigated by strong U.S. growth, and that shift is positive for the shipping demand.

Let us have a look at the demand side on the competition between Europe and Asia for the LNG. Europe entered the year with relatively low gas inventories. Inventories are today 61% full, the lowest level in over 15 years and below the 73% seen last year. This means Europe still has a substantial requirement to rebuild inventories ahead of the winter season. At the same time, U.S. LNG is highly flexible and can move between Europe and Asia depending on the relative pricing.

Looking at the chart on the left-hand side, there have historically been significant swings in the U.S. LNG flows between the 2 regions. So far this year, both Europe and Asia have attracted additional U.S. LNG volumes, although the balance has shifted through the year. Looking forward, this sets up a continued tug-of-war of U.S. LNG exports. If European storage remain low, Europe will need to keep bidding on Atlantic cargoes, while lack of Qatari volumes could pull more of those volumes into Asia.

If you are looking at the newbuildings, we stand out on this slide, ordering activity remains very strong, even with newbuilding prices holding around $250 million and the term rates remain more moderate levels. We have already seen around 60 newbuildings ordered so far this year. A number of these are made without any employment contracts. This year, orders are well above last year's figures of 35 vessels. That tells us there's still significant confidence in the long-term LNG shipping markets. At the same time, elevated newbuilding prices continue to provide support for the value of modern existing tonnage, including our fleet.

The order book remains substantial with around 285 vessels to be delivered going forward, equivalent to roughly 38% of the existing fleet. However, the majority of these vessels are already tied up with Qatar or other long-term employment, and the number of open vessels remains fairly limited.

Contracting activity remains at very high levels. LNG SPAs volumes signed in the first half of 2026 are already above 30 million tonnes per year. This continued appetite for long-term LNG supply is important because it provides the commercial basis required for new projects to reach FID. We have already seen around 28 million tonnes of projects that reached FID so far this year, including Venture Global's expansion of the CP2, Commonwealth and Delfin. And there are additional projects that could reach FID later this year, up to 39 million tonnes. These potential projects include LNG Canada Phase 2, Ksi Lismis in Canada and Delfin Phase 2 and the Brownsville in the U.S. This would take the potential FIDs in 2026 up to around 67 million tonnes. The key takeaway is that the next wave of LNG supply continues to gain momentum, supported by strong customer contracting and a healthy pipeline of projects moving forward to FID.

Let's have a look at the spot market for the modern 2 strokes. We have seen increasing vessel availability in both West and East of Suez, and that continues to put a weight on the spot rates. It is worth mentioning that the number of vessels available today is in line with the 5-year historical averages. This comes at a time when the LNG fleet is growing. This shows that the newbuildings are being absorbed by going straight into the program after being delivered from the shipyards. We did see a sharp spike in the rates earlier this year. But since then, rates have normalized, and we have seen some pressure on the spot rates over the last few weeks.

As we move into the second half of the year, we would normally expect some historical seasonal tightening. We have 2 vessels coming open at the end of the third quarter, well positioned for a potential strong winter market. With that, let's turn to a Q&A session.

Knut Traaholt

Thank you, Marius, and thank you to everyone who has submitted questions on our webcast and also to our Investor Relations e-mail. It's been an active or a lot of things happening during the quarter, particularly in the Middle East and with the Strait of Hormuz. So we have a number of questions coming in around that and also how that has impacted our operations. So in specific, the question is, do we have any trade in that area or to the Strait of Hormuz? And have we had any ships being stuck inside the Strait of Hormuz?

H. Foss

Yes. Thank you. Now I'm pleased to confirm that all vessels in the Flex fleet of 13 vessels, none of them have been trading inside since the end of February. So our charterers' clients are trading elsewhere for time being.

Knut Traaholt

And there's also then a follow-up question around this as there are a number of additional insurances that are needed to be trading to the Strait of Hormuz. And the question is specifically who pays for this insurance and what insurance is needed to be trading here?

H. Foss

Yes, it's required to have insurance when you sail into high-risk areas. So if and when our ships are ordered to other high-risk areas, this extra coverage will be paid for by the charterers who are instructing the vessel to such areas.

Knut Traaholt

And sticking to the Strait of Hormuz, it's more on the market view and the outlook there for, first of all, the resumption of LNG export out of Qatar and UAE, but also more on the normalization of the transit through the Strait of Hormuz. What's your view on that?

H. Foss

Well, we believe that Strait of Hormuz will remain closed throughout 2026. So we could potentially look at the interesting market going forward for LNG and other shipping segments.

Knut Traaholt

Moving on, you mentioned in the presentation that we have seen a slightly softer spot market now. So there's questions on what your expectations are for the LNG shipping market for the third quarter and then the fourth quarter?

H. Foss

Yes. The Q3 is normally a shoulder month before we head into the winter season. So Q3 has softened up from the spot market has been maybe on $120,000 for round trip during the last Q3 and has now come down to $30,000. Our next ship coming open in the end of Q3. So we are preparing for the Q4 market, which historically has been profitable. So we are hopeful and hoping that we can contribute a little bit more there on our Q3 and Q4 results later. But yes, if Hormuz remains closed, I think this will automatically find its way back to where the LNG market should be.

Knut Traaholt

Good. Then we have some questions on the financing. First of all, on our interest rate derivative portfolio. As we say, we have 70% coverage until mid-next year. And the question relates to when we expect to add more interest rate hedging to our books? In general, we are trading when the markets are favorable. We are very pleased with the coverage we have today. But obviously, when there are opportunities either for adding more on the short-term or longer-term interest rate hedging, that is our aim to do.

And there is also a follow-up questions on our debt maturities in Q1 2029, when we will address that? It's a bit early to address that refinancing now unless that we see an attractive opportunity to add more or better terms to our financings. That is something we are continuously evaluating. And if there are attractive opportunities, we will act on them.

And final question, it's a recurring questions. It's about dividend sustainability and the outlook for future dividends. As we have repeatedly said, each dividend is declared by the Board each quarter. We are fairly transparent on the decision factors, which we have also presented today. That is a repeat of the decision factors that we had last year -- sorry, last quarter, which was basically a downgrade of certain factors. However, with the strong balance sheet and cash position and also the contract backlog, the Board was pleased to confirm a dividend for this quarter of $0.75. Future dividends will be decided by the Board, and reassess all these factors, including then our backlog for the open vessels.

And with that, that concludes the Q&A session.

H. Foss

Thank you. Thank you for participating in our Q2 presentation. We would like to welcome you back in November for our Q3 presentation. Thank you.