Gulf Navigation Holding PJSC, the Dubai Financial Market listed maritime and shipping company, has announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2019. During Q1 2019 the Company achieved operating revenue of AED 45 million compared to AED 37.7 million during the same period of 2018, a YoY increase of 19%. The company reported net loss of AED 11 million in Q1 2019 compared to profits of AED 5 million during the same period last year. During the quarter, Company's petrochemical tanker Gulf Deffi entered the dry dock for the mandatory special survey work, resulting in 50 days of off-hire for this vessel during Q1. GNH also incurred increased depreciation and finance costs on account of acquisition of livestock carriers in Q4 2018, which impacted the net profit. Previous quarter profit also included the write-back of AED 8.7mn of liabilities, which positive impacted last year's first quarter results. Chairman of the board Saeed Mubarak Al Hajeri said: "The board of Gulf Navigation is reviewing all strategic growth options to return the Company to profitability. Our immediate focus is to complete the necessary vessel dry-docks and achieve debt refinancing to align Gulf Navigation's capital structure to its operations. We are thankful to all our key stakeholders for their continued support over the last quarter. We expect the product tanker charter market to become attractive ahead of the IMO 2020 implementation. We are repositioning our balance of spot and long term charter contracts to optimize the operating revenues." — SG
