- Annual dividend raised from 8.5¢ to 10¢
- Six-monthly NAV total return of 9.6 per cent
- Gearing ratio cut from 13.7 to 12.7 per cent
- One-off capital return planned for second quarter of 2024
It’s not often that you can lock in a 9 per cent dividend yield from a company that has delivered a 100 per cent net asset value (NAV) total return over the past five years. It is even more unusual that the company is trading on a 26 per cent discount to book value even though it is selling off 10 per cent of its assets at a premium to NAV and plans to return the cash to shareholders. However, this is the offering from ship leasing fund Tufton Oceanic Assets (SHIP:109¢).
In the latest six-month period, Tufton’s gross operating profit increased by 8 per cent to $33.4mn, generating a 14.3 per cent return on the time-weighted capital employed in the $428mn fund, a reflection of buoyant charter rates across Tufton’s six medium-range product tankers and two chemical tankers.