FRO - Second Quarter and Six Months 2024 Results

30 Aug 2024 07:30 CEST

FRONTLINE PLC REPORTS RESULTS FOR THE SECOND QUARTER ENDED JUNE 30, 2024

Frontline plc (the "Company" or "Frontline"), today reported unaudited results
for the six months ended June 30, 2024:


Highlights

* Profit of $187.6 million, or $0.84 per share for the second quarter of 2024.
* Adjusted profit of $138.2 million, or $0.62 per share for the second quarter
of 2024.
* Declared a cash dividend of $0.62 per share for the second quarter of 2024.
* Reported revenues of $556.0 million for the second quarter of 2024.
* Achieved average daily spot time charter equivalent earnings ("TCEs")(1) for
VLCCs, Suezmax tankers and LR2/Aframax tankers in the second quarter of
$49,600, $45,600 and $53,100 per day, respectively.
* Entered into an agreement to sell its oldest Suezmax tanker built in 2010,
for a net sales price of $48.5 million. After repayment of existing debt,
the transaction is expected to generate net cash proceeds of approximately
$36.5 million.
* Entered into a senior secured term loan facility in an amount of up to
$606.7 million to refinance eight Suezmax tankers and eight LR2 tankers,
which generated net cash proceeds of approximately $275.0 million.
* Repaid an aggregate of $395.0 million under both the shareholder loan with
Hemen Holding Limited ("Hemen"), our largest shareholder, and the $275.0
million senior unsecured revolving credit facility with an affiliate of
Hemen in the second and third quarters of 2024.
* Secured a commitment for a sale-and-leaseback agreement in an amount of up
to $512.1 million to refinance 10 Suezmax tankers, which is subject to
execution of final transaction documents to both parties' satisfaction. The
refinancing is expected to generate net cash proceeds of approximately
$101.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, which is expected to be partly
used to repay the remaining $75.0 million drawn under the $275.0 million
senior unsecured revolving credit facility with an affiliate of Hemen.

Lars H. Barstad, Chief Executive Officer of Frontline Management AS, commented:

"The second quarter of 2024 was very much in line with first quarter. Markets
carried on at the same pace with positive volatility in an increasingly
complicated geo-political landscape. Frontline continued optimizing its position
by divesting older assets, consolidating our financials and executing on our
strategy of efficiently running one of the largest modern fleets in the tanker
market to enhance shareholder returns. Seasonality has a big effect on tanker
markets, and as most of the global population lives in the northern hemisphere,
the summer is the soft period. Historically, refinery utilization increases from
here, as the world begins to prepare for winter and volatility in the tanker
markets resumes."

Inger M. Klemp, Chief Financial Officer of Frontline Management AS, added:

"In the second and third quarters of 2024 we completed our strategy of freeing
up capital by re-leveraging part of the existing fleet and selling older non-Eco
vessels enabling us to repay an aggregate of $395.0 million, which was drawn
under the Hemen shareholder loan and our $275.0 million senior unsecured
revolving credit facility with an affiliate of Hemen to partly finance the
acquisition of the 24 VLCCs from Euronav NV. In the third quarter, we further
secured a commitment for a sale-and-leaseback agreement to refinance 10 Suezmax
tankers. The refinancing is expected to generate net cash proceeds of
approximately $101.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, which will enable us
to repay the remaining $75.0 million drawn under our $275.0 million senior
unsecured revolving credit facility with an affiliate of Hemen."

Average daily TCEs and estimated cash breakeven rates

+------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------+
| | | | Estimated |
| | | |average daily |
|   | Spot TCE | |cash breakeven|
| | currently | |rates for the |
| ($ per day) Spot TCE | contracted |% Covered|next 12 months|
+------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------+
|  2024 Q2 2024 Q1 2024| Q3 2024 |  |
| | | |
|VLCC 48,800 49,600 48,100 | 47,400 79% | 29,600 |
| | | |
|Suezmax 45,700 45,600 45,800 | 41,900 85% | 22,300 |
| | | |
|LR2 / Aframax 53,700 53,100 54,300 | 50,100 65% | 21,200 |
+------------------------------------+--------------------------+--------------+

We expect the spot TCEs for the full third quarter of 2024 to be lower than the
spot TCE currently contracted, due to the impact of ballast days at the end of
the third quarter of 2024. The number of ballast days at the end of the second
quarter of 2024 was 1,043 days for VLCCs, 306 days for Suezmax tankers and 147
days for LR2/Aframax tankers.

The Board of Directors
Frontline plc
Limassol, Cyprus
August 29, 2024

Ola Lorentzon - Chairman and Director
John Fredriksen - Director
Ole B. Hjertaker - Director
James O'Shaughnessy - Director
Steen Jakobsen - Director
Marios Demetriades - Director
Cato Stonex - Director

Questions should be directed to:

Lars H. Barstad: Chief Executive Officer, Frontline Management AS
+47 23 11 40 00

Inger M. Klemp: Chief Financial Officer, Frontline Management AS
+47 23 11 40 00

Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this report may constitute forward-looking statements. The
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor
protections for forward-looking statements, which include statements concerning
plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and
underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of
historical facts.

Frontline plc and its subsidiaries, or the Company, desires to take advantage of
the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe
harbor legislation. This report and any other written or oral statements made by
us or on our behalf may include forward-looking statements, which reflect our
current views with respect to future events and financial performance and are
not intended to give any assurance as to future results. When used in this
document, the words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "forecast,"
"project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect" and similar
expressions, terms or phrases may identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this report are based upon various
assumptions, including without limitation, management's examination of
historical operating trends, data contained in our records and data available
from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable
when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant
uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and
are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish
these expectations, beliefs or projections. We undertake no obligation to update
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.

In addition to these important factors and matters discussed elsewhere herein,
important factors that, in our view, could cause actual results to differ
materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include:

* the strength of world economies;
* fluctuations in currencies and interest rates, including inflationary
pressures and central bank policies intended to combat overall inflation and
rising interest rates and foreign exchange rates;
* the impact that any discontinuance, modification or other reform or the
establishment of alternative reference rates have on the Company's floating
interest rate debt instruments;
* general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter hire rates and
vessel values;
* changes in the supply and demand for vessels comparable to ours and the
number of newbuildings under construction;
* the highly cyclical nature of the industry that we operate in;
* the loss of a large customer or significant business relationship;
* changes in worldwide oil production and consumption and storage;
* changes in the Company's operating expenses, including bunker prices, dry
docking, crew costs and insurance costs;
* planned, pending or recent acquisitions, business strategy and expected
capital spending or operating expenses, including dry docking, surveys and
upgrades;
* risks associated with any future vessel construction;
* our expectations regarding the availability of vessel acquisitions and our
ability to complete vessel acquisition transactions as planned;
* our ability to successfully compete for and enter into new time charters or
other employment arrangements for our existing vessels after our current
time charters expire and our ability to earn income in the spot market;
* availability of financing and refinancing, our ability to obtain financing
and comply with the restrictions and other covenants in our financing
arrangements;
* availability of skilled crew members and other employees and the related
labor costs;
* work stoppages or other labor disruptions by our employees or the employees
of other companies in related industries;
* compliance with governmental, tax, environmental and safety regulation, any
non-compliance with U.S. regulations;
* the impact of increasing scrutiny and changing expectations from investors,
lenders and other market participants with respect to our ESG policies;
* Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 or other applicable regulations
relating to bribery;
* general economic conditions and conditions in the oil industry;
* effects of new products and new technology in our industry, including the
potential for technological innovation to reduce the value of our vessels
and charter income derived therefrom;
* new environmental regulations and restrictions, whether at a global level
stipulated by the International Maritime Organization, and/or imposed by
regional or national authorities such as the European Union or individual
countries;
* vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hire;
* the impact of an interruption in or failure of our information technology
and communications systems, including the impact of cyber-attacks upon our
ability to operate;
* potential conflicts of interest involving members of our board of directors
and senior management;
* the failure of counter parties to fully perform their contracts with us;
* changes in credit risk with respect to our counterparties on contracts;
* our dependence on key personnel and our ability to attract, retain and
motivate key employees;
* adequacy of insurance coverage;
* our ability to obtain indemnities from customers;
* changes in laws, treaties or regulations;
* the volatility of the price of our ordinary shares;
* our incorporation under the laws of Cyprus and the different rights to
relief that may be available compared to other countries, including the
United States;
* changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory
authorities;
* government requisition of our vessels during a period of war or emergency;
* potential liability from pending or future litigation and potential costs
due to environmental damage and vessel collisions;
* the arrest of our vessels by maritime claimants;
* general domestic and international political conditions or events, including
"trade wars";
* any further changes in U.S. trade policy that could trigger retaliatory
actions by the affected countries;
* potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents, environmental
factors, political events, public health threats, international hostilities
including the ongoing developments in the Ukraine region and the
developments in the Middle East, including the armed conflict in Israel and
the Gaza Strip, acts by terrorists or acts of piracy on ocean-going vessels;
* the length and severity of epidemics and pandemics and their impacts on the
demand for seaborne transportation of crude oil and refined products;
* the impact of port or canal congestion;
* business disruptions due to adverse weather, natural disasters or other
disasters outside our control; and
* other important factors described from time to time in the reports filed by
the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

We caution readers of this report not to place undue reliance on these forward-
looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. These forward-looking
statements are no guarantee of our future performance, and actual results and
future developments may vary materially from those projected in the forward-
looking statements.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section
5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(1) This press release describes Time Charter Equivalent earnings and related
per day amounts, which are not measures prepared in accordance with IFRS ("non-
GAAP"). See Appendix 1 for a full description of the measures and reconciliation
to the nearest IFRS measure.

More information:
Access the news on Oslo Bors NewsWeb site

626673_2nd Quarter 2024 Results.pdf