Qatar Gas Transport Company Ltd (NAKILAT) Q.P.S.C., its subsidiaries and associates (“Group”) announced its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2020.
The Group reported a consolidated net profit of QR 1,161 million in 2020, an increase of 15.7%, as compared to QAR 1,003 million for the same period in 2019. For this period, the Board recommends a cash dividend at QAR 0.11 per share.
Even though the global economy and LNG shipping market were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic for most of 2020, Nakilat continued to demonstrate great resilience as reflected in its operational and financial performance for the year.
The outstanding financial performance in 2020 is a testament to the company’s defensive business model and concerted efforts, which includes the safe completion of the second phase fleet management transition involving 7 LNG carriers, delivery of 2 MEGI LNG newbuilds, as well as the first FSRU transition to NSQL-management.
LNG shipping stocks: Weakening
The UP World LNG Shipping Index, the world’s only stock index focused on companies in the LNG shipping industry, lost 3.56 points, or 4.35%, last week. US stocks represented by the S&P 500 (SPX) index gained 1.94%.
Last week was the opposite of the previous week and the two indices thus balanced. US-listed LNG shipping companies weakened the most. Shares of GasLog Ltd. lost almost 20%, which was an abnormally high decline.
On the contrary, very few shares went up, in fact only four: Exmar NV (EXM.BR, +3.5%), SM KLC (005880.KS, +2.3%), Qatar Gas Transport Company Ltd. (QGTS.QA, +1.8%), and Nippon Yussen Kabushiki Kaisha (9101.T, +1.7%).