Lorenzo Shipping raises P270M to settle debt

Lorenzo Shipping Corp. will get a fresh P270-million capital infusion from the Magsaysay Group’s National Marine Corp. (NMC) via the issuance of additional shares to help settle its existing liabilities.

In a stock exchange filing on Friday, Lorenzo Shipping said it would issue 270 million common shares valued at P1 each to NMC, which currently owns 68.36 percent of the listed firm.

NMC is a holding company of Magsaysay Shipping and Logistics, which also operates NMC’s full agency service operations. This serves both domestic and foreign ship owners, charterers and principals that call or customarily stop at Philippine ports.

READ: Trade pickup buoys Lorenzo Shipping volumes

NMC has offices in Manila, Batangas, Cebu, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Leyte, Iligan, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

Post-transaction, public ownership level at Lorenzo Shipping will subside to 21.35 percent from 31.73 percent.

“The additional capital infusion will be used for the settlement of existing liabilities of the company and other general corporate purposes,” Lorenzo Shipping said in its disclosure.

The company’s net loss in the first nine months of this year ballooned by 166 percent to P290.36 million due to lower revenues and limited voyages.

Top line fell

In its latest financial statement, Lorenzo Shipping also reported a 27-percent decline in its top line, which settled at P1.86 billion. The company attributed this to a slowdown in domestic consumption and “necessary maintenance and repairs for several vessels.”

The volume of cargos that the company handled dropped by 26.22 percent in terms of twenty-foot equivalent units, a measure of cargo capacity that represents the volume of a standard 20-foot intermodal container, Lorenzo Shipping said.

According to the company, it is implementing operational efficiency measures such as digitalization, systems upgrade, quality initiatives and cost rationalization to help shrink its losses. It is expecting an upturn in domestic consumption in the last quarter of the year.

Lorenzo Shipping said it would also focus on maximizing yield to offset the rise in its expenses and “other inflationary effects.”