Lauritzen wants out of product tankers

摘要

J Lauritzen is planning to sell off selected assets to guard against declining solvency, after posting a continuing fall in profits for the first half-year and taking a $207m write-down in asset values. The Copenhagen-based company says it has taken a "strategic decision" to make a gradual exit from the product tanker sector. EBITDA fell from $65.0m in the first half of 2012 to $25.7m this year, with the decline primarily related to dry bulk activities. Taking the write-down into account, J Lauritzen posted a pre-tax loss of $261.7m, as against a loss of $67.0m for the first half of 2012.