Heidmar Maritime Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter profitability improved sharply: Heidmar reported net income of $2.2 million, or $0.04 per share, versus a $0.1 million continuing-operations loss a year earlier; adjusted net income rose to $2.4 million from $0.5 million.
  • Positive Sentiment: Revenue increased 203% year over year to $29 million, driven by higher voyage and time-charter revenue and growth in vessels chartered out, which rose to six from two in the prior-year quarter.
  • Positive Sentiment: The asset-light platform added 15 vessels in the first half of 2026 and acquired Q-Shipping B.V. for approximately €0.2 million, adding nine managed vessels and expanding operations in the Netherlands, Turkey, and Ukraine.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management expects tanker rates to remain elevated or strengthen during the seasonally stronger winter months, citing geopolitical disruptions, longer trading distances, an aging fleet, and a sizable sanctioned fleet as structural support for freight rates.
  • Negative Sentiment: Management acknowledged that the Middle East crisis and Strait of Hormuz disruption create downside risk to oil demand and cargo volumes, while the company’s opportunistic chartering business remains dependent on finding attractive, properly hedged opportunities.
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Earnings Conference Call
Heidmar Maritime Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Heidmar conference call on the second quarter 2026 financial results. We have with us Mr. Pankaj Khanna, Chief Executive Officer of the company. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session, at which time, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today. Please be reminded that the company announced their results with a press release that has been publicly distributed. Before passing the floor to Mr. Khanna, I would like to remind everyone that in today's conference call, Heidmar will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are within the meaning of the federal securities laws.

Operator

Matters discussed may be forward-looking statements which are based on current management expectations that involve risks and uncertainties that may result in such expectations not being realized. Now I'd like to pass the floor to Mr. Khanna. Please go ahead, sir.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Thanks, Melissa. Good day to everyone, and welcome to the second quarter earnings call for Heidmar Maritime. Heidmar delivered a strong second quarter of 2026, marked by continued financial progress, accelerating fleet growth, and a sharpened strategic focus on value creation for our stakeholders. Today's results are further proof of what our asset-light, commercially driven model can deliver, the ability to scale quickly in markets that reward agility and sharp market intelligence over sheer size. At its core, Heidmar is a commercial manager, and we earn fee-based revenue operating tankers in pools or under commercial management and manage vessels on owners' behalf without putting capital into the ships themselves. That means our earnings grow with volume and market strength, not with balance sheet size.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

We have the ability to add vessels quickly, move fast when markets dislocate, and put capital back into growth or shareholders' hands rather than into debt service. Turning to the results. For the three-month period ended June 30th, 2026, Heidmar realized consolidated net income of $2.2 million, or $0.04 per share basic, compared to net loss of $13.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. The second quarter of 2025 comparison included a $13.6 million loss from discontinued operations. On a continuing operations basis, Heidmar recorded a net loss of $0.1 million in that quarter. So the year-on-year improvement in our core ongoing business is even more pronounced than the headline comparison suggests. Included in net income is non-cash stock-based compensation of $0.2 million, representing the amortization of share awards granted to key employees and members of the board of directors under the Heidmar Equity Incentive Plan.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Excluding these non-cash items, Heidmar realized adjusted net income of $2.4 million compared to adjusted net income of $0.5 million in the second quarter of 2025 on a continuing operations basis. Adjusted net income remains well above the prior year quarter and continues to demonstrate the improving underlying earnings capacity of the platform. Total revenues for the quarter were $29 million compared to $18.4 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $9.6 million in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of $19.4 million, or approximately 203% year-on-year, and an increase of $10.6 million, or approximately 58% quarter-on-quarter. This growth was driven primarily by a sharp increase in voyage and time charter revenues, which rose to $23.2 million from $6.2 million in the second quarter of 2025, alongside trade revenues, which increased to $5.8 million from $3.3 million over the same period.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Six vessels were chartered out on voyage and time charter arrangements during the quarter, compared to two vessels in the second quarter of 2025. General and administrative expenses were $5.6 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared to $4.7 million in the second quarter of 2025. The year-on-year increase was mainly attributable to higher cash bonuses paid to our employees, which totaled $1.8 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared to $1.4 million in the second quarter of 2025. Given our asset-light strategy, our people are the key to delivering services and growth, and rewarding talent is central to our continued success. As we move through the remainder of 2026, we expect G&A to remain well controlled relative to our growing revenue base.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

For the first half of 2026, Heidmar generated total revenues of $47.3 million and net income attributable to shareholders of $5 million or $5.8 million on an adjusted basis, excluding non-cash stock-based compensation of $0.8 million. Underscoring the consistency of the platform's earnings power across both quarters of the year. Turning to the balance sheet. As of June 30th, 2026, cash and cash equivalents stood at $28.7 million, and total assets were $99.6 million. Turning to the market, the tanker market remained highly volatile during the quarter, shaped primarily by escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and in Europe, where the Ukraine-Russia war has escalated into a targeting of energy assets and shipping in general. The extreme dislocation of March, April eased somewhat following the signing of the peace MoU by the U.S. and Iran in June, however, not for long.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Continued disruption in the Straits of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb kept two key choke points under pressure, supporting rates even as a prolonged Hormuz closure remains a downside risk to oil demand. Combined transits through both choke points recovered only modestly from 6 million barrels per day trough to roughly 11 million barrels per day by May, June, still well below pre-crisis levels of 20 million barrels per day. As a result of over 80 Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries in 2026, Russian seaborne product exports have halved from 2.2 million barrels per day average in 2025 to 1.1 million barrels per day in July. Also, attacks on Russian crude offtake terminals has also impacted crude exports, although most of this is not carried on mainstream tankers. Global seaborne crude volumes contracted during the quarter.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

However, the combination of sourcing crude from alternative long-haul sources and tanker scarcity kept freight rates elevated across most crude tanker segments. Oil prices did not escalate to over $100/bbl that many projected, as non-OPEC supply grew approximately 1 million barrels per day year-on-year, mostly from the Americas, and commercial and strategic inventories were drawn down across the board. However, now stocks in certain countries are at critically low levels, some at two-decade lows. During the third quarter to date, the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East has reduced the flow of oil through the Straits of Hormuz to a trickle. A new shuttle tanker trade has developed whereby owners willing to take risks are carrying crude oil at astronomical rates from the terminals inside the Arabian Gulf to just outside the Straits, to be discharged in ship-to-ship operations to other vessels.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Continuing Houthi threats and attacks on tankers transiting the Red Sea have also redirected crude flows from Yanbu to Ain Sokhna and via pipeline to Sidi Kerir in the Mediterranean, driving strong demand for Suezmaxes and Aframaxes in the region, with the Mediterranean and Black Sea Suezmax earnings at historical highs and rates elevated across the board as a result. VLCCs are now lifting oil from Sidi Kerir and taking it to Asia via the Cape of Good Hope, which is a 15,000 mi voyage to China versus only 6,700 mi via the Gulf of Aden. Notably, Suezmaxes have on average outperformed VLCCs during the period, and Aframaxes are also trading at historical highs, reinforcing our view that in periods of geopolitical disruption, effective tanker supply, not cargo volumes, become the primary driver of short-term rates outcomes.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

As we enter the seasonally stronger winter demand months of the fourth quarter and the first quarter, we expect rates to remain high and potentially strengthen further depending on how the geopolitical situation evolves. Turning to company developments. Scaling the platform remained the central storyline of the quarter, and it continues to define our trajectory heading into the second half of the year. We added seven vessels across key tanker segments during the second quarter, building on the eight vessels taken in the first quarter. Taken together, that is 15 vessels added to the platform in the first half of 2026 alone, with our pipeline remaining active and further additions expected through the remainder of this year and into next.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

We are also pleased to regain compliance with the Nasdaq continued listing rule on June 2nd, 2026, following 10 consecutive business days with our closing bid price at or above $1 per share, resolving the deficiency notice we received on April 22nd, 2026. Our scaling efforts have only accelerated since the quarter ended. On July 1, 2026, we completed the acquisition of Q-Shipping B.V., a Netherlands-based ship management and crewing enterprise, for approximately EUR 0.2 million, funded from existing cash reserves with no regulatory approvals or post-closing conditions required. The transaction added nine vessels to our managed fleet, bringing our total managed fleet to approximately 60 vessels under commercial management and 20 under technical management, and gives Heidmar an operating presence in the Netherlands and Turkey, along with dedicated crewing capability in Ukraine. This is exactly the kind of disciplined move we favor.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

A small investment with real strategic value, delivering overnight operational presence with minimal capital and immediate upside. We only expect to be immediately accretive to management fee revenue. Together with our first half fleet, we have added 24 vessels to the Heidmar platform in under two quarters, evidence that our asset-light model lets us scale the business without a proportional increase in overhead. The Q-Shipping integration is already showing results, with the takeover of three additional vessels expected during the third quarter of 2026. Our global footprint now spans eight locations, supported by a team of more than 75 onshore employees and over 500 seafarers. Alongside this growth, we continue to invest in enhancing our commercial and operational platforms through the use of artificial intelligence, further strengthening the efficiency and scalability of our asset-light model.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

These upcoming AI-driven enhancements will bring together data and workflows across chartering, operations, and finance into a more unified operational view, automating recurring, time-consuming tasks that have traditionally required manual handling and giving teams faster, clearer visibility into performance across the fleet. As these capabilities come online, AI is set to become a core part of how Heidmar operates, allowing us to enhance performance and extract more value from every vessel we manage as we leverage every relationship we hold. The fundamental difference between Heidmar and traditional shipping companies is this: We don't own ships. Asset owning operators are weighed down by vessel depreciation, dry docking, financing costs, and locked-up capital. We carry none of that, freeing us to focus entirely on commercial performance.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

As the original commercial management brand in the tanker sector for over 40 years has earned us relationships with charterers, oil majors, and trading houses across the planet that no newcomer can replicate. Our eFleetWatch platform, the first digital transparency tool built for shipping, gives owners real-time visibility into their earned vessels earnings and performance that no pure asset owner can match at scale. Deep market knowledge, a trusted owner network, and proprietary technology, together, that's what makes Heidmar structurally different. Scale is Heidmar's flywheel. Every vessel added to our commercially managed fleet builds our collective trading power, better cargo coverage, tighter voyage optimization, stronger negotiating leverage, and that network effect means growth pays off for every owner in the pool or on commercial management. We don't stop at commercial management fees either.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Technical management, sale and purchase advisory, investor opportunities, asset management, and fuel services give us multiple ways to add value across an owner's asset life cycle. The bigger we get, the harder we are to copy and the wider our moat grows. Looking ahead, we remain constructive on the tanker market outlook. Near-term volatility tied to the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Gulf region may continue, but structural drivers behind elevated freight rates are firmly intact on both demand and supply side. We remain confident in Heidmar's trajectory and our ability to deliver sustainable returns for our stakeholders as we build one of the leading maritime services platform in the global shipping industry. I thank our stakeholders, employees, vessel owners, and charter partners for their continued trust, and we look forward to updating you on our progress. We will now take questions.

Operator

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Liam Burke with B. Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Liam Burke
Liam Burke
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Thank you. Hi, Pankaj. How are you doing today?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

I'm good, Liam. How are you?

Liam Burke
Liam Burke
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

I'm fine, thank you. There's been a lot of talk about the Strait of Hormuz, and we all know what that's doing for rates. Has that crisis in the Middle East helped you acquire or add more vessels to your managed fleet?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

I would say not at this time. Rates are this elevated, people are trying to do their own thing. But where we are seeing additions are also from the fact that many owners have ordered new buildings, and the new buildings are starting to deliver, and they do not have the expertise to handle those new buildings. So people are coming to us to take that over. We are helping some Chinese owners who are taking over new builds to find time charters or to trade spot. For one of the owners who we have a long-standing relationship with, we just fixed the first voyage on a short two month TC to a leading trading house. We are seeing additions on commercial management from new buildings coming to us, but not necessarily from what's happening in the Middle East.

Liam Burke
Liam Burke
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Great. Thank you. We're looking at your new acquisition, Q-Shipping B.V. is starting to pay dividends. It added three vessels to the fleet. Are those tankers or the?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Yeah, it's one small tanker and two Handysize bulk carriers.

Liam Burke
Liam Burke
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Great. One, two Handysize bulkers?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Yeah, two Handysize bulkers and one small tanker.

Liam Burke
Liam Burke
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Great. Finally, you chartered out six vessels versus two a year ago. Is that still a quarter-to-quarter opportunistic event for you, or do you see opportunity to do more of that?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Look, there are two aspects to that business. There is the long-term charters where we take in for, let's say, six, 12, 24 months. We have two MRs on two-year charters that we have chartered out, as I've mentioned in the past. Then there are short-term opportunities, which depends on the quarter. That's a quarter-to-quarter event. On the long-term stuff, we are in discussions right now with several people, but the rates are at elevated level, and we are not there to take balanced risk unless we can hedge it back to back.

Liam Burke
Liam Burke
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Great. Thank you, Pankaj.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tate Sullivan with Maxim Group. Please proceed with your question.

Tate Sullivan
Tate Sullivan
Analyst at Maxim Group

Hi. Thank you, Pankaj. I read your comments and I think in previous, can you give more background on how your shipping services business benefits from higher tanker rates to earn a percent fee when you lock in those higher rates for clients or does it vary based on the structure of the agreement?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Look, as you know, the fee-based business is based on a percentage of gross freight. With rates being as high as they are, people focus on headline rates. What rates are published by the Baltic, for example, AG East of $500,000, $600,000, $700,000 are the exception. They are done by one or two or three ships. It is not the norm. But the rates outside of the AG are elevated. Suezmaxes on average probably are making now $200,000 per day, or at least between $150,000-$200,000. Afras are making around $100,000-$200,000 depending on the voyage. But the average is about $100,000+. Obviously at those kind of rates, we are making our percentage of the gross rate there. That really drives revenue growth for us.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

The more the ships we add with the rates being where they are and expected in Q4 and Q1 to go even higher, we should be able to get even higher revenues from there.

Tate Sullivan
Tate Sullivan
Analyst at Maxim Group

Is the contracting business a meaningful portion of the total shipping services business in terms of getting that fee on the higher rates?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Yes, it is, but it varies quarter-to-quarter. There is the core business of the commercial management that drives the fee-based business, and then the so-called, let's say, the proprietary book. That varies from quarter-to-quarter. You know, like a year ago, we didn't have much of it because the rates were so elevated. There were no opportunities to time charter in. Then we went in and took some ships, and we were able to capitalize on the market. We are constantly looking for ships to increase the book where we see a margin. Right now, for example, three-years rate on an MR would be about 23.5, whereas the one-year rate is about 30.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

If we can lock in those kind of numbers where we go long with the three years and lock in the first year at 30, that's of interest to us. But that's more on the long-term basis. On the short term, it's very opportunistic. We have a captive cargo that looks good, and then we find a ship that matches with it, and we are able to make a margin off it.

Tate Sullivan
Tate Sullivan
Analyst at Maxim Group

Separately, if the Strait of Hormuz, the traffic does increase, let's say, in the next two years, will that create immediate drop in rates in your view in the tanker market or possibly create more urgency to get ships to the region?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Look, there is short-term and long-term, right? Short-term, right now, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, what is happening with the Russia-Ukraine, assists in terms of the rates being where they are. But long-term, you have to also look at the fleet, and you have average age of the fleet of over 14 years. Certain segments of the fleet have huge portions of the fleet which are approaching 20 years. So, on VLCCs, you could have 30% of the fleet, or about 33% of the fleet could be about 20 years in two, three years' time. The same even higher, probably about 50% of the Aframax fleet could be in that segment of 20+ years by the end of the decade. So, those fleets normally, in normal markets, are excluded from the mainstream trades.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

I think the age of the fleet, plus the sanctions fleet, which is substantial, it is 15%-20% of the fleet is sanctioned. If you look at the long-term trades, you have to look at that aspect of the fleet, besides what happens with oil demand. But also the other thing we are looking at is the distances that ships are traveling because of the need for diversifying sources of oil imports. I have spoken about this before. Japan was importing 90% of their crude oil from the Middle East. Now they are trying desperately to diversify. And so that means longer haul imports. A lot of oil is coming from Guyana, Brazil, U.S. Gulf. So that means ton-mile demand is increasing, not only for crude but also for products.

Tate Sullivan
Tate Sullivan
Analyst at Maxim Group

Okay. Thank you very much.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, it's star one to join the question queue. We'll pause just a moment to allow for any other questions.

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

Okay, Melissa, if there are no further questions, we can end the call, please.

Operator

Sir, did you have any final comments to make?

Pankaj Khanna
Pankaj Khanna
CEO at Heidmar Maritime

No. Thank you very much for listening in, everyone, and we'll speak to you in the next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your patience.

Executives
    • Pankaj Khanna
      Pankaj Khanna
      CEO
Analysts