Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Results Summary
Net income amounted to $16.6 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2021, compared to $35.8 million, or $0.71 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2020.
Adjusted net income amounted to $13.5 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2021, compared to adjusted net income of $35.3 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2020. Net income for the three months ended December 31, 2021 is adjusted to exclude an unrealized gain on derivative instruments of $3.1 million. Please refer to the reconciliation of net income to adjusted net income, which appears later in this press release.
The $21.8 million decrease in adjusted net income for the three months ended December 31, 2021, compared to the three months ended December 31, 2020, is primarily attributable to a decrease of $19.9 million in revenues; increases of $1.3 million in interest and finance costs, $0.5 million in charter hire expenses, $0.4 million in general and administrative costs, a $1.1 million unfavorable change in other gain/(loss), and a $0.1 million unfavorable change in realized loss on derivatives; partially offset by decreases of $1.0 million in vessel operating expenses and $0.4 million in depreciation and amortization.
The TCE rate for our fleet was $33,508 for the three months ended December 31, 2021, a 20.8% decrease from a TCE rate of $42,298 for the same period in the prior year, which was primarily due to higher bunker prices along with reduced spot rates. Please see footnote 7 to the table in “Financial Information” below for information related to how we calculate TCE. Total fleet utilization (including the utilization of our vessels deployed in the Helios Pool) increased from 96.2% during the three months ended December 31, 2020 to 98.5% during the three months ended December 31, 2021.
Vessel operating expenses per day decreased to $9,423 for the three months ended December 31, 2021 compared to $9,487 in the same period in the prior year. Please see “Vessel Operating Expenses” below for more information.
Revenues
Revenues, which represent net pool revenues—related party, time charters and other revenues, net, were $68.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2021, a decrease of $19.9 million, or 22.5%, from $88.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2020 primarily due to a decrease in average TCE rates despite an increase in fleet utilization. Average TCE rates decreased by $8,790 from $42,298 for the three months ended December 31, 2020 to $33,508 for the three months ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to higher bunker prices along with reduced spot rates. The average price of very low sulfur fuel oil (expressed as U.S. dollars per metric ton), from Singapore and Fujairah increased from $361 during the three months ended December 31, 2020 to $609 during the three months ended December 31, 2021. The Baltic Exchange Liquid Petroleum Gas Index, an index published daily by the Baltic Exchange for the spot market rate for the benchmark Ras Tanura-Chiba route (expressed as U.S. dollars per metric ton), averaged $59.252 during the three months ended December 31, 2021 compared to an average of $75.797 for the three months ended December 31, 2020. Our fleet utilization increased from 96.2% during the three months ended December 31, 2020 to 98.5% during the three months ended December 31, 2021.
Charter Hire Expenses
Charter hire expenses for the vessels chartered in from third parties were $4.9 million and $4.4 million for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase of $0.5 million, or 12.0%, was mainly caused by a higher charter-in rate on the vessel we took delivery of in October 2021 compared to the vessel that was chartered-in during the three months ended December 31, 2020 and subsequently redelivered.