Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Results Summary
Net income amounted to $100.0 million, or $2.47 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $51.3 million, or $1.27 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2022.
Adjusted net income amounted to $106.0 million, or $2.62 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2023, compared to adjusted net income of $52.0 million, or $1.29 per diluted share, for the three months ended December 31, 2022. Adjusted net income for the three months ended December 31, 2023 is calculated by adjusting net income for the same period to exclude an unrealized loss on derivative instruments of $6.1 million. Please refer to the reconciliation of net income to adjusted net income, which appears later in this press release.
The $54.0 million increase in adjusted net income for the three months ended December 31, 2023, compared to the three months ended December 31, 2022, is primarily attributable to increases of $59.8 million in revenues, $1.7 million in interest income, and $0.5 in realized gain on derivatives; partially offset by increases of $3.2 million in charter hire expenses, $1.5 in interest and finance costs, $1.4 million in depreciation and amortization, $1.3 million in vessel operating expenses, $0.8 million in general and administrative expenses, and $0.4 million in voyage expenses.
The TCE rate per operating day for our fleet was $76,337 for the three months ended December 31, 2023, a 44.7% increase from $52,768 for the same period in the prior year, driven by higher spot rates and moderately lower bunker prices. 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) decreased from 97.8% during the three months ended December 31, 2022 to 93.6% during the three months ended December 31, 2023.
Vessel operating expenses per day increased to $9,936 for the three months ended December 31, 2023 compared to $9,739 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 $163.1 million for the three months ended December 31, 2023, an increase of $59.8 million, or 57.8%, from $103.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2022 primarily due to an increase in average TCE rates and fleet size, partially offset by a reduction of fleet utilization. Average TCE rates increased by $23,569 per operating day from $52,768 for the three months ended December 31, 2022 to $76,337 for the three months ended December 31, 2023, primarily due to higher spot rates and moderately lower bunker prices. 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 $132.773 during the three months ended December 31, 2023 compared to an average of $119.106 for the three months ended December 31, 2022. The average price of very low sulfur fuel oil (expressed as U.S. dollars per metric ton) from Singapore and Fujairah decreased slightly from $676 during the three months ended December 31, 2022, to $653 during the three months ended December 31, 2023. Our available days increased from 1,993 for the three months ended December 31, 2022 to 2,272 for the three months ended December 31, 2023 due to three additional vessels in our fleet. Our fleet utilization decreased from 97.8% during the three months ended December 31, 2022 to 93.6% during the three months ended December 31, 2023.
Charter Hire Expenses
Charter hire expenses for the vessels chartered in from third parties were $8.4 million and $5.2 million for the three months ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The increase of $3.2 million, or 60.3%, was mainly caused by an increase in the number of chartered-in days from 184 for the three months ended December 31, 2022 to 368 for the three months ended December 31, 2023, offset by certain credits claimed under the terms of the time charters.