Tsakos Energy Navigation reports record first-half results

Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE: TEN ) released second-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below. This transcript is brought to you APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit for a consultation.

View the webcast at Summary Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. reported record-breaking revenues with expectations to surpass $1 billion for 2026. 60 per share in dividends for 2026 and plans to increase dividends in the future, subject to board approval. 5 billion due to high time charter rates.

The company is successfully renewing its fleet, having sold older vessels and continued a $3 billion newbuilding program. Management highlighted significant geopolitical challenges, particularly in the Middle East, affecting operations but also contributing to strong market conditions. Net income for the first half of 2026 increased by 253% to $228 million compared to the same period in 2025. TEN's fleet renewal strategy includes divesting older vessels and acquiring energy-efficient newbuildings, with current fleet valuation significantly higher than purchase costs.

There is strong profit-sharing from spot market exposure, with a notable increase in contributions compared to the previous year. The company is considering future asset sales and potential restructuring to unlock value but maintains it will keep all operations within TEN. Management emphasized continued operational caution due to geopolitical tensions and market volatility. Full Transcript OPERATOR Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Tsakos Energy Navigation conference call on the second quarter 2026 financial results.

We have with us Mr. Takis Arapoglou, Chairman of the Board, Mr. Nikolaos Tsakos, Founder and CEO, Mr. George Saroglou, President and Chief Operating Officer, and Mr.

Harrys Kosmatos, CFO 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.

And now I pass the floor to Mr. Nicolas Bornozis, President of Capital Link and Investor Relations Advisor to Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. Please go ahead, sir. Takis Arapoglou, Chairman of the Board Thank you, Nikos.

Good morning and good afternoon to all. Thank you for joining our call today, presenting second quarter and first half results of TEN. And of course, once again, congratulations to Nikos Tsakos and the team for the stellar results as briefly described by Mr. Bornozis.

TEN's model has proven that it works even in weak markets, so no surprise that it works so well also in this market where current market conditions are very favorable. And it's a great opportunity for TEN to continue generating cash from operations, to continue from selling older vessels, to renew the fleet and generate more cash, to fund a record order book. As you have seen in the press release, keep cash for contingencies, perhaps if the board decides to repay, redeem the Series E preferred. Nobody knows.

It's a next-year issue. And more importantly, rewarding our investors. 60 per share. And it's obvious that this can only go higher if approved by the board and if current conditions are maintained.

This is a solid yield of very close to 4%. And it's a generous payout compared to other companies in the sector. So we want to underline that we want to reward our shareholders for staying with us, who have actually benefited also from nearly doubling of the stock price in the last two years. Finally, TEN is making use of the strong market and of the high time charter rates to lock in high returns for its fleet.

5 billion. So this is a great cushion and great base to look forward to continued success in the next two to three years. So once again, congratulations to Nikos Tsakos and the team for the stellar results and sincere wishes for continued success. Thank you very much.

And now, Nikos Tsakos, the glory is yours. I pass on the floor to you. Nikolaos Tsakos, Founder and CEO Thank you, Chairman. Thank you very much for your kind words, and hopefully we will continue this trend.

Before that, of course, from all of us here in TEN and the family, we all remember 9/11. S. and New York for the last 45 years. Many of us around this table were there 25 years ago.

Our office, our original office in New York, is just on Rector Street, two blocks south of Ground Zero. And just to remind you that we were the first company to go public after 9/11. We went public in March 2002, and we were actually starting a roadshow after Labor Day originally in 2001, before these terrible events. So it's, I would say, very much in our mind and in our hearts, and we do not forget 9/11.

Well, on a happier note, I have to say that this is a record-breaking period for our results in many segments. But looking back at it, it seems even after the first six months, which have been very profitable, the second part is actually even stronger. The appetite of the major oil companies and all the charterers is unprecedented. I've never seen that in my 30-plus years in business.

A year ago I would be happy when we said we had business for one, two, three years for our existing ships. Right now charterers are there to take anything which is 10 years or younger for up to seven years, and their appetite. So we are actually balancing this luxury problem to have together with our commercial department. We are making sure that TEN is taking advantage of the highs and at the same time secures long-term employment for when things become—for a rainy day, as they say.

It is actually also very rewarding to see that we had our largest newbuilding program of 26 vessels started two years ago. We have already taken delivery of seven of those ships, and the valuation of those ships has already increased by at least 30%. 9 billion and growing on a monthly basis. So we are very well in the money.

We took the decision to rebuild a big part of our fleet at a time where values, newbuilding values, were, I would say, more logical. So looking forward, we're looking for a good year. As the Chairman said, we're looking to increase the dividend for our shareholders. And we always make this announcement after our strategy meeting in November.

So looking forward for an increase of that, and hopefully the market will maintain its strength right now. And for more details, I will ask Mr. Saroglou, our President, to give us what has happened in the first six months and subsequent events. George Saroglou, President and Chief Operating Officer Thank you, Nikos.

We are very pleased today to report another profitable quarter excluding capital gains. This is a record-breaking quarter and first half for net income. We maintain a steady course in the most turbulent geopolitical environment in recent memory. The year started with the political developments in Venezuela and escalated with the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz experienced its most severe disruption in modern history, effectively halting normal global ocean-going commerce. The world was hoping for a resolution following the signing of a ceasefire agreement, which quickly unraveled halfway through the 60-day period it was supposed to last. S. naval blockade that tries to manage the safe passage of tankers in and out of this narrow high-risk area.

S. Navy. Vessels have been attacked and seafarers serving on board have been injured and killed while trying to do their job and keep the world and global commerce going. Our company continues to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the seafarers that are stranded inside the area and have to endure every day the unnecessary stress and psychological mental fatigue for which they are not responsible. Tanker market fundamentals were strong even before geopolitics took center stage at the end of February. 2026 was forecasted to be another year with growth in global oil demand while tonnage supply remained very balanced. The effect of the war in the Middle East and the ongoing closure in the Strait of Hormuz resulted in elevated crude oil and product prices that affected global oil demand.

Despite higher prices, these geopolitical events have significantly added to the market strength in the tanker market. The tanker freight market has gone from strength to strength, and TEN's diversified fleet, with each new charter renewal and the fleet's market exposure to spot and profit-sharing rates, will continue to further benefit from this unprecedented market dislocation. And this is basically what we have done in the 33-year history we have as a public company. And this is what basically we say in slide number one on page four, that we managed since 1993 to turn every crisis the world has faced into a growth opportunity.

Today we have an 81-vessel fleet and we are one of the largest energy transporters in the world with a very young, diversified and versatile pro forma fleet of 81 vessels. In slide four we show this pro forma fleet of all conventional tankers, both crude and product carriers. The red color shows the vessels that trade in the spot market, and we have currently 10 tankers trading spot and our newbuildings under construction. With light blue we have the vessels that are on time charter with profit sharing; we have 13 vessels.

And with dark blue, the vessels that are on fixed-rate time charters; we have 39 vessels. In the next slide we list the pro forma diversified fleet, which consists of our four LNG vessels, two in the water plus two newbuildings, and our 16-vessel shuttle tanker fleet. We are one of the largest shuttle tanker operators in the world with a fleet of young and technologically advanced vessels. On July 28th we took delivery of the DP shuttle tanker Anfield from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, the third in a series of 12 DP2 shuttle tankers under construction at that yard.

S. oil major with charter options to extend until the vessel's 20th year anniversary. Assuming charterers employ the vessel to the maximum duration, the expected gross revenue should approach 500 million. Following the Anfield delivery, we have seven shuttle tankers in full operation.

If we combine the two slides and account only for the current operating fleet of 62 vessels, we have 23 vessels, or 37% of the operating fleet, with market exposure—spot and time charter with profit sharing—while 52 vessels, or 84% of the fleet, is in secured revenue, which is time charters and time charters with profit sharing. In the next slide we list our clients with whom we do repeat business through the years. Thanks to our industrial model, ExxonMobil is the largest revenue client. Equinor, Shell, Chevron, TotalEnergies and BP follow.

The left side of the next slide presents the all-in breakeven costs for the various vessel types we operate in TEN. Our operating model is very simple. We try to have our time charter vessels generate revenue to cover the company's cash expenses, paying for the vessel operating and finance expenses, for overheads, chartering costs and commissions, and let revenue from the spot and profit-sharing trading vessels contribute to the profitability of the company. 11 positive impact on the annual earnings per share, based on the number of vessels that currently the company has exposure to spot rates, which is 23 vessels.

We have a solid balance sheet with strong cash reserves. 5%. Fleet renewal and investing in eco-friendly vessels has been key to our operating model. Since January 1st of 2023 we have further upgraded the quality of the fleet by divesting from our first-generation conventional tankers, replacing them with more energy-efficient newbuildings and modern secondhand tankers, including of course dual-fuel vessels.

8 million deadweight ton. We announced today the sale of two 2006-built Suezmax tankers to independent third parties for net proceeds of 100 million. Prior to the sale, and as previously reported, the vessels were part of a sale and leaseback structure, then repurchased for cash upon maturity of their lease at a significant discount to fair market value. And as we continue to transition our fleet to greener and dual-fuel vessels, we must note our well-timed newbuilding program and how well it is in the money today.

Our 26 newbuilding vessels that were contracted in 2023 are today at much lower levels than current newbuilding prices. 1 billion cost, we have today at least a 30% appreciation in value, even before some of these vessels are delivered to the company. Tanker market fundamentals have remained strong with the global orderbook still at a level equal to about 40% of the number of vessels that are 15 years of age or older, and shipyards operate at full capacity, while at the same time geopolitical conflicts continue to increase ton-mile dislocation, and that provides further support to an already robust tanker market.

And with that I will pass the floor to Harrys Kosmatos, who will walk us through the financial performance of the first half. Harrys Kosmatos, CFO Thank you, George. So let me start with a brief summary of our six-month results. Favorable tanker market fundamentals, continuous geopolitical tensions along with the ever-present trading inefficiencies that have been created continue to propel the market to levels that on the one hand incentivize owners with a long-term outlook to fix for longer periods as demand for term charters remains unabated, while on the other encourage the divestment of vessels on all ages for lofty profits.

TEN, since the beginning of the year, has been active on both fronts and has reaped the benefits of such an extraordinary confluence of circumstances. The results of the first half and second quarter of 2026 are a vivid reflection of that, benefiting from a modern, versatile and efficiently operated fleet catering, in its majority, to the long-term needs of our clients. 5% despite having six ships undergoing scheduled drydocks, from five in last year's first half.

As a result of the fleet operating at almost full capacity, with an employment policy inclined towards long-term charters with upside optionality through vessels operating under spot and profit-sharing contracts, gross revenues during the first half of 2026 increased to well over half a billion dollars — 551 million, to be exact — or 161 million above the 2025 first-half level. 5 vessels, just a vessel and a half above the 2025 first-half fleet — quite an achievement. Of interest, profit-sharing arrangements contributed 71 million of revenue during the first half of 2026 compared to 10 million in the 2025 same period.

This substantial increase occurred despite a 22% decline in actual operating days under market-related contracts, while available days on fixed-rate time charters rose by 23% over the corresponding periods. The time charter equivalent rate per ship per day, impacting the above results and by extension reflecting the continuous robustness of the tanker market and operational efficiency of the fleet, reached $43,503 per day from $30,754 per day in the 2025 first half, a 41% increase.

Fleet voyage expenses in the first half of 2026 climbed to about 82 million from 68 million in last year's first half, the result to a large extent of increases in bunker prices of about 25% impacting vessels operating spot. Vessel operating expenses during the 2026 first half reached 111 million from 102 million in the 2025 same period, a modest and expected increase — the result of the slightly bigger fleet, higher drydocking expenses and the customary inflationary pressures. On a per ship per day basis, this translated to $10,298, about a quarter of the TCE rate mentioned above.

Depreciation and amortization expenses, again driven by the increased size of the fleet, which included the delivery of two MR product tankers and the repatriation of two Suezmax tankers from five-year operating leases, came in at 90 million from 83 million in last year's first half. General and administrative expenses at 27 million from 23 million in the 2025 first half reflected a somewhat higher management performance-based compensation from the 2025 first-half level and inflationary pressures. 6 million of capital gains, respectively — an increase of 146%.