Virtu Finance plc - Updated Financial Analysis Summary

On 17 June 2021, Virtu Finance plc (“Virtu”) published an updated Financial Analysis Summary (“FAS”) providing an overview of the Guarantor’s financial results in 2020, a comparison of the 2020 actual results with the forecasts published in the previous FAS dated 25 August 2020, as well as forecasts for 2021.

 

The following are the main highlights of the expected financial performance and financial position of Virtu Maritime plc in 2021:

  • Total revenues are expected to drop by 35.0% to €20.5 million as the 6.4% increase in ‘Ferry Service, Accommodation & Excursions’ to €18.8 million and the 10.8% increase in ‘Food & Beverage Sales’ to €0.4 million are expected to be outweighed by the considerable decline in ‘Charter Hire & Related Income’ to just €1.4 million compared to €13.6 million in 2020. The financial performance of the chartering business is expected to be dented by the Group’s decision to utilise the HSC Jean de La Vallette for the Malta-Sicily route, whilst no income will be generated by the HSC Maria Dolores following the termination of the contract serving the Spain-Morocco route in Q1 2020.
  • Operating expenses are expected to increase by 4.1% to €19.2 million in line with the projected improvement in business activity on the Malta-Sicily route. Nonetheless, given the material drop in total revenues, EBITDA is expected to decline to €1.9 million (2020: €13.5 million).
  • Despite the slight decline in depreciation charges (-€0.2 million) and net finance costs €2.7 million (-€0.3 million), Virtu Maritime is expecting to register a pre-tax loss of €6.5 million.
  • The forecasted Statement of Financial Position as at 31 December 2021 shows a 1.8% reduction in total assets to €196 million mainly due to the drop in cash balances to €0.8 million (31 December 2020: €9.1 million). On the other hand, total liabilities are expected to increase by 2.7% to €116 million as the Group will be increasing its borrowings by 4.6% to €66.6 million. Coupled with the 7.5% drop in equity to €80 million (reflecting the loss for the year), the gearing ratio (calculated as total debt divided by total debt plus equity) is expected to increase to 45.4% from 42.4% as at the end of 2020. Furthermore, the interest cover is expected to weaken to 0.7 times (2020: 4.7 times) whilst the net debt to EBITDA multiple is forecasted to surge to 33.9 times (2020: 4.1 times).

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Virtu Finance plc – Financial Analysis Summary dated 17 June 2021.