ATHENS, Greece, Nov. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Ship Lease, Inc. (NYSE:GSL) (the "Company", "Global Ship Lease" or "GSL"), an owner of containerships, announced today its unaudited results for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2025.
Third Quarter of 2025 and Year to Date Highlights and Other Recent Developments
3Q 2025 operating revenue of $192.7 million; up 10.7% on 3Q 2024. 9M 2025 operating revenue of $575.5 million; up 8.9% on 9M 2024.
3Q 2025 net income available to common shareholders of $92.6 million, or $2.59 Earnings per Share (EPS); up 17.5% on 3Q 2024. 9M 2025 net income available to common shareholders of $306.7 million, or $8.60 EPS; up 20.8% on 9M 2024.
3Q 2025 normalized net income (a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure, described below)3 of $93.8 million, or $2.62 normalized EPS³ up 8.3% on 3Q 2024. 9M 2025 normalized net income of $283.2 million, or $7.94 normalized EPS up 8.0% on 9M 2024.
3Q 2025 Adjusted EBITDA (a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure, described below)3 of $130.2 million; up 5.6% on 3Q 2024. 9M 2025 Adjusted EBITDA of $396.7 million; up 6.9% on 9M 2024.
Added $778.0 million of contracted revenues during 9M 2025, bringing total contracted revenues as of September 30, 2025 to $1.92 billion, over a weighted average remaining duration of 2.5 years.
Declared a dividend of $0.625 per Class A common share for the third quarter of 2025, to be paid on or about December 4, 2025 to common shareholders of record as of November 21, 2025 (the "Third Quarter Dividend"). The Board of Directors determined that sustained market demand for GSL's fleet and the Company's progress on securing forward fixtures at attractive levels supports a $0.10 per share increase in our quarterly supplemental dividend, amounting to a 19.0% increase in total annualized dividends per share, to $2.50 ($0.625 per quarter), commencing with, and reflected in, the Third Quarter Dividend.
On July 8, 2025, announced updates by three leading credit rating agencies. Moody's Investor Service maintained its Ba2 Corporate Family Rating for Global Ship Lease, with a stable outlook; S&P Global Ratings affirmed its long-term issuer credit rating of BB+, with a stable outlook; and Kroll Bond Rating Agency ("KBRA") maintained the Company's corporate credit rating at BB+, with a stable outlook, while also affirming the BBB/stable investment grade rating and stable outlook for the 5.69% Senior Secured Notes due July 15, 2027 (the "2027 Secured Notes").
In May 2025 Dimitris Y (5,900 TEU, built 2000) was contracted to be sold for $35.6 million. On October 13, 2025 the vessel was delivered to her new buyers, for a gain of $17.7 million (which will be reflected in our 4Q 2025 results). We have also completed the sales of Tasman (5,900 TEU, built 2000), Akiteta (2,200 TEU, built 2002), and Keta (2,200 TEU, built 2003) for an aggregate gain of $28.3 million; the vessels were delivered to their new owners in the first quarter of 2025.
Took delivery, in January 2025, of Czech, the last in a series of four high-reefer, ECO-9,000 TEU containerships contracted for purchase with charters attached in the fourth quarter of 2024 ("Newly Acquired Vessels").
Agreed, in March 2025, to an $85.0 million Credit Facility with UBS to fully prepay certain of our outstanding credit facilities which would otherwise have matured between May 2026 and July 2026. The new loan is priced at SOFR + 2.15%, and matures in the second quarter of 2028.
Paid a dividend of $0.525 per Class A common share for the second quarter of 2025 on September 4, 2025.
Approximately $33.0 million of capacity remains available under our opportunistic share repurchase authorization.
George Youroukos, our Executive Chairman, stated: "Throughout 2025, the immense complexity and instability of the geopolitical situation and the heightened uncertainty around trade policy have stood in stark contrast to the consistency and strength of the mid-sized and smaller containership charter market. In this environment, our commitment to maximizing optionality in both our fleet and our balance sheet has continued to serve GSL well, both in terms of growing our quarterly earnings and in our ability to secure additional forward charter coverage at attractive rates for the multi-year period ahead. A growing number of external factors and disruptions is progressively fragmenting and reducing the efficiency of the global containership supply chain and, as a consequence, increasing the number of ships required to move a given quantity of cargo. Diffusion of intermediate and final manufacturing out from China and across Southeast Asia; companies in large consumer economies diversifying the sourcing and geographic origins of goods to manage supply chain risk; China developing and diversifying its end-markets; sudden trade policy changes disrupting or diverting trade flows, all of these factors are driving the liners to seek additional, flexible tonnage to meet the practical needs of their existing business. While routing, timing, and deployments are all in flux, the reality is that containerized trade continues to grow. With idle capacity in the global fleet almost non-existent, we continue to negotiate and sign attractively priced charters off forward positions. 2025 is fully covered, 2026 is approaching full coverage, and our open positions in 2027 are reducing fast. Driven by those newly signed charters that have brought our revenue backlog to nearly $2 billion over an average of 2.5 years, we have decided to once again increase our supplemental quarterly dividend. We are raising it by a further $0.40 per common share on an annualized basis, an uplift of 19%, which will push our overall dividend up to $2.50 per common share, annualized. By way of the supplemental dividend, we have now up-sized our overall dividend three times since 2Q 2024, by an aggregate annualized total of $1.00 per common share, an increase of 67%. We remain both vigilant and disciplined in our assessment of fleet renewal opportunities and believe that we are well positioned to act decisively when the right opportunities present themselves."
Thomas Lister, our Chief Executive Officer, stated: "Surveying the current landscape of global containerized trade and an unprecedented array of unpredictable factors of potential relevance to our business, our conviction in a strategy of maximizing optionality has only grown stronger. We are continuing to de-lever our fortress balance sheet and achieve extraordinarily low breakeven costs despite an inflationary environment; to sign attractive charters that add to our cashflow and our multi-year backlog; and to combine prudence and agility in our opportunistic fleet renewal, while demonstrating our commitment to return capital to our shareholders. We acknowledge that the unknowns in the market are diverse and potentially material. However, with 2.5 years of fixed-rate charter coverage and financial leverage of 0.5x, we are confident that our disciplined, dynamic approach puts us in an excellent position to manage risks and capitalize on opportunities going forward."
SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA, UNAUDITED
(thousands of U.S. dollars)
Three
Three
Nine
Nine
months ended
months ended
months ended
months ended
September 30, 2025
September 30, 2024
September 30, 2025
September 30, 2024
Operating Revenues(1)
192,668
174,064
575,502
528,622
Operating Income
99,203
92,189
329,463
283,130
Net Income(2)
92,635
78,763
306,698
253,912
Adjusted EBITDA(3)
130,191
123,349
396,672
371,061
Normalized Net Income(3)
93,755
86,583
283,181
262,295
(1) Operating Revenues are net of address commissions which represent a discount provided directly to a charterer based on a fixed percentage of the agreed upon charter rate and also includes the amortization of intangible liabilities, the effect of the straight lining of time charter modifications and the compensation from charterers for drydock and for other capitalized expenses for vessel upgrades or retrofits. Brokerage commissions are included in "Time charter and voyage expenses" (see below).
(2) Net Income available to common shareholders.
(3) Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized Net Income, and Normalized Earnings per Share are non-U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("U.S. GAAP") financial measures, as explained further in this press release, and are considered by Global Ship Lease to be useful measures of its performance. For reconciliations of these non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, please see "Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures" below.
Operating Revenues and Utilization
Operating revenues derived from fixed-rate, mainly long-term, time-charters were $192.7 million in the third quarter of 2025, up $18.6 million (or 10.7%) on operating revenues of $174.1 million in the prior year period. The period-on-period increase in operating revenues was principally due to (i) the net effect of higher rates on charter renewals, (ii) the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels offset by the sale of Tasman, Keta and Akiteta in the first quarter of 2025 and (iii) a non-cash $4.1 million positive effect from straight lining time charter modifications and a non-cash $1.8 million increase in the amortization of intangible liabilities arising from below-market charters attached to certain vessel additions. There were 263 days of offhire and idle time in the third quarter of 2025, of which 137 were for scheduled drydockings, compared to 362 days of offhire and idle time in the prior year period, of which 333 were for scheduled drydockings. Utilization for the third quarter of 2025 was 95.9% compared to utilization of 94.2% in the prior year period.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, operating revenues were $575.5 million, up $46.9 million (or 8.9%) on operating revenues of $528.6 million in the comparative period, mainly due to (i) the net effect of higher rates on charter renewals (ii) the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels offset by the sale of Tasman, Keta and Akiteta in the first quarter of 2025 and (iii) a non-cash $5.6 million positive effect from straight lining time charter modifications and a non-cash $5.4 million increase in the amortization of intangible liabilities arising from below-market charters attached to certain vessel additions offset by an increase in off hire days. There were 851 days of offhire and idle time in the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 of which 612 were for scheduled drydockings, compared to 619 days of offhire and idle time in the prior year of which 519 were for scheduled drydockings. Utilization for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 was 95.5% compared to utilization of 96.7% in the prior year period.
Our revenue origin by country, using the respective head office location of each of our charterers as a proxy for origin, for the nine-month periods ended September 30, 2025 and 2024, respectively, was as follows:
Unaudited Revenue origin by country1
Nine months ended September 30, 2025
Nine months ended September 30, 2024
Revenue (USD million)
Percentage of revenue
Revenue (USD million)
Percentage of revenue
Denmark (Maersk)
185.49
32.23
%
176.93
33.47
%
Germany (Hapag Lloyd)
110.64
19.23
%
31.39
5.94
%
France (CMA CGM)
104.96
18.24
%
123.99
23.46
%
Switzerland (MSC)
63.37
11.01
%
46.32
8.76
%
Israel (ZIM)
51.45
8.94
%
65.26
12.35
%
China, including Hong Kong (COSCO & OOCL)
32.48
5.64
%
39.18
7.41
%
Singapore (ONE, Swire Shipping, RCL Feeder)
19.03
3.31
%
22.84
4.32
%
USA (Matson)
5.80
1.00
%
9.62
1.82
%
Taiwan (Wan Hai)
2.28
0.40
%
10.40
1.97
%
Denmark / Dubai (Unifeeder)2
-
-
2.68
0.50
%
Total
575.50
100.00
%
528.61
100.00
%
Based on jurisdiction of head office of each charterer
Unifeeder is headquartered in Denmark, but owned by DP World (Dubai)
The table below shows unaudited fleet utilization data for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 and 2024, and for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Three months ended
Nine months ended
Year ended
Sep 30,
Sep 30,
Sep 30,
Sep 30,
Dec 31,
Dec 31,
Dec 31,
Dec 31,
Days
2025
2024
2025
2024
2024
2023
2022
2021
Ownership days
6,348
6,256
19,031
18,632
24,937
24,285
23,725
19,427
Planned offhire - scheduled drydock
(137
)
(333
)
(612
)
(519
)
(807
)
(701
)
(581
)
(752
)
Unplanned offhire
(126
)
(29
)
(196
)
(98
)
(144
)
(233
)
(460
)
(260
)
Idle time
-
-
(43
)
(2
)
(15
)
(62
)
(30
)
(88
)
Operating days
6,085
5,894
18,180
18,013
23,971
23,289
22,654
18,327
Utilization
95.9
%
94.2
%
95.5
%
96.7
%
96.1
%
95.9
%
95.5
%
94.3
%
As of September 30, 2025, three regulatory drydockings were in progress and three further regulatory drydockings are anticipated.
Vessel Operating Expenses
Vessel operating expenses, which are primarily the costs of crew, lubricating oil, repairs, maintenance, insurance and technical management fees, were up 11.8% to $52.1 million for the third quarter of 2025, compared to $46.6 million in the prior year period. The increase of $5.5 million was mainly due to (i) the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels offset by the sale of Tasman, Keta and Akiteta in the first quarter of 2025, (ii) an increase in stores, spares and maintenance expenses for planned main engine maintenance and overhaul of diesel generators as well as main engine annual spares delivery due to timing of planned schedule, and (iii) the impact of inflation on fees and expenses, including management fees. The average cost per ownership day in the quarter was $8,199, compared to $7,447 for the prior year period, up $752 per day, or 10.1%.
For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025, vessel operating expenses were $152.6 million, or an average of $8,017 per day, compared to $141.6 million in the comparative period, or $7,601 per day, an increase of $416 per ownership day, or 5.5%. The increase of $11.0 million was mainly due to (i) the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels offset by the sale of Tasman, Keta and Akiteta in the first quarter of 2025, (ii) an increase in crew expenses following our decision to increase the number of seafarers on board to improve the vessels' conditions, (iii) an increase in stores, spares and maintenance expenses for planned main engine maintenance and overhaul of diesel generators as well as main engine annual spares delivery due to timing of planned schedule, and (iv) the impact of inflation on fees and expenses, including management fees.
Time Charter and Voyage Expenses
Time charter and voyage expenses comprise mainly commissions paid to ship brokers, the cost of bunker fuel for owner's account when a ship is off-hire or idle, and miscellaneous owner's costs associated with a ship's voyage. Time charter and voyage expenses were $7.0 million for the third quarter of 2025, compared to $6.4 million in the prior year period due to (i) an increase in voyage administration costs and operational requests from charterers and (ii) an increase in commissions on charter renewals at higher rates, offset by decreases in bunkering expenses due to lower off hire days.
For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025, time charter and voyage expenses were $18.6 million, or an average of $975 per day, compared to $17.1 million in the comparative period, or $915 per day, an increase of $60 per ownership day, or 6.6% mainly due to increased commissions on charter renewals at higher rates and increase in bunkering expenses due to higher off hire days.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation and amortization for the third quarter of 2025 was $30.7 million, compared to $25.0 million in the prior year period. The increase was mainly due to the 12 drydockings completed after September 30, 2024 and the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels in December 2024 offset by the sale of Tasman, Keta and Akiteta in the first quarter of 2025.
Depreciation and amortization for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 was $90.8 million, compared to $73.8 million in the comparative period, mainly due to the factors noted above plus the acquisition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels in December 2024 offset by the sale of Tasman, Keta and Akiteta in the first quarter of 2025.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses were $3.7 million in the third quarter of 2025, compared to $3.9 million in the comparative period.
General and administrative expenses were $12.4 million for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025, compared to $13.0 million in the comparative period. The movement was mainly due to the decrease in payroll expenses following the retirement of our former Chief Executive Officer effective March 31, 2024 plus a reduction in the non-cash charge for stock-based compensation expense.
Gain on sale of vessels
Tasman (5,900 TEU, built 2000), Akiteta (2,200 TEU, built 2002), and Keta (2,200 TEU, built 2003) were sold for an aggregate gain of $28.3 million in the first quarter of 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA1
Adjusted EBITDA was $130.2 million for the third quarter of 2025, up from $123.3 million for the prior year period, with the net increase being mainly due to increased revenue from charter renewals at higher rates and the addition of the four Newly Acquired Vessels.
Adjusted EBITDA for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 was $396.7 million, compared to $371.1 million for the comparative period, an increase of $25.6 million or 6.9% mainly due to increased revenue from charter renewals at higher rates.
Interest Expense and Interest Income
Debt as at September 30, 2025 totaled $731.6 million, after inclusion of the four Newly Acquired Vessels, comprising $330.0 million of secured bank debt collateralized by vessels, $192.5 million of 2027 Secured Notes collateralized by vessels, and $209.1 million under sale and leaseback financing transactions. As of September 30, 2025, 17 of our vessels were unencumbered.
Debt as at September 30, 2024 totaled $688.0 million, comprising $397.6 million of secured bank debt collateralized by vessels, $245.0 million of 2027 Secured Notes collateralized by vessels, and $45.4 million under sale and leaseback financing transactions. As of September 30, 2024, 16 vessels were unencumbered.
Interest and other finance expenses for the third quarter of 2025 were $9.5 million, down from $12.5 million for the prior year period. The decrease was due to (i) the non-cash write off of deferred financing costs of $2.7 million on the full repayments of six of our credit facilities and two of our sale and leaseback agreements, and (ii) a prepayment fee of $0.7 million on the full repayment of the sale and leaseback agreement with CMBFL back in 2024, offset by the fact that our additional floating debt was not covered by the caps since our interest rate caps hedge 76% of our floating rate debt. In March 2025, we entered into a loan agreement with UBS for $85.0 million, to refinance certain of our existing loans. The new loan is priced at SOFR + 2.15% and has a maturity of three years. During March of 2025, we fully repaid the outstanding balance of ESUN Credit Facility amounting to $5.9 million. During April of 2025, we fully repaid the outstanding balance of the Macquarie Credit Facility amounting to $17.5 million and the outstanding balance of the HCOB-CACIB Credit Facility amounting to $46.8 million.
Interest and other finance expenses for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 were $30.0 million, down from $32.8 million for the prior year period. The decrease was due to the factors mentioned above offset by (i) a prepayment fee of $0.2 million following the full repayment of Macquarie Credit Facility and (iii) the non-cash write off of deferred financing costs of $0.6 million on the full repayments of the Macquarie Credit Facility and the HCOB-CACIB Credit Facility in 2025.
Interest income for the third quarter of 2025 was $5.4 million, up from $4.7 million for the prior year period mainly due to higher invested amounts.
Interest income for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 was $13.3 million, up from $12.5 million in the comparative period.
Other income, net
Other income, net was $1.0 million in the third quarter of 2025, the same as in the comparative period.
Other income, net was $5.0 million for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025, compared to $3.2 million for the comparative period.
Fair value adjustment on derivatives
In December 2021, we entered into a USD 1-month LIBOR interest rate cap of 0.75% through the fourth quarter of 2026 on $484.1 million of floating rate debt, which reduces over time in line with anticipated debt amortization and represented approximately half of the outstanding floating rate debt. In February 2022, we entered into two additional USD 1-month LIBOR interest rate caps of 0.75% through the fourth quarter of 2026 on the remaining balance of $507.9 million of floating rate debt. As a result of the discontinuation of LIBOR, on July 1, 2023, our interest rate caps automatically transited to 1 month Compounded SOFR at a net rate of 0.64%. A negative fair value adjustment of $1.1 million for the third quarter of 2025 was recorded through the statement of income. The negative fair value adjustment for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 was $3.9 million.
Earnings Allocated to Preferred Shares
Our Series B Preferred Shares carry a coupon of 8.75%, the cost of which for the third quarter of 2025 was $2.4 million, the same as in the prior year period.
The cost for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 was $7.2 million, the same as for the comparative period.
Net Income Available to Common Shareholders
Net income available to common shareholders for the third quarter of 2025 was $92.6 million. Net income available to common shareholders for the prior year period was $78.8 million.
Earnings per share for the third quarter of 2025 was $2.59, an increase of 16.7% from the earnings per share for the prior year period, which was $2.22.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, net income available to common shareholders was $306.7 million. Net income available to common shareholders for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 was $253.9 million.
Earnings per share for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 was $8.60, an increase of 19.4% from the earnings per share for the comparative period, which was $7.20.
Normalized net income1 for the third quarter of 2025 was $93.8 million. Normalized net income for the prior year period was $86.6 million. Normalized earnings per share1 for the third quarter of 2025 was $2.62, an increase of 6.9% from Normalized earnings per share for the prior year period, which was $2.45.
Normalized net income1 for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 was $283.2 million. Normalized net income for the prior year period was $262.3 million. Normalized earnings per share1 for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2025 was $7.94, an increase of 6.7% from Normalized earnings per share for the prior year period, which was $7.44.
1 Adjusted EBITDA, Normalized net income, and Normalized earnings per share are non-U.S. GAAP financial measures, as explained further in this press release, and are considered by Global Ship Lease to be useful measures of its performance. For reconciliations of these non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measure, please see "Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures" below.
Fleet
As of September 30, 2025, there were 69 containerships in the fleet, detailed in the table below:
Vessel Name
Capacity in TEUs
Lightweight (tons)
Year Built
Charterer
Earliest Charter Expiry Date
Latest Charter Expiry Date (2)
Daily Charter Rate $
CMA CGM Thalassa
11,040
38,577
2008
CMA CGM
3Q28
4Q28
47,200 (3)
ZIM Norfolk (1)
9,115
31,764
2015
ZIM
2Q27
4Q27
65,000
Anthea Y (1)
9,115
31,890
2015
MSC
4Q28
1Q29
Footnote (4)
ZIM Xiamen (1)
9,115
31,820
2015
ZIM
3Q27
4Q27
65,000
Sydney Express (1)
9,019
31,254
2016
Hapag-Lloyd
3Q27
4Q29
Footnote (5)
Istanbul Express (1)
9,019
31,380
2016
Hapag-Lloyd
3Q26
2Q30
Footnote (5)
Bremerhaven Express (1)
9,019
31,199
2015
Hapag Lloyd
2Q27
3Q29
Footnote (5)
Czech (1)
9,019
31,319
2015
Hapag-Lloyd
4Q26
3Q30
Footnote (5)
MSC Tianjin
8,603
34,243
2005
MSC (6)
3Q27
1Q28
Footnote (6)
MSC Qingdao
8,603
34,586
2004
MSC (6)
3Q27
4Q27
Footnote (6)
GSL Ningbo
8,603
34,340
2004
MSC
3Q27
1Q28
Footnote (7)
GSL Alexandra
8,544
37,809
2004
Maersk (8)
2Q28
3Q28
Footnote (8)
GSL Sofia
8,544
37,777
2003
Maersk (8)
3Q28
3Q28
Footnote (8)
GSL Effie
8,544
37,777
2003
Maersk (8)
3Q28
3Q28
Footnote (8)
GSL Lydia
8,544
37,777
2003
Maersk (8)
2Q28
3Q28
Footnote (8)
GSL Eleni
7,847
29,261
2004
Maersk
4Q27
2Q29
Footnote (9)
GSL Kalliopi
7,847
29,261
2004
Maersk
1Q28
3Q29
Footnote (9)
GSL Grania
7,847
29,261
2004
Maersk
1Q28
3Q29
Footnote (9)
Colombia Express (ex Mary) (1)
7,072
23,424
2013
Hapag-Lloyd
4Q28
1Q31
Footnote (10)
Panama Express (ex Kristina) (1)
7,072
23,421
2013
Hapag-Lloyd
4Q29
4Q31
Footnote (10)
Costa Rica Express (ex Katherine) (1)
7,072
23,403
2013
Hapag-Lloyd
2Q29
3Q31
Footnote (10)
Nicaragua Express (ex Alexandra) (1)
7,072
23,348
2013
Hapag-Lloyd
3Q29
4Q31
Footnote (10)
CMA CGM Berlioz
7,023
26,776
2001
CMA CGM (11)
1Q29
2Q29
37,750 (11)
Mexico Express (ex Alexis) (1)
6,918
23,970
2015
Hapag-Lloyd
3Q29
4Q31
Footnote (10)
Jamaica Express (ex Olivia I) (1)
6,918
23,915
2015
Hapag-Lloyd
3Q29
4Q31
Footnote (10)
GSL Christen
6,858
27,954
2002
Maersk
4Q27
1Q28
Footnote (12)
GSL Nicoletta
6,858
28,070
2002
Maersk
1Q28
2Q28
Footnote (12)
Agios Dimitrios
6,572
24,931
2011
MSC
2Q27
3Q27
Footnote (6)
GSL Vinia
6,080
23,737
2004
Maersk
1Q28
4Q29
Footnote (13)
GSL Christel Elisabeth
6,080
23,745
2004
