Oil tanker company DHT Holdings Inc has reported first quarter after-tax earnings of $11.6 million, or seven cents per share.

That compares with a profit of $7.6 million in the prior quarter, and $72.2 million net income for the same period last year.

The Bermudian-based company said earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 5 cents per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations, with an average of two cents per share estimated by three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

DHT's revenue was $87 million, and its adjusted revenue was $71.3 million.

The company has a fleet of 28 VLCCs [very large crude carriers], and it said its ships achieved an average rate of $31,800 per day during the first three months of the year.

DHT said the Covid-19 pandemic continues to present operational challenges related to its crews, such as the ability to change crew regularly, due to transit and quarantine restrictions.

The fall in global consumption of refined oil products has led to higher shore-based inventories in many countries and this, together with oil producing countries rebalancing the markets, has resulted in reduced demand for oil transportation.

During the weak freight market period, DHT has brought forward dry-docking and planned installations of scrubbers and ballast water treatment systems on vessels in its fleet.

DHT's net debt for the quarter stood at $520.7 million, down from $705 million for the same period in 2020, but up from $381.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The company said it has started to notice a decrease in shore-based oil inventories and demand slowly resuming "indicating a recovery in demand for oil transportation in the conceivable future".

It took delivering of a VLCC called DHT Harrier, in February, and another, called DHT Osprey, last month. The ships were built in 2016, and were purchased for a total cost $136 million.

At the end of the quarter, the company entered into an agreement to sell three of its older VLCCs, DHT Lake, DHT Raven and DHT Condor, built in 2004, for an aggregate of $88.75 million. DHT expects to book a profit of $15 million from the sale in the second quarter. It said net proceeds after repayment of mortgage debt is estimated at $78 million.

DHT has declared a dividend of four cents per share for the quarter.