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Flex LNG Q4, 2019 Earnings Release

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Hamilton, Bermuda Flex LNG Ltd. (“Flex LNG” or the “Company”) today reports unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2019.

Highlights:

  • Reported revenues of $52.0 million for the fourth quarter 2019, compared to $29.8 million for the third quarter 2019.
  • Reported net income of $23.9 million for the fourth quarter 2019, compared to a net income of $0.5 million for the third quarter 2019.
  • Average Time Charter Equivalent (“TCE”) rate of $94,000 per day for the fourth quarter 2019, compared to $58,222 per day for the third quarter 2019.
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $41.9 million for the fourth quarter 2019, compared with $21.8 million for the third quarter 2019.
  • In October 2019, Flex LNG Fleet Management AS, a related party, received the Document of Compliance qualifying the Company for in-house technical ship management services.
  • In November 2019, the Company received firm commitments from a syndicate of 11 banks and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (“KEXIM”) for a $629 million financing for five of the newbuildings scheduled for delivery in 2020. The facility agreement was signed in February 2020.
  • In November 2019, the Company entered into a long-term time-charter with Clearlake Shipping, a subsidiary of Gunvor Group, for the newbuilding Flex Artemis. The period under the charter is up to ten years, where the first five years are firm.
  • In December 2019, the Company entered into a 12-month time-charter with Endesa for the vessel Flex Ranger, with charterer’s option to extend by an additional 12 months. The firm period of the charter will expire around June 2021.
  • In January 2020, a 12-month extension option was exercised under the time-charter agreement for Flex Enterprise, giving a firm period until the end of the first quarter 2021.
  • Further strengthening of the commercial team with the appointment of Ben Martin as Chief Commercial Officer, who will join Flex LNG on or about April 1, 2020.
  • The Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend for the fourth quarter of $0.10 per share.

Øystein M Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management AS, commented:

“2019 was an eventful and productive year for Flex LNG. We continue to build our organization with exceptional people, most recently with today’s announcement of the recruitment of Ben Martin who will join us from Trafigura as our Chief Commercial Officer.  Furthermore, we are taking a greater responsibility of the management of our fleet with Flex LNG Fleet Management currently managing four of our six vessels on water. Ship management continues to perform excellent with no loss time injuries recorded for the second year in a row.

We took delivery of two LNG carriers in June and August 2019, and these two vessels were put directly into a strong spot market in the second half of 2019. Given the fact that we positioned our fleet for a stronger winter market we were able to achieve trading results in fourth quarter of 2019 similar to what we did in the fourth quarter of 2018, when rates were at all-time high. We are thus pleased to announce the best-ever financial results for Flex LNG with net income of around $24 million for the fourth quarter. Based on fixtures to date, we anticipate the TCE for the first quarter 2020 to be close to $70,000 per day, despite the demand slump in the first quarter due to a record warm winter and the recent coronavirus outbreak.

We are also pleased that several of our charterers are returning customers, with recent contract extensions for both Flex Ranger and Flex Enterprise, as well as the long-term charter announced with Gunvor for the newbuilding Flex Artemis due for delivery this summer. During the year we were also successful in securing about $1.3bn of attractive long-term financing, which boosted our liquidity position and enables us to run our ships at industry low cash break-even levels.

Due to the uncertainty and disruptions created by the coronavirus and associated low gas prices, we have elected to be cautious by maintaining a $0.10 dividend for the fourth quarter, and for the time being rather preserve liquidity, which stood at close to $130 million at year-end. This gives us a comfortable financial position to handle the current market situation. While the freight and gas markets are currently challenging, LNG continues to be a long term story with expected annual growth of around 3 to 4 per cent for the next two decades as natural gas, and to greater extent LNG, is the transition fuel for a cleaner and more sustainable future.”

Fourth Quarter 2019 Result Presentation

Flex LNG will release its financial results for the fourth quarter 2019 on Wednesday February 26, 2020.

In connection with the earnings release, a webcast and conference call will be held at 3:00 p.m. CET (9:00 a.m EST). In order to attend the webcast and/or conference call you may do one of the following:

Attend by Webcast:

Use to the follow link prior to the webcast: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/7yprvtvc

Attend by Conference Call:

Applicable dial-in telephone numbers are as follows:

Norway: +47 21 56 31 62

United Kingdom: +44 (0) 203 0095710

United Kingdom (local): 0844 493 3857

United States (Toll Free): +1 866 869 2321

Confirmation Code: 1758646

The presentation material which will be used in the teleconference/webcast can be downloaded on www.flexlng.com and replay details will also be available at this website.

For further information, please contact:

Harald Gurvin, CFO

Telephone: +47 23 11 40 09

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act or the Continuing Obligations of Oslo Børs.

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