ADNOC L&S Lifts 2026 Profit Forecast to About $4 Billion as Supertanker Rates Soar

The Abu Dhabi-listed shipping and logistics arm of ADNOC now expects 2026 net profit of about $4 billion, growth in the low-360% range, according to The National. Its previous guidance, set with second-quarter results, was for growth in the high-110% range. Net profit attributable to equity holders was $842.7 million in the quarter, up 310% from $205.4 million a year earlier, the newspaper reported; the gap with the $887 million headline figure appears to reflect profit attributable to minority interests, though the reports do not spell this out.

Revenue for the three months to September reached $3.29 billion, more than double a year earlier, and operating profit nearly quadrupled to $898.7 million. Profit was about 7% lower than in the second quarter, when the company earned a record $951 million, partly because of $105 million in charges to move two very large crude carriers onto the spot market, where rates are higher.

The numbers show how a group built on long-term contracts with its parent has become one of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. Gulf-to-Asia day rates for very large crude carriers reached about $1.4 million in early October, against roughly $30,000 to $45,000 before the war began in February, The National reported, citing Bloomberg data. Fewer shipowners are willing to cross the strait, which has driven the rise.

Over nine months, revenue rose 88% to $6.96 billion and attributable net profit climbed 219% to $1.96 billion. Shipping revenue more than tripled to $5.09 billion, with tankers contributing $4.15 billion, gas carriers $619 million and dry bulk and container ships $318 million. Sales to other ADNOC group companies came to $2.26 billion in the third quarter, about 69% of revenue, compared with $620 million a year earlier.

"Resilience has defined our performance this year," chief executive Capt Abdulkareem Al Masabi said. Chief financial officer Hugh Baker said management had a "very high degree of confidence" in the new forecast, but called the outlook for 2027 "very challenging". "I don't think we can really sustain any of the previous projections into next year," he said, adding that first-quarter 2027 earnings should not fall dramatically because of contracts carried over from this year.

The company's own fleet has not escaped the conflict. After the quarter ended, some owned and chartered vessels were hit by projectiles while crossing Hormuz, ADNOC L&S said; the ships were insured and the financial impact is still being assessed. On November 10 the company said one of its vessels had been damaged in an attack in UAE territorial waters, without naming the ship or describing the damage.

ADNOC L&S took delivery of 14 vessels in the third quarter, including six very large crude carriers, and expects 10 more before year-end. It has committed $7 billion in capital spending through 2030 and has about $24 billion of forward-contracted revenue. The board approved an interim dividend of $85.3 million for shareholders on record as of November 23, under a policy of raising the dividend per share by at least 5% a year through 2030.