In this episode of Capital Link's Trending News Webinar, Mr. Pankaj Khanna , CEO of Heidmar Maritime Holdings (NASDAQ: HMR), joins Nicolas Bornozis, President of Capital Link, to discuss Heidmar’s Q2 performance, growth strategy and market outlook.

Watch the full discussion:

Heidmar Inc. ’s second-quarter results marked the point at which the growth strategy began to translate into meaningful financial performance. Revenue increased 58% sequentially and just over 200% year-over-year, confirming management’s view that the platform had reached a stage where it could begin to scale.

As Mr. Khanna told Capital Link during the company’s Q1 interview, the fuller impact of that growth was expected to emerge from the second quarter. That momentum followed two years of building the platform. During the first half, Heidmar added nearly 15 vessels, while the Q-Shipping transaction, which closed on July 1, brought the total increase to 24 vessels. Growth came across both the commercial and technical management platforms, alongside a tanker market that has remained at historically high levels.

From public listing to growth capital

The balance sheet is beginning to reflect the growth that Heidmar set out to achieve when it went public. Cash increased from $18.6 million at year-end to $28.7 million, while operating cash flow swung from a $3.2 million outflow to a $7.7 million inflow year-over-year. Total assets now stand at approximately $100 million.

For Mr. Khanna, this is precisely what the public listing was designed to enable. Heidmar went public through a reverse merger in February 2025 to gain access to the capital markets and create a platform for growth—not as an exit for existing shareholders. Mr. Khanna owns 45% of the company, while capital-related entities hold another 45%, and neither group has sold shares since the listing.

The Q-Shipping Acquisition

The Q-Shipping deal was modest in cash terms, but it gave Heidmar something more valuable: an established footprint in two markets where it sees room to grow, the Netherlands and Turkey.

The Netherlands gives Heidmar a coastal northern European base, a market of many small ships moving up and down the coast, where the company can crew, manage technically and take on commercial management. Opportunities are already coming from that side.

Turkey offers an even larger runway. Mr. Khanna estimated the Turkish-owned fleet at somewhere between 800 and 1,000 ships, large and small, featuring owners who typically outsource technical management and, in many cases, commercial as well. Several of them have been Heidmar’s clients in the past. Three ships have already been added from the acquisition.

Asked if this becomes the recipe, Khanna drew a distinction between acquisitions made for strategic reasons and those made primarily to add scale. What he looks for is a good quality operator with a strong and sticky client book, sound management, and an owner ready to sell at a price that makes the deal accretive. Other discussions are ongoing for larger vessel counts.

And while the strategy calls for scale, Heidmar does not intend to compete on price. Khanna's emphasis was on building a boutique, high-quality management platform with clients that value the service rather than simply choosing the lowest-cost provider.

Paths to scale

Technical management is where Heidmar sees the greatest scope for acquisition-led growth. The sector is fragmented, with hundreds of companies that could be candidates. For example, Q-Shipping has taken the business from around 10 vessels to 20.

Commercial management will grow organically, ship by ship, for a structural reason. Most of the large commercial managers are tied to shipowners such as Maersk, Hafnia, Scorpio and Norden, making them an integral part of their operations. These owners are not looking to sell their commercial management businesses.

Dry cargo sits behind both as a longer-term option. Heidmar has made an initial entry into that market and could build it up over time.

On targets, Mr. Khanna has previously described technical management as a startup at 10 vessels, and a five-year goal of 200 vessels and $20 million of EBITDA. The count now stands at 20, largely through Q-Shipping. He said the company is progressing at the pace expected, while noting that acquisitions are more complex than buying ships: the right asset, management team and willing seller all have to come together at the right price. Heidmar is therefore not pursuing growth at any cost, and the next transactions could be significantly larger than those completed to date.

Scaling with operating leverage

Commercial and technical management are not separate from a cost or commercial perspective. They share offices, accounting and some operational resources, while each can generate business for the other. A technical management relationship can lead to chartering opportunities, while an owner coming to Heidmar for commercial management can become a technical management prospect.

Another question is how Heidmar can continue to grow without increasing headcount at the same rate. That is where the company’s investment in AI becomes relevant. Heidmar is implementing a system built around its own operations, drawing on both structured and unstructured company data. Mr. Khanna said the system could increase operator capacity from around seven ships per person historically to 10 or 11 by year-end, and potentially 15 within two years.

Freight traders gain in market coverage, running numbers and follow-up, which makes trading and voyage optimization more efficient. Accounting gains in collecting and processing information and producing reports. The result, Mr. Khanna argued, is that G&A should no longer rise in a linear relationship with the fleet. Some increase is inevitable, but he does not expect it to be material.

Valuation beyond NAV

Mr. Khanna repeated the case he made a quarter earlier, that Heidmar should not be valued on NAV. The reasoning is that the company holds no vessels and, as things stand, no debt, which leaves no net asset value to calculate. His preferred measure is a multiple of net income. Adjusted net income for the first half was approximately $6 million. Annualized, and with the caveat that this is not a projection, that would imply roughly $12 million for the year. Against the $76 million market capitalization cited by Mr. Khanna, that represents a multiple of about six times. Peers, he noted, trade at 15 to 20 times. At 10 times, Heidmar would imply a $120 million market capitalization; at 15 times, $180 million.

Mr. Khanna said he would buy back shares at current levels, but the limited float makes a meaningful repurchase impractical. With the company focused on growth, no buyback program is currently planned, although he continues to buy shares personally in small amounts.

Why Tanker Rates Keep Climbing

The Strait of Hormuz is closed in Mr. Khanna's assessment. Reports of ten or twenty ships getting out amount to a trickle, and hostilities have resumed with large-scale attacks both on Iran and on shipping. Houthi attacks on vessels transiting Bab el-Mandeb compound it, particularly for ships connected to Saudi Arabia.

As a result, there is a rerouting that shows what has happened to ton-miles. Saudi crude moving to China from Yanbu would normally sail 6,700 miles. It now goes through the Suez Canal to Ain Sukhna, into the Mediterranean and around the Cape of Good Hope, a voyage of some 15,000 miles.

Volumes of oil moved have fallen. The distance has more than compensated. According to Mr. Khanna, “there is a scarcity of tonnage,” and rates have followed. VLCCs have been fixed out of the U.S. Gulf and Brazil at freight of $25-26 million, which shows the strength reaches well beyond Middle East headline rates.

Seasonality then adds to it. Fourth quarter and first quarter demand run higher, buyers are fixing 3-4 weeks ahead, and October loadings come into the market shortly, seeing cargoes arriving through late October and November.

The inventory position is what gives the whole picture an edge. OECD commercial and strategic stocks sit at 20-year lows, and U.S. strategic stocks at levels last seen in the 1980s. The comfortable drawdowns available in March are no longer possible. Brent trading in the mid-90s is approaching triple digits, and Mr. Khanna sees room for oil to move considerably higher if the situation is not resolved before winter.

About Heidmar Maritime Holdings

Heidmar is an Athens-based, commercial and pool management business serving the crude and product tanker market and Heidmar is committed to safety, performance, relationships and transparency. With operations in Athens, London, Istanbul, Rotterdam, Singapore, Odesa, Chennai and Hong Kong, Heidmar has a reputation as a reliable and responsible partner with a goal of maximizing its customers' profitability. Heidmar seeks to offer vessel owners a "one - stop" solution for all maritime services in the crude oil and refined petroleum products sectors. Heidmar believes its unique business model and extensive experience in the maritime industry allows the Company to achieve premier market coverage and utilization, as well as provide customers in the sector with seamless commercial transportation services. For more information, please visit www.heidmar.com. The information on or accessible through our website does not form a part of and is not incorporated by reference into this release.

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