Seaspan Corporation announced yesterday the financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2007.
Fourth Quarter 2007 and Year-to-Date Highlights
- Declared a fourth quarter dividend of $0.475 per share paid on February 15, 2008 to all shareholders of record as of February 1, 2008, increasing aggregate dividends to $1.81375 per share for 2007 and cumulative dividends to $4.19 per share since the Company's initial public offering;
- Generated a record $31.9 million in cash available for distribution(1) for the quarter and $114.4 million for the full year;
- Increased normalized net earnings(2), which exclude the non-cash unrealized loss from interest rate swap agreements, to $17.5 million, or $0.31 per share, for the quarter and $62.6 million, or $1.18 per share, for the full year;
- Including the non-cash unrealized loss of $37.6 million and $72.4 million, respectively, for the quarter and year ended, from interest rate swap agreements, which do not represent results from Seaspan's operating earnings, reported a net loss of $20.0 million, or $0.35 per share, for the fourth quarter and $10.4 million, or $0.20 per share, for the full year;
- Reported record revenue of $55.0 million and $199.2 million, respectively, for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2007;
- Took delivery of six vessels during 2007;
- Expanded Seaspan's contracted fleet to 68 vessels through the execution of five transactions to acquire and charter a total of 27, increasing our total contracted revenue to more than $7.1 billion over the life of the contracts;
- Announced the acceleration of Seaspan's newbuilding delivery schedule for 2008 with the delivery of six 2500 TEU newbuildings this year, an increase from two as originally planned;
- Raised $296.8 million in net proceeds from follow-on offerings of our common stock in April 2007 and August 2007;
- Amended Seaspan's $1.0 billion credit facility agreement in May 2007 to a senior secured revolving credit facility and increased the maximum facility amount to $1.3 billion;
- Completed a $920.0 million revolving credit facility in August 2007 led by DnB NOR Bank ASA;
- Secured $400 million in a lease financing structure and $150.0 million in debt financing at favourable rates; and
- Arranged for approximately $290.0 million in additional debt financing in January 2008.
Gerry Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, stated, "Our strong results for the fourth quarter and full year 2007 is testimony to the considerable success we achieved in executing our growth plan and enhancing our leading industry position for the benefit of our shareholders. Consistent with our vision to become the world's leading container ship leasing company, we increased our cash available for distribution to $114.4 million in 2007 during a time when we further strengthened Seaspan's position for future growth. Specifically, we took delivery of six container newbuildings last year, including the remaining four vessels from our original IPO fleet. Second, we substantially expanded our contracted fleet to 68 container ships through five transactions totaling 27 newbuildings to be delivered over the next three years. Third, we raised more than $2.0 billion in debt and equity financings under favorable terms over the past months to support our growth initiatives. And fourth, we increased our quarterly dividend for the second time since our IPO in August 2005. Since going public with our initial contracted fleet, we have grown our modern, world-class fleet by 243% on a TEU basis to more than 401,000 TEU through accretive acquisitions that met our strict return criteria. During this time, we have increased our secured revenue stream to more than $7.1 billion by locking up all of our vessels on long-term time charters with high credit quality, publicly traded liner operators."
Mr. Wang added, "As we continued to capitalize on management's prudent and opportunistic approach to significantly expand Seaspan's earnings power, we remained focused on maintaining Seaspan's strong financial position. Since our IPO, we have successfully raised approximately $5 billion in debt and equity financings to fund our robust growth. We believe our ability to raise funds amid challenging market conditions while achieving our low cost of capital is a key differentiator for Seaspan. Currently, we have more than $1.0 billion in potential available debt capacity, which bodes well for Seaspan to continue to grow its fleet on an accretive basis as we distribute sizeable and growing dividends to our shareholders."
Dividend Declared:
For the quarter ended December 31, 2007, Seaspan declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.475, representing a total cash distribution of $27.4 million. The cash dividend was paid on February 15, 2008 to all shareholders of record as of February 1, 2008.
Mr. Wang concluded, "Based on our performance in the application of our high-return, low-risk business strategy, we are pleased to once again increase our quarterly payout. Building upon our initial dividend increase of 5% in January 2007, our fourth quarter dividend of $0.475 per share represents an increase of 6.4% from our previous quarterly payout. Since going public, we have declared cumulative dividends of $4.19 per share. As we continue to increase our cash available for distribution through the delivery of our 39 newbuildings currently under construction, six of which are scheduled to be delivered in 2008, we remain committed to our goal of further increasing our dividend."
Fourth Quarter 2007 and Year-to-Date Highlights
- Declared a fourth quarter dividend of $0.475 per share paid on February 15, 2008 to all shareholders of record as of February 1, 2008, increasing aggregate dividends to $1.81375 per share for 2007 and cumulative dividends to $4.19 per share since the Company's initial public offering;
- Generated a record $31.9 million in cash available for distribution(1) for the quarter and $114.4 million for the full year;
- Increased normalized net earnings(2), which exclude the non-cash unrealized loss from interest rate swap agreements, to $17.5 million, or $0.31 per share, for the quarter and $62.6 million, or $1.18 per share, for the full year;
- Including the non-cash unrealized loss of $37.6 million and $72.4 million, respectively, for the quarter and year ended, from interest rate swap agreements, which do not represent results from Seaspan's operating earnings, reported a net loss of $20.0 million, or $0.35 per share, for the fourth quarter and $10.4 million, or $0.20 per share, for the full year;
- Reported record revenue of $55.0 million and $199.2 million, respectively, for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2007;
- Took delivery of six vessels during 2007;
- Expanded Seaspan's contracted fleet to 68 vessels through the execution of five transactions to acquire and charter a total of 27, increasing our total contracted revenue to more than $7.1 billion over the life of the contracts;
- Announced the acceleration of Seaspan's newbuilding delivery schedule for 2008 with the delivery of six 2500 TEU newbuildings this year, an increase from two as originally planned;
- Raised $296.8 million in net proceeds from follow-on offerings of our common stock in April 2007 and August 2007;
- Amended Seaspan's $1.0 billion credit facility agreement in May 2007 to a senior secured revolving credit facility and increased the maximum facility amount to $1.3 billion;
- Completed a $920.0 million revolving credit facility in August 2007 led by DnB NOR Bank ASA;
- Secured $400 million in a lease financing structure and $150.0 million in debt financing at favourable rates; and
- Arranged for approximately $290.0 million in additional debt financing in January 2008.
Gerry Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, stated, "Our strong results for the fourth quarter and full year 2007 is testimony to the considerable success we achieved in executing our growth plan and enhancing our leading industry position for the benefit of our shareholders. Consistent with our vision to become the world's leading container ship leasing company, we increased our cash available for distribution to $114.4 million in 2007 during a time when we further strengthened Seaspan's position for future growth. Specifically, we took delivery of six container newbuildings last year, including the remaining four vessels from our original IPO fleet. Second, we substantially expanded our contracted fleet to 68 container ships through five transactions totaling 27 newbuildings to be delivered over the next three years. Third, we raised more than $2.0 billion in debt and equity financings under favorable terms over the past months to support our growth initiatives. And fourth, we increased our quarterly dividend for the second time since our IPO in August 2005. Since going public with our initial contracted fleet, we have grown our modern, world-class fleet by 243% on a TEU basis to more than 401,000 TEU through accretive acquisitions that met our strict return criteria. During this time, we have increased our secured revenue stream to more than $7.1 billion by locking up all of our vessels on long-term time charters with high credit quality, publicly traded liner operators."
Mr. Wang added, "As we continued to capitalize on management's prudent and opportunistic approach to significantly expand Seaspan's earnings power, we remained focused on maintaining Seaspan's strong financial position. Since our IPO, we have successfully raised approximately $5 billion in debt and equity financings to fund our robust growth. We believe our ability to raise funds amid challenging market conditions while achieving our low cost of capital is a key differentiator for Seaspan. Currently, we have more than $1.0 billion in potential available debt capacity, which bodes well for Seaspan to continue to grow its fleet on an accretive basis as we distribute sizeable and growing dividends to our shareholders."
Dividend Declared:
For the quarter ended December 31, 2007, Seaspan declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.475, representing a total cash distribution of $27.4 million. The cash dividend was paid on February 15, 2008 to all shareholders of record as of February 1, 2008.
Mr. Wang concluded, "Based on our performance in the application of our high-return, low-risk business strategy, we are pleased to once again increase our quarterly payout. Building upon our initial dividend increase of 5% in January 2007, our fourth quarter dividend of $0.475 per share represents an increase of 6.4% from our previous quarterly payout. Since going public, we have declared cumulative dividends of $4.19 per share. As we continue to increase our cash available for distribution through the delivery of our 39 newbuildings currently under construction, six of which are scheduled to be delivered in 2008, we remain committed to our goal of further increasing our dividend."