DryShips falls

DryShips reported an 82.4% decline in second-quarter profits Thursday but met expectations on Wall Street.

Chief executive George Economou says the company's drilling units and bulkers performed at high utilisation rates.

"The last several months the dry-bulk freight markets have recovered to healthy levels led by strong growth in China," he said. "The stimulus plan implemented by the Chinese government earlier in the year has translated into accelerated infrastructure development and increased commodity demand."

Economou

But without one-time items typically excluded by analysts, the company's $0.21 in adjusted earnings per share was in-line with the average estimate.

DryShips is the second major US-listed bulker owner to post better-than-expected earnings in the second-quarters. As TradeWinds has reported, Genco Shipping & Trading also topped analyst expectations with $37.6m in quarterly profits, a 38.3% decline.

Nasdaq-listed DryShips' revenue slumped by 58.7% to $107m.

Economou says his company has taken advantage of the strengthening market, fixing 87% of ship days through 2010.

The owner "can always leverage the volatility in freight rates in the future through further vessel acquisitions."

"The steps taken by the company to strengthen its balance sheet, earlier in the year, have positioned us to take advantage of distressed deals that are beginning to surface despite the improvement in freight rates," he said.

Among the one-time items, DryShips lost $44.8m in vessel deposits and termination fees during the quarter, and it logged a non-cash gain of $51.6m gain on interest-rate swaps.

In the first half, the owner posted a $62.9m loss, compared to a $493m profit in the first six months of last year.

DryShips finished the quarter with $476m in cash and $2.57bn in long-term debt.

Printable version Newsletter sign up