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TOP SHIPS REPORTS FIRST QUARTER 2008 FINANCIAL RESULTS
· Net loss of $0.93 per share, including special items of $0.83 per share
· New time charter agreements for three dry-bulk vessels
· New employment agreements for all newbuilding vessels
ATHENS, GREECE (June 12, 2008)
TOP Ships Inc. (NasdaqGS:TOPS) today announced its operating
results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008.
For the three months ended March 31, 2008, the Company reported net loss of $18,841,000, or $0.93 per
share, compared with net income of $2,999,000, or $0.28 per share, for the first quarter of 2007. The
weighted average numbers of basic shares used in the computations were 20,295,240 and 10,777,043 for
the first quarter of 2008 and 2007, respectively. The results for the first quarter of 2008 and 2007 include
net charges of $16,737,000, or $0.83 per share and net revenues of $980,000, or $0.09 per share,
respectively, of special items1 that affected the Company's net results for the first quarter of 2008 and
2007 that are typically excluded by securities analysts in their published estimates of the Company's
financial results, which are described in Appendix A of this release. For the three months ended March 31,
2008, operating loss was $2,434,000, compared with operating income of $3,448,000 for the first quarter
of 2007. Revenues for the first quarter of 2008 were $72,637,000, compared to $73,988,000 recorded in
the first quarter of 2007.
Evangelos J. Pistiolis, President and Chief Executive Officer of TOP Ships Inc., commented:
In the first quarter of 2008 we had a net loss of $0.93 per share, including special items of $0.83 per
share, consisting of cash and non-cash charges. The special cash charges we incurred were mainly a result
of unplanned repairs on some of our vessels. Three of these vessels (Faultless, Noiseless and Bertram),
which caused the majority of these unplanned cash expenses, were sold and delivered to new owners
during the first and early second quarters.
We expect to recover approximately $6,500,000 from our insurance underwriters during the second, third
and fourth quarters of 2008 with respect to these and previous unexpected repairs, that will significantly
offset these charges.
The special non-cash charges we incurred relate mostly to the change of fair value of swaps that was
caused by the significant decrease of the interest rates in the first quarter. All special items are described
in the Appendix of this earnings release.
Consistent with our strategy to operate a fleet with a balanced employment profile, and in order to further
reduce our spot market exposure, we concluded a number of significant time charter arrangements for our
dry-bulk and tanker vessels.
Regarding our dry-bulk fleet, we have previously announced the time charter arrangements for the
Cyclades and Astrale at $50,860 net per day for three years and $67,500 net per day for one year
respectively. In addition, we have recently agreed to charter the Pepito for a period of five years at a net
daily rate of $38,950. Finally we have agreed to extend the bareboat charter of the Voc Gallant after its
current expiration in May 2009. The extended agreement will have an additional period of three years at a
net daily bareboat rate of $23,580.
Regarding our tanker fleet, we have recently concluded chartering agreements for all six of our
newbuilding product tankers with three major charterers. The new charter periods range between seven
and ten years at daily rates between $14,300 and $14,550 on a bareboat basis. Since in bareboat
agreements the charterers are responsible for the operating, maintenance and other administrative
expenses, we estimate that the daily rates for these bareboat charters to be in excess of $21,500 for the
period, on a time charter equivalent basis.
Finally we are continuing our efforts to unwind additional charter-in contracts in order to further reduce
our leasing expenditure.
For more details please visit www.topships.org
Top Ships Press Release
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