Frontline nets $443 million for 2003

Frontline nets $443 million for 2003    Frontline Ltd., the Scandinavian tanker shipping major, earned $443.1 million in net income for 2003, as compared to a loss of $8.9 million in 2002, despite a weaker fourth quarter last year.
   Frontline is the latest tanker shipping company to report vast increases in profit in 2003 on the back of the market boom in that sector.
   For the year, Frontline reported $817.2 million of net operating revenues up from $416.5 million in 2002. Operating income after depreciation soared to $454.2 million in 2003 from $95.7 million.
   Yet, Frontline’s fourth-quarter net income dropped to $65.1 million, from $70.5 million in the same quarter of 2002. Operating income after depreciation fell to $69.2 million from $85.2 million. Net operating revenue decreased to $158.6 million from $187 million.
   Frontline said fourth-quarter net operating revenues increased 32 percent due to strengthening in the tanker market.
   In the fourth quarter, the company changed its estimate of the end of the useful life of certain of its single hull vessels from 2017 to 2015. The change resulted in an increase in depreciation expense and consequently decreasing net income by about $1.3 million.