Seaspan profits down after interest rate swap agreements

Seaspan profits down after interest rate swap agreements New York-listed non-operating vessel owner Seaspan today reported fourth quarter net loss of $20 million and full year loss of $10.4 million, compared to profits of $10.5 million in the fourth quarter
2006 and $37.1 million for all of 2006.
      The company’s net losses includes the non-cash unrealized loss of
$37.6 million and $72.4 million, respectively, for the quarter and full year, from interest rate swap agreements.
      Seaspan’s quarterly operating earnings jumped 54.1 percent to
$26.6 million, while revenue for the three months rose 53.9 percent to $55 million.
      For the full year, Seaspan’s operating earnings gained 64.7 percent to $96.9 million on a revenue gain of 68.1 percent to $199.2 million.
      'Our strong results for the fourth quarter and full year 2007 is testimony to the considerable success we achieved in executing our growth plan,' said Gerry Wang, Seaspan's chief executive officer.   
“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 containerships through five transactions totaling 27 newbuildings to be delivered over the next three years. Third, we raised more than $2 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.”