Danaos' Performance Better

Danaos Corporation one of the world's largest independent owners of containerships, today reported unaudited results for the fourth quarter and the year ended December 31, 2015.

Highlights for the Fourth Quarter and Year Ended December 31, 2015:
  * Adjusted net income1 of $47.2 million, or $0.43 per share, for the three months ended December 31, 2015 compared to $23.5 million, or $0.21 per share, for the three months ended December 31, 2014, an increase of 100.9%. Adjusted net income1 of $159.5 million, or $1.45 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to $60.0 million, or $0.55 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2014, an increase of 165.8%.
  * Operating revenues of $143.3 million for the three months ended December 31, 2015 compared to $140.7 million for the three months ended December 30, 2014, an increase of 1.8%. Operating revenues of $567.9 million for the year ended December 30, 2015 compared to $552.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2014, an increase of 2.9%.
  * Adjusted EBITDA1 of $105.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2015 compared to $104.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2014, an increase of 1.1%. Adjusted EBITDA1 of $418.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 compared to $404.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2014, an increase of 3.5%.
  * Total contracted operating revenues were $3.2 billion as of December 31, 2015, with charters extending through 2028.
  * Limited exposure to current market weakness with remaining average contracted charter duration of 7.2 years as of December 31, 2015, weighted by aggregate contracted charter hire.
  * Charter coverage of 95.2% for the next 12 months in terms of operating revenues and 87.8% in terms of contracted operating days.
  * Recorded an impairment loss of $41.1 million for 13 of our older vessels.
  * Danaos has entered into a joint venture with its largest stockholder to form Gemini Shipholdings Corporation ("Gemini") in order to opportunistically acquire assets at depressed prices. Gemini has already acquired four containerships, the 6,422 TEU vessel 'NYK Lodestar' built in 2001, the 5,610 TEU vessel 'Suez Canal' built in 2002, the 5,544 TEU vessel 'Genoa' built in 2002 and the 6,422 TEU containership 'NYK Leo' built in 2002.

Danaos' CEO Dr. John Coustas commented:
"We are pleased to report full year 2015 adjusted net income of $159.5 million, or $1.45 per share, which represents an increase of $99.5 million, or 165.8%, when compared to adjusted net income of $60.0 million, or $0.55 per share, reported for 2014.

Likewise, adjusted net income of $47.2 million, or $0.43 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2015 more than doubled, growing by 101%, compared to adjusted net income of $23.5 million, or $0.21 per share, for the 4th quarter of 2014. Notably, these are the best results we have ever achieved.

The substantial improvement in year-over-year earnings is attributable to an improvement of $78.7 million in net finance costs due to interest rate swap expirations and lower debt balances, a $14.3 million improvement in our EBITDA, as described further below, and a $5.8 million decrease in depreciation and amortization.

The majority of the expensive interest rate swaps we entered into in 2007 and 2008 have gradually expired over the course of the last 18 months. The absence of such swaps going forward combined with today's low interest rate environment means that the trend of improving financing costs and, as a consequence, earnings, will continue through 2016 and beyond. This is consistent with our stated strategy of rapidly de-leveraging our balance sheet to unlock value to our shareholders. To that end, we reduced our outstanding debt by $85.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 and $243.2 million in 2015.

Further, we continue to prudently evaluate the assets on our balance sheet and recorded an impairment charge of $41.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 in relation to twelve older vessels in our fleet as well as one vessel held for sale as of December 31, 2015 which was subsequently sold last month. This charge is reflected in our adjusted net income reconciliation as described further in this earnings release.

The fundamentals of the container market remain very challenging. For the first time since 2009, the Asia to Europe route, the most important trade lane in terms of TEU miles, contracted by almost 3% in 2015. Moderate improvements in other trade lanes resulted in an increase in overall container trade growth of 2.5% in 2015.
Supply growth in excess of 7.5% clearly outpaced demand, resulting in a blended 30% decrease in average freight rates per TEU across the industry. The idle fleet is now edging above 7% reflecting the efforts of the industry to manage over-capacity.

 Newbuilding orders have also come to a halt, TEU newbuilding capacity scheduled to be delivered in 2016 is expected to be lower than 2015, while scrapping activity, which was rather low in 2015, is anticipated to accelerate in 2016. As a result, we expect that fleet growth will be in the region of 5% for 2016, which will help to correct the current imbalance.

Growth in container trade very rarely trails global GDP growth and has historically grown at a multiple of global GDP growth. This past year was a bit of an anomaly as the 2.5% annual growth in container trade trailed global GDP growth of 3%. This was primarily due to macro-economic reasons, including the impact of the sharp decline in commodity prices on emerging market economies, the considerable depreciation of the Euro against the US dollar and the Chinese Yuan and the impact of the Russian trade sanctions.

With global GDP growth currently projected at around 3.5%, we are reasonably optimistic that the container trade growth multiple will revert to levels above 1.0x and improve to the 1.4x level we saw in 2014. A more balanced demand-supply relationship for 2016 should keep the market flat for the next year until excess TEU capacity starts being absorbed in 2017, when the container market fundamentals are expected to begin to improve.

Danaos has very limited exposure to the current weakness in the market. As of the end of 2015, the average charter duration of our fleet was 7.2 years, weighted by aggregate contracted charter hire, with our longest charters extending through 2028. This equates to contracted operating revenues of $3.2 billion and charter coverage of 95.2% in terms of operating revenues in 2016, assuming continued performance by our charterers on existing contracted terms. We are also fortunate that our $5,571 daily operating cost for the 4th quarter clearly positions us as one of the most efficient operators in the industry.

During this period of market weakness, we continue to evaluate attractively priced acquisition opportunities, without diluting shareholders, through Gemini Shipholdings Corporation, a joint venture in which Danaos holds a 49% ownership interest. Gemini has acquired four vessels thus far, including a 6,500 TEU containership that was delivered on February 4, 2016 and has commenced a 3 year charter at an attractive rate.

Amidst this challenging economic environment we will remain singularly focused on improving earnings, de-levering our balance sheet, managing our fleet efficiently and capitalizing on the resilience of our business model in order to create value for our shareholders."