Mr. Gregory Zikos, Chief Financial Officer of Costamare Inc., commented:
"During the fourth quarter of the year, the Company continued to deliver positive results.
"On the ship management front, the Co-operation Agreement between our manager and V-Ships provides us both with the resources needed to achieve our growth plans and the flexibility to adjust the size of our fleet depending on market conditions in a highly cyclical industry.
"At the same time we have addressed the potential for conflicts of interest; by aligning the interests of the listed entity and our manager in the structure. The management company will be passing along to the listed entity its entire share of the profits resulting from the Co-operation Agreement. As a result of this arrangement, we expect that over time the management fees currently paid by Costamare Inc. can be reduced.
"Regarding new transactions, we bought a 2003 built approx. 6,000 TEU container vessel for a purchase price of $22.2 million. The vessel has been chartered for a period of 12-15 months at a rate yielding attractive returns with a lot of upside.
"At the same time we took advantage of a strong demolition market and sold a 29 - year old vessel; the transaction resulted in an accounting gain of approximately $3.2 million.
"In a challenging market we have minimized our re-chartering risk. The charters for the vessels opening in 2013 and 2014 account for approximately 4% and 3% of our 2013 and 2014 contracted revenues respectively.
"Finally, on January 17 we declared a dividend for the fourth quarter of $0.27 per share. Consistent with our dividend policy, we continue to offer an attractive dividend, which we consider to be sustainable based on the size of our contracted cash flows, the quality of our charterers and the prudent amortization of our debt.
"We believe that going forward, a containership market under pressure provides us with the opportunity to expand opportunistically in a low rate and asset values environment."
Financial Summary Three-month period Year ended December 31, ended December 31, ----------------------- -----------------------(Expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars, except share and per share data): 2011 2012 2011 2012 ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------Voyage revenue $ 382,155 $ 386,155 $ 101,990 $ 95,193Accrued charter revenue (1) $ 30,313 $ 6,261 $ 7,095 $ 2,352Voyage revenue adjusted on a cash basis (2) $ 412,468 $ 392,416 $ 109,085 $ 97,545Adjusted EBITDA (3) $ 274,669 $ 253,097 $ 74,671 $ 62,510Adjusted Net Income (3) $ 112,763 $ 91,346 $ 32,595 $ 23,625Weighted Average number of shares 60,300,000 67,612,842 60,300,000 73,658,696Adjusted Earnings per share (3) $ 1.87 $ 1.35 $ 0.54 $ 0.32EBITDA (3) $ 249,498 $ 242,880 $ 68,158 $ 61,816Net Income $ 87,592 $ 81,129 $ 26,082 $ 22,931Weighted Average number of shares 60,300,000 67,612,842 60,300,000 73,658,696Earnings per share $ 1.45 $ 1.20 $ 0.43 $ 0.31
