UPDATE 1-Danaos Q3 EPS beats; revises charterer payment terms
* Q3 EPS $0.30 vs est $0.26 * Operating revenue up 4 pct, lags estimates * Says considering plans to raise capital * Shares down 3 pct in after-market trade
Nov 11 (Reuters) - Container shipping company Danaos Corp (DAC.N) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher utilization, and said it agreed with one of its charterers to revise payment terms.
In September, the company said one of its charterers, Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd, reduced all of its long-term charterhire payments to ship owners by 35 percent, but Danaos had not accepted the offer. [ID:nBNG500502]
"Last week, we agreed with Zim the revisions to charterparties we have in place for six of our vessels in operation, which reflect significantly improved terms compared to the initial unilateral imposed reductions in payments," Chief Executive John Coustas said in a statement.
"The revisions keep the original charter terms in place with deferred, interest bearing payment terms." For the third quarter, net earnings were $16.4 million, or 30 cents a share, down from $27.9 million, or 51 cents a share, last year. Analysts on average expected the company to earn 26 cents a share, before items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Operating revenue increased 4 percent to $79.8 million, but fell short of analysts' average estimate of $81.3 million. Fleet utilization for the quarter was 99 percent, up from 98.8 percent a year ago.
Shares of the company were down 3 percent at $4.57 in after-market trade. They closed at $4.70 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)
