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Seaspan Corporation |
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Unit 2, 7th
Floor, Bupa Centre |
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141 Connaught Road West |
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Hong Kong, China |
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c/o 2600 - 200 Granville
Street |
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Vancouver, BC |
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Canada V6C 1S4 |
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Tel: 604-482-8777 |
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Fax: 604-648-9782 |
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www.seaspancorp.com |
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEASPAN
DECLARES
INCREASED QUARTERLY DIVIDEND
Hong
Kong, China, January 23, 2007 - Seaspan Corporation (“Seaspan”) (NYSE: SSW)
today declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.44625 per share on its common
and
subordinated shares, representing a total cash distribution of $21.2 million.
This represents a five percent increase over the prior regular quarterly
dividend of $0.425 and is a result of executing our strategy of growing our
business through accretive acquisitions in order to grow our dividend per
share.
The cash dividend is payable on February 13, 2007 to all shareholders of
record
on January 29, 2007.
“We
are
very pleased to announce our first dividend increase,” said Gerry Wang, Chief
Executive Officer of Seaspan. Our decision to increase the dividend at this
time
reflects the substantial growth in our fleet and cash flow during the fourth
quarter of 2006, when we took early delivery of six vessels. This brought
our
total fleet size to 23 ships in operation with another 18 on order for delivery
between 2007 and 2009. This 41 ship fleet is significantly larger than the
23
ships we had in the water and on order at the time of our initial public
offering in August of 2005.”
About
Seaspan
Seaspan
owns containerships and charters them pursuant to long-term fixed-rate charters.
Seaspan’s fleet of 41 containerships consists of 23 existing containerships and
18 to be delivered over approximately the next three years. The 18 vessels
that
Seaspan has contracted to purchase are already committed to long-term
time charters ranging from 10 to 12 years. Seaspan’s operating fleet of 23
vessels has an average age of five years with an average remaining charter
period of eight years. Seaspan’s customer base consists of five of the largest
liner companies, including China Shipping Container Lines, A.P. Møller-Mærsk,
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Hapag-Lloyd and COSCO Container Lines.
Seaspan’s
common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
“SSW.”
-more-
CAUTIONARY
STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This
release contains certain forward-looking statements (as such term is defined
in
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) concerning
future events and our operations, performance and financial condition,
including, in particular, the likelihood of our success in developing and
expanding our business. Statements that are predictive in nature, that depend
upon or refer to future events or conditions, or that include words such
as
“expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,”
“projects,” “forecasts,” “will,” “may,” “potential,” “should,” and similar
expressions are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
reflect management’s current views only as of the date of this presentation and
are not intended to give any assurance as to future results. As a result,
you
are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements appear in a number of places in this release. Although these
statements are based upon assumptions we believe to be reasonable based upon
available information, including operating margins, earnings, cash flow,
working
capital and capital expenditures, they are subject to risks and uncertainties.
These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: future operating
or financial results; our expectations relating to dividend payments and
forecasts of our ability to make such payments; pending acquisitions, business
strategy and expected capital spending; operating expenses, availability
of
crew, number of off-hire days, drydocking requirements and insurance costs;
general market conditions and shipping market trends, including charter rates
and factors affecting supply and demand; our financial condition and liquidity,
including our ability to obtain additional financing in the future to fund
capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate activities;
estimated future capital expenditures needed to preserve our capital base;
our
expectations about the availability of ships to purchase, the time that it
may
take to construct new ships, or the useful lives of our ships; our continued
ability to enter into long-term, fixed-rate time charters with our customers;
our ability to leverage to our advantage our Manager’s relationships and
reputation in the containership industry; changes in governmental rules and
regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities; changes in worldwide
container demand; changes in trading patterns; competitive factors in the
markets in which we operate; potential inability to implement our growth
strategy; potential for early termination of long-term contracts and our
potential inability to renew or replace long-term contracts; ability of our
customers to make charter payments; potential liability from future litigation;
conditions in the public equity markets; and other factors detailed from
time to
time in our periodic reports. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update
or
revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether because of future
events, new information, a change in our views or expectations, or otherwise.
We
make no prediction or statement about the performance of our common and
subordinated shares.
For
Investor Relations Inquiries:
Mr.
Kevin
M. Kennedy
Chief
Financial Officer
Seaspan
Corporation
Tel.
604-638-2575
For
Media Inquiries:
Mr.
Leon
Berman
The
IBG
Group
Tel.
212-477-8438
-end-