COPENHAGEN: Deconsolidating Ocean Rig has cost Dryships $1.35bn, which is chiefly responsible for the $1.44bn net loss the NASDAQ company recorded in its financial results for the second-quarter 2015.
The company made a net loss of $5.6m during the same period last year. On July 30, Dryships agreed to exchange the outstanding $80m it borrowed under a $120m loan facility for 17,777,778 of its shares in Ocean Rig. In May, DryShips agreed to partially exchange $40m borrowed by the company from the same loan for 4,444,444 of its shares in Ocean Rig.
Ocean Rig’s board of directors in July opted to suspend the company’s quarterly dividend until offshore drilling market conditions improve. The huge loss is not good news for the Athens-based company, which has just 73 days (until October 12) to restore its stock price to above $1.00 per share or face losing its listing on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. At the time of writing, the company’s stock is trading at $0.507 per share – way down on $2.79 per share a year ago.
