Danaos (DAC) Q4 2023 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY 2023 revenue was $973.6m, net income $576.3m and Adjusted EBITDA $707.0m; year-end net leverage was 0.20x.

• $2.3bn of contracted cash revenue through 2028 and high operating-day coverage supported cash-flow visibility.

Financial highlights

• Q4 revenue was $249.3m, net income $149.9m, adjusted net income $136.0m and Adjusted EBITDA $172.6m.

• FY revenue declined 2.0% to $973.6m; net income rose to $576.3m, including an $18.9m EGLE investment gain, while adjusted net income fell to $567.6m.

• FY Adjusted EBITDA declined 16.9% to $707.0m, mainly reflecting $146.1m lower dividends received; Adjusted diluted EPS was $28.52.

• FY operating cash flow was $576.3m and recurring Free Cash Flow was $539.9m, excluding CapEx and one-time or extraordinary items.

Outlook and guidance

• Contracted cash operating revenue backlog was $2.3bn, with 95.8% containership operating-day coverage for 2024 and 62.0% for 2025.

• Average weighted charter duration was 3.0 years; fleet utilization was 97.7% in 2023.

• Twelve methanol-ready containership newbuildings totaling 91,430 TEU were under construction, with deliveries scheduled from 2024 to 2027.

• 2024 world container trade was forecast to grow 4.1% to 220m TEU, following an estimated 0.5% contraction in 2023.