DryShips Inc. Reports Financial and Operating Results for the Third Quarter 2016

ATHENS, GREECE--(Marketwired - Nov 9, 2016) - DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), or DryShips or the Company, an international owner of drybulk carriers and offshore support vessels, today announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the quarter ended September 30, 2016.

Third Quarter 2016 Financial Highlights

• For the third quarter of 2016, the Company reported a net loss of $5.2 million, or $7.70 basic and diluted loss per share. ⁽¹⁾
• The Company reported a negative Adjusted EBITDA of $7.9 million for the third quarter of 2016. ⁽²⁾

Recent Highlights

• On November 7, 2016, our previously sold to unaffiliated buyer Panamax vessel Ocean Crystal was delivered to its new owners. All of the gross proceeds from the sale were used to pay down the associated loan facility.
• On August 10, 2016, the previously announced option for the registered direct offering of 5,000 Series C Convertible Preferred Warrants to purchase 5,000 Series C Convertible Preferred Shares was exercised. The total net proceeds from the offering, after deducting offering fees and expenses, were approximately $5.0 million. As of November 9, 2016, 2,813 of the Company's 5,000 Series C Convertible Preferred stock, were converted to 433,552 common shares (6,503,278 before 1-for-15 reverse stock split), including the respective dividends.

Bank Update / Liquidity

The Company is presently engaged in discussions with its lenders for the restructuring of its bank facilities. Three of these bank facilities have matured and the Company has not made the final balloon installment. For the remaining bank facilities, the Company has elected to suspend principal and interest payments to preserve cash liquidity.

Fleet List

The table below describes our fleet profile as of November 9, 2016:

Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation

Adjusted EBITDA represents earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, goodwill, vessel and investment impairments and certain other non-cash items as described below, dry-dockings, class survey costs and gains or losses on interest rate swaps. Adjusted EBITDA does not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to net income or cash flow from operations, as determined by United States generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP, and our calculation of adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to that reported by other companies. Adjusted EBITDA is included herein because it is a basis upon which the Company measures its operations. Adjusted EBITDA is also used by our lenders as a measure of our compliance with certain covenants contained in our loan agreements and because the Company believes that it presents useful information to investors regarding a company's ability to service and/or incur indebtedness.

The following table reconciles net loss to Adjusted EBITDA:

About DryShips Inc.

DryShips Inc. is an owner of drybulk carriers and offshore support vessels that operate worldwide. DryShips owns a fleet of 15 Panamax drybulk carriers with a combined deadweight tonnage of approximately 1.1 million tons, and 6 offshore supply vessels, comprising 2 platform supply and 4 oil spill recovery vessels.

DryShips' common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market where it trades under the symbol "DRYS."

Visit the Company's website at www.dryships.com

Forward-Looking Statement

Matters discussed in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with such safe harbor legislation.

Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance and may include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies and other statements.

The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

Important factors that, in the Company's view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including changes in charter rates and vessel values, failure of a seller to deliver one or more vessels, failure of a buyer to accept delivery of a vessel, inability to procure acquisition financing, default by one or more charterers of our ships, changes in demand for drybulk commodities, changes in demand that may affect attitudes of time charterers, scheduled and unscheduled drydocking, changes in our voyage and operating expenses, including bunker prices, dry-docking and insurance costs, changes in governmental rules and regulations, changes in our relationships with the lenders under our debt agreements, potential liability from pending or future litigation, domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents, international hostilities and political events or acts by terrorists.

Risks and uncertainties are further described in reports filed by DryShips Inc. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 20-F.