ATHENS, Greece, Jan. 22, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Paragon Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq:PRGN) announced today that starting with its fiscal fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007, Paragon Shipping Inc. (the "Company") has elected to change its method of accounting for drydocking costs from the deferral method, under which the Company deferred and amortized its drydocking costs over the estimated period of benefit between drydockings, to the direct expense method, under which the Company expenses all drydocking costs as incurred.
The Company believes that the direct method eliminates the significant amount of time and subjectivity that is needed to determine which costs and activities related to drydocking should be deferred. Since no drydocking costs have been incurred prior to the fourth quarter of 2007, there will be no impact on the Company's prior financial statements as a result of the adoption of this change in policy. The effect of this change in accounting policy, which will not impact the Company's cash flow or dividend distributions per share, will appear in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2007.
About Paragon Shipping Inc.
Paragon Shipping Inc. is an Athens, Greece-based international shipping company specializing in the transportation of drybulk cargoes. The Company's current fleet consists of eleven vessels with a total carrying capacity of 706,358 dwt. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.paragonship.com
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statement
Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. 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. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.
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 this safe harbor legislation. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intends," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "plan," "potential," "will," "may," "should," "expect" "pending" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our 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 we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.
In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our 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 fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in our operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.