The George Economou-led company posted net income of $16.7m in results issued after the close of trading. A year ago it lost $63.8m.

The US-listed shipowner was helped by a near 50% increase in quarterly revenues to $601.6m, with the bulk of it coming from drilling contracts.

Time charter equivalent (TCE) rates achieved by DryShips’ dry bulk fleet were largely unchanged from a year ago at $10,875 per day per vessel.

However,