George Economou-led Ocean Rig reported a deeper-than-expected decline in quarterly profit as the drillship and rig owner revealed talks that could lead to a contract cancellation.

The New York-listed company reported net income of $38.8m during the third quarter, down from $138m a year earlier.

While the result was within the wide range of analyst estimates, but the $0.47 in earnings per share was below the consensus projection calling for EPS of $0.56.

Earnings snapshot

 Q3 2016Q3 2015
Revenue$335,043,000$437,174,000
Drilling units operating expenses$103,676,000$135,479,000
Operating Income$126,222,000$188,745,000
Net income attributable to common stockholders$38,812,000$137,702,000
EPS$0.47$0.94

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