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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Sea Containers Being Investigated

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

April 21, 2006

The law firm of Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran announces that a lawsuit seeking class action status has been filed in the United States District Court for Southern District of New York against Sea Containers Ltd. and certain of its officers and directors on behalf of purchasers of Sea Containers securities between March 15, 2004 and March 24, 2006, inclusive, Finkelstein, Thompson & Loughran is investigating similar claims at this time and welcomes inquiries from potential class members concerning their rights and interests in this matter. The lawsuit alleges that Sea Containers violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of false or misleading public statements regarding the sale and restructuring of its ferry division and related impairment charges. On November 3, 2005, the Company announced that it would entertain offers for its Silja Oy Ab ferry division as its SeaStreak business, which would result in an impairment charge of $99 million related to the future sales. It additionally announced a $32 million impairment charge based on newly identified assets had been identified as impaired. On March 24, 2006, the Company shocked the market by announcing that: (1) it would be take a $500 million impairment charge as the result of: the sale of its entire ferry business, rather than the previous announced sale of the Silja Oy Ab division, and classification of additional containers as impaired; (2) as a result of the $500 million impairment charge it would be in violation of net worth convenants contained in its borrowing agreements; (3) that it would restate its financial statements for the first three quarters of 2005; and (4) investors should no longer rely on their previously issued financial results for the first three quarters of 2005. The market reacted sharply to this news with Sea Containers' share price dropping from a close of $12.06 on March 23, 2006 to a close of $7.45 on March 24, 2006, constituting a drop of nearly 38% in a single day.

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