Air Lease Corporation has reported another consecutive quarter of fleet, revenue, profitability and financing growth. The lessor's diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased 28% to $0.46 per share for the three months ended September 30, 2013 compared to $0.36 per share for the three months ended September 30, 2012. Revenues increased 23% to $216 million for the three months ended September 30, 2013 compared to $175 million for the three months ended September 30, 2012. Income before taxes increased 31% to $75 million with a pretax margin of 35% for the three months ended September 30, 2013 compared to income before taxes of $57 million with a pretax margin of 33% for the three months ended September 30, 2012. Also during the period, ALC received an investment grade corporate and long-term debt credit rating of BBB- with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor's.
ALC successfully amended its Unsecured Syndicated Revolving Credit Facility, increasing the capacity by $300.0 million to $2.0 billion and delivered eight aircraft from our order book, growing our fleet to 182 aircraft spread across a broad customer base of 79 airlines in
45 countries.
"ALC's strong results accelerated during the third quarter as we increased our diluted EPS 27.8% compared to Q3 of 2012. Our pretax profit margin of 35% is the highest ALC has achieved to date. ALC's Board of Directors declared $0.03 per share cash dividend, which represents a 20% increase over the previous quarterly cash dividends. We achieved our stated goal of an investment grade rating from Standard and Poor's during the quarter and we will continue to push for additional ratings and upgrades in the coming years. The demand for our future aircraft deliveries remains strong and is driven by the continued global passenger growth and the increasing needs of airlines to modernize aging aircraft fleets," said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corporation.
"Our fleet of 182 aircraft continues to perform at 100% utilization with a stable overall portfolio lease rate factor. We are concluding placements in 2015 and now marketing 2016 positions and beyond with good demand. Inbound inquiries from the banking community caused us to re-open our bank revolver and upsize the facility from $1.7 billion to $2.0 billion adding three new banks along with a number of existing banks increasing their participation size. The strong support from the banking community reinforces our ample liquidity and along with our investment grade rating drove our composite cost of funds down to 3.46%," said John L. Plueger, President and Chief Operating Officer of Air Lease Corporation.
ALC added eight aircraft, increasing its fleet to 182 aircraft spread across 79 airlines in 45 countries as of September 30, 2013, compared to 174 aircraft spread across 78 airlines in 44 countries as of June 30, 2013. The weighted-average fleet age is 3.6 years, while the weighted-average remaining lease term is 7.0 years. The aggregate fleet net book value $ 7.2 billion $ 6.3 billion.