Star Bulk Carriers Corp.

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Starbuck Carriers Conference Call on the third quarter 2021 and nine months financial results. We have with us Mr. Petros Papas, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hamish Norton, President, Mr. Nikos Reskos, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Simos Spiro, and Mr. Christos Berglaris, Co-Chief Financial Officers of the company. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session, at which time if you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today. We now pass the floor to one of your speakers today, Mr. Spiro. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator. I'm Simo Spiro, Co-Chief Financial Officer of Starball Carriers. and I would like to welcome you to our conference call regarding our financial results for the third quarter of 2021. Before we begin, I kindly ask you to take a moment to read the Safe Harbor Statement on slide number two of our presentation. In today's presentation, we will go through our Q3 results, cash evolution during the quarter, a walkthrough of our dividend policy, an overview of our balance sheet, an operational and ESG update, and the latest industry fundamentals before opening up for questions. Let us now turn to slide number three of the presentation for a summary of our third quarter 2021 highlights. The company reported a record performance this quarter. Net income for the third quarter amounted to 220.4 million and adjusted net income of 224.7 million or 2.20 cents earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA was at 277.8 million for the quarter. On the bottom of the page, you can see the evolution of our adjusted net income and adjusted EBITDA performance. For the third quarter, we declare a dividend per share of $1.25, payable on or about December 22nd, 2021. During Q3 2021, our company prepaid in full the 50 million outstanding 8.3% senior notes, which were due in November 2022. In addition, as part of the authorized share buyback program, we repurchased 466,268 of our shares in open market transactions at an average price of $22.01 per share for aggregate consideration of $10.3 million. In November 2021, we hedged 75,000 tons for Q1 2022 of the VLSFO-HSFO spread at an average price of $134.8 per ton. In November 2021, we released our third annual environmental, social, and government report, which records our ongoing efforts to further strengthen the company's environmental stewardship, social contribution, and corporate governance, and provides a transparent account of our ESG strategy and performance. On the top right of the page, you will see our daily figures per vessel for the quarter. Our TCE rate was $30,626 per vessel per day. Our combined daily OPEX and net cash GNA expenses per vessel per day amounted to $5,291 per day per vessel. Therefore, our test TCE, less OPEX and GNA, is at $25,335 per day per vessel. Finally, for the fourth quarter of 2021, we have covered 71% of our fleet's available days at a daily rate of $38,250 per vessel. Slide number four graphically illustrates the changes in the company's cash balance during the third quarter. We started the quarter with $242.8 million in cash and generated meaningful positive cash flow from operating activities of $251 million due to the strong freight market. After including debt proceeds and repayments, our notes prepayment, capex payments for ballast water treatment installation, as well as the second quarter dividend payment, we arrived at a cash balance of 371.7 million at the end of the third quarter. Slide five has a walkthrough of our dividend policy with an example for the dividend calculation for third quarter 2021. As of September 30th, 2021, we owned 128 vessels and our total cash balance was at 371.7 million. With a minimum cash balance per vessel as of September 30th of 1.90 million, on November 16th, 2021, pursuant to our dividend policy, our board of directors declared the quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share payable on or about December 22nd, 2021 to all shareholders of record as of December 10th, and the ex-dividend date is expected to be on December 9th, 2021. Please turn now to slide number six, where we highlight the continued strength of our balance sheet. Our total cash today stands at 531.7 million, including a 30 million revolving facility, which is currently undrawn. Meanwhile, Our total debt stands at approximately 1.6 billion. Our working capital stands at approximately 80 million. We have completed four refinancings which will raise 400 million in senior debt and result in interest saving of about 5 million per annum. Our annual amortization is 207 million per annum and our performer average margin at approximately 2.4%. Finally, by the end of the year, we will have five unlevered vessels and no debt maturities until the third quarter of 2023. In slide number seven, we demonstrate the inherent operating leverage and cash flow potential of the company and the illustrative free cash flow per share, as well as the potential cash flow yield. For example, With approximately 46,700 fleet available days per year, based on the current 2022 FFA curve, Starbuck would produce $3.8 of precast flow and yield of approximately 20%. I will now pass the floor to our COO, Nikos Reskos, for an update on our operational performance.

Thank you, Simo. Please turn to slide A, where we provide an operational update. Operating expenses, excluding non-incurring expenses, was $4,288 per day per vessel for the nine months ending in 2021. Netcast GMA expenses were $1,053 per vessel per day for the same period. Despite continued adverse COVID-related restrictions, which have a direct impact on operating expenses, The combination of our in-house management and the scale of the group enable us to maintain very competitive costs, being the lowest cost operator amongst our peers, and continuing to rate at number one among our least peers in terms of rideship rating. Slide number nine provides a sleek snapshot and some guidance around our future dry dock and ballast water system installation expenses for the next 15 months, and the relevance total of five days. StarBulk operates one of the largest dry-bulk fleets with 128 vessels geared towards larger sizes. Our expected dry-bulk expense for the next 15 months is estimated at $32.9 million for the dry-ducking of 31 vessels, with another $26.3 million towards unbalanced water installation capacity. In total, we expect to have approximately 950 off-hide days for the forward 15-month period. We anticipate that 97% of our fleet will be fitted with balanced water systems by the end of 2022. The above numbers are based on current estimates around right of retrofit planning, vessel employment, and yard capacity. These figures incorporate our current understanding of present and future shipyard congestion. On the scrubber front, high-five fuel spreads have recently been increasing due to an upward momentum of fuel prices, a pickup in jet fuel demand, and increased production of HSFOs. With an estimated annual life consumption of 800,000 tons of HSFO across the startup fleet, we expect to have recouped our scrubber investment by the end of Q2 2022. Given that 94% of our vessels are fitted with scrubbers, a continued increase in HIFI spread can have a significant value generation for our company. I will now ask our Chief Strategy Officer, Haris Plakantonaki, to provide an update on the latest ESG development.