Star Bulk Carriers Corp.

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Starbuck Carriers Conference call on the second quarter 2023 financial results. We have with us Mr. Petros Papas, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hamish Norton, President, Mr. Simos Spiro, and Mr. Christos Begres, Co-Chief Financial Officers, Mr. Nikos Resko, Chief Operating Officer, and Ms. Charis Plankantounaki, Chief Strategy Officer 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 will now pass the floor over to one of your speakers, Mr. Beglaris. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Marietta. I am Christos Begleris, Co-Chief Financial Officer of Starbuck Carriers, and I would like to welcome you to our conference call regarding our financial results for the second quarter of 2023. 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 second quarter results, cash evolution during the quarter, an overview of our balance sheet, an update on fleet and operations, the latest on the ESG front, and our views on industry fundamentals before opening up for questions. Let us now turn to slide number three of the presentation for a summary of our second quarter 2023 highlights. Net income for the second quarter amounted to $44 million, and adjusted net income amounted to $49 million, or $0.47 per share, adjusted earnings. Adjusted EBITDA was $96 million for the quarter. For the second quarter, as per our existing dividend policy, we declared a dividend per share of $0.40, payable on or about September 7, 2023. During this quarter, we bought back 307,439,000 shares at a cost of $6.1 million. Since 2021, dividend distributions and share buybacks exceed $1 billion or $10.5 per share. On the top right of the page, you will see our daily figures per vessel for the quarter. Our time charter equivalent rate was 15,835 per vessel per day. Our combined daily OPEX and net cash GNA expenses per vessel per day amounted to 5,824. Therefore, our TCE less OPEX and GNA is approximately 10,000 per vessel day. Looking towards fleet renewal, we have agreed the sale of five Supermax vessels built in 2012 in China. Our opportunistic sale of these vessels, inclusive of trading profits, produced during the period realized excellent returns for our shareholders with a cash multiple of 4.6 times on the equity invested and an IRR of approximately 42%. The accounting gain from sale of the vessels is approximately 20 million in total. Looking at the first half of 2023, we have sold seven vessels and received insurance proceeds from one vessel for total net equity proceeds of 153.1 million. Out of these, we have already used 13.1 million for share buyback for total remaining net sale proceeds of 140 million. This additional 140 million will be added to our existing cash buffer and can be used for general corporate purposes, including fleet renewal, debt repayment, and share buybacks. Slide four graphically illustrates the changes in the company's cash balance during the second quarter. We started the quarter with 254.6 million in cash and generated positive cash flow from operating activities of 96.9 million. After including debt proceeds and repayments, capex payments for energy-saving devices and balanced water treatment system installments, the first quarter dividend payment and share repurchases, we arrived at a cash and cash equivalent balance of 310 million at the end of the quarter, which implies a dividend payment of 40 cents per share to the shareholders, of record of August 22nd, 2023. The ex-dividend date is expected to be August 21st, 2023. Please turn to slide five, where we highlight the strength of our balance sheet. Our total cash today stands at 457 million pro forma for the delivery of our two remaining SugarMax vessels. Meanwhile, our total debt stands at approximately 1.19 billion. The scrap value of our fleet is more than 800 million, based on scrap price of 400 per light deadweight ton. Taking into account the share repurchases and the debt repayments in connection with the changes in our fleet made in 2023, the cash threshold above which we will distribute dividends is set at $409 million. We have a positive trade working capital of $64 million and mark-to-market of derivatives of $18 million as of June 30, 2023. Following the completion of the refinancings performed during 2022 and 2023 and the sale of the five Supermax vessels, we will have nine unlevered vessels. Our next 12 months amortization is $177 million. I will now pass the floor to our COO, Nikos Reskos, to provide an update on our operational performance.

Thank you, Christos. Please turn to slide six where we provide an operational update. Operating expenses excluding non-recurring expenses were $4,770 for Q3 2022. NETCAT GMA expense were $1,051 per vessel per day for the same period. In addition, we continue to rate at the top among our listed peers in terms of ride-shift safety score. Slide 7 provides a fleet update and some guidance around our future dry dock and vessel efficiency at grade expenses and a relevant total of hired days. Our expected dry dock expense for the next In total, we expect to have approximately 960 all-time days for the same period. In line with the EXI and CII regulations, we will continue investing and upgrading our fleet further with energy-saving devices and latest operational technologies deployed across the fleet Regarding our ESD retrofit program, we have completed 21 vessels until today, and four more vessels are planned to be fitted by the end of the year. The above numbers are based on current estimates around dry dock and retrofit planning, vessel employment, and yard capacity. During the second quarter, we have successfully completed onboard testing of carbon capture technology with the capabilities to retain up to 30% in net CO2 emissions. We will continue working on carbon capture technology with our industrial partners, aiming at developing a cost-effective solution which can be selectively retrofitted in the future on select vessels of our fleet and within the scope of our carbon credit scheme. Finally, we're actively working with demand, supply, and banking of carbon-neutral fuels to give over the safety considerations and vessel design development with a particular focus on clean ammonia and, in line, with developing work taking place under the R&R Consortium and the Green Corridors Initiative. I will now pass the floor to our CSO, Harris Plakatonaki, for an ESG update.