Star Bulk Carriers Corp.

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Starbolt Carriers Conference Call on the fourth quarter 2025 financial results. We have with us Mr. Petros Papas, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Hamish Norton, President, Mr. Simas Biru and Mr. Christos Beglaris, Co-Chief Financial Officers, Mr. Nikos Reskos, Chief Operating Officer, Konstantinos Simanderis, Head of Marketing Analysis, and Mrs. Charis Planketanaki, 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. We now pass the floor to one of your speakers today, Mr. Spiro. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us today. I'm Simo Spirou, Co-Chief Financial Officer of Staple Carriers, and I would like to welcome you to our conference call regarding our financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025. 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 review our fourth quarter 2025 company highlights, financial performance, capital allocation initiatives, cash evolution during the quarter, operational performance, our continued investments in the fleet, developments on the regulatory fund, and our perspective on industry fundamentals. We will then open the floor for questions. Turning to slide three, the fourth quarter was characterized by solid profitability, disciplined capital allocation, and continued balance sheet strength. For the fourth quarter of 2025, our net income amounted to 65.2 million, while adjusted net income reached 74.5 million, or 16 cents adjusted EPS. Adjusted EBITDA was at 126.4 million, demonstrating the strong cash generating capacity of our platform, even in a moderate rate environment. We continued to actively return capital to our shareholders. During the fourth quarter, we repurchased 1.2 million shares for a total of 22.7 million. Year to date, during the first quarter of 2026, we have repurchased approximately 1.9 million shares, totaling $37.9 million. In addition, our Board of Directors declared a $0.37 per share dividend for the fourth quarter, payable on March 19th to all shareholders of record as of March 9th, 2026. Our balance sheet remains a key strategic advantage. Total cash and cash equivalents are approximately at $459 million. Outstanding debt is approximately at $1 billion, and we have an undrawn revolving capacity of $110 million. Importantly, we also have 27 debt-free vessels with an aggregate market value of approximately $630 million. This unencumbered asset base provides substantial financial flexibility to fund growth opportunities as well as downside protection. To further enhance shareholder value, we have taken the following capital allocation actions. Dividend policy. Going forward, we intend to distribute 100% of our free cash flow subject to maintaining a minimum cash balance of $2.1 million per vessel, while preserving a minimum quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. We have also authorized a new $100 million share repurchase program on substantially the same terms as the prior program. This dual-track approach, dividends plus opportunistic buybacks funded from vessel sales, allows us to dynamically allocate capital depending on the market conditions and the discount or premium of our shares relative to the intrinsic value. These initiatives reflect both our confidence in the company's forward cash flow visibility and our commitment to maintaining a competitive and sustainable capital return profile. On the top right side of slide number three, you can see our per vessel daily performance metrics for the quarter. Time charter equivalent came at $19,012 per day per vessel. Combined daily operating expenses and net cash GNA expenses at $6,444 per day per vessel. This result This results in a daily cash margin of approximately $12,570 per vessel per day before debt service and CAPEX. These numbers highlight the operating efficiency of our platform and our ability to generate meaningful cash flow even at mid-cycle rate levels. Slide number four summarizes our capital allocation track record over the last five years. Since 2021, we have executed approximately $3 billion in value-enhancing actions, including dividends, shares repurchases, and debt repayment. During this period, we have returned $13.49 per share in dividends. representing approximately 55% of our current share price. We have reduced our total net debt by 47%, being leveraged to a level where it's below 65% of the current demolition value of the fleet. At the same time, we expanded the fleet opportunistically through accretive fleet acquisitions, issuing equity at or above NAVs, thereby increasing scale while protecting per share value. The result is a larger, more efficient platform with materially lower financial risk and significantly enhanced free cash flow per share potential. Slide number five illustrates the movement in our cash balance during the fourth quarter. We began the quarter with $457 million in cash, We generated 101 million in operating cash flow and after-sales proceeds, debt drawdowns and repayments, capex payments related to new buildings installments and energy saving devices and ballast water treatment systems, the share buybacks and the fourth quarter dividend payment, we ended the quarter with 502 million in cash. This sequential increase in cash underscores the strong internal cash generation of the company, even after substantial shareholder returns and investment in fleet upgrades. Slide number six highlights the inherent operating leverage embedded in our business model. With approximately 49.5 thousand fleet available days per annum, And based on the current next 12-month FFA curve of approximately $18,500 per day on a fleet-wide basis, the company would generate approximately $2.7 per share of free cash flow, representing almost 11% implied cash flow yield. The slide illustrates the strength of our platform on a rising market. Every $1,500 per day fleet-wide increase in our TCE equates to an EBITDA increase of $73 million. This would translate to $0.65 per share of incremental dividend to our shareholders given our existing approach to distributions. In summary, during the fourth quarter, we delivered solid profitability. strengthened our liquidity position, continued to deliver, returned meaningful capital to shareholders, and preserved significant optionality for future capital allocation. Our balanced resilience, operating efficiency, and disciplined capital allocation framework position us well to navigate market volatility while continuing to enhance per share value. With that, I will now pass the floor to our COO, Nikos Reskos, for an update on our operational performance and the continued investments we are making in our fleet. Thank you, Simo. Please turn to slide 7, covering our operational performance. We continue to run one of the most cost-efficient platforms in the dry bulk sector. Daily operating expenses for Q4 came in at $5,045 per vessel, and net cut CNA at $1,399 per vessel. Both among the lowest in our peer group, as illustrated. Importantly, this operational cost discipline has not come at the expense of quality. Starbo continues to rank at the top among listed peers in right ship safety scores. Moving to slide A, we outline our fleet-wide investment program. On the new building front, All eight of our customized new buildings are on track for delivery during 2026, with $206.6 million of capex remaining. Financing is well advanced. We have secured $130 million of debt against the five Qingdao vessels and expect a further $74 million against the three Qingli vessels. On vessel upgrades, we made meaningful progress during 2025, fitting 13 additional vessels with energy-saving devices, and six with high-efficiency propellers. In total, we have now completed 55 out of 80 ESG total installations across the fleet, and with another 14 planned for 2026. We have also nearly completed our telemetry rollout, with 121 out of 126 eligible vessels now retrofitted with digital monitoring equipment. The top right of the page shows our CAPEX schedule, illustrating both the new building payments and our vessel efficiency upgrade spending, alongside the corresponding debt financing. At the bottom, you can see our expected drive-thru schedule for 2026, which totals approximately $55.6 million, with around 1,585 off-hours days for the full year. And slide 9 for a quick update. We continue to optimize our fleet through selective disposals, prioritizing the sale of older, non-ecotonic, to reduce our average fleet age and improve overall efficiency. During Q4, we delivered three vessels to their new owners, to Supermax's and a Paranox, Star Runner, Star Sun Piper, and Star Emily. In December, we agreed to sell Star Stirlington and Ultramax, which was delivered to their new owners in February. Looking into Q1 2026, we will commit two additional older vessels for sale, an inefficient Cape Size and a Cancer Max, Starskyler and Star Mariella, with deliveries expected in April. We'll continue to maintain seven long-term chartering contracts, which provide commercial flexibility across market cycles. Starbuck operates one of the largest drive-by fleets among U.S. and European listed peers, with 141 vessels on a fully delivered basis, another age of approximately 12.1 years. I will now pass the floor to our Chief Strategy Officer, Haris Plakatenaki, for an update on recent weather environmental regulation developments.

Thank you, Nico. Please turn to slide 10, where we highlight our progress across ESG priorities. Despite the one-year postponement of the IMO Net Zero Framework in October 2025, We remain committed to our strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our fleet's operations. Alongside the ongoing renewal of our fleet, in Q4-25, we continue to enhance the energy efficiency of our vessels through targeted technical and operational measures, including the successful testing of high-cleaning robots and silicon antifouling coatings. In 2025, the Starbuck fleet achieved an average C rating in the right six greenhouse gas ratings. We also maintained our B score for effective environmental management in the 2025 Carpet Disclosure Project and water management submission. We continue to contribute actively through the work of the Maritime Emission Reduction Center, working with our partners to assess emerging technologies aimed at improving vessel performance. To comply with HULIU maritime and consistent with last year, we entered into a pooling agreement with an external party to cover 100% of our CO2 deficit for 26 and part of 27, purchasing surplus units, the most cost-effective compliance strategy. On the technology front, we completed the deployment of Starlink and installed onboard firewalls across the fleet to enhance connectivity and strengthen cybersecurity. As part of our artificial intelligence strategy, we delivered the company's first custom-built AI application while continuing to leverage AI within existing systems and to develop new tools to further automation and optimization. The well-being of our people remained a priority. During Q425, we conducted a comprehensive company-wide employee survey to listen closely to our teams and identify tangible solutions to better support them in their roles. I will now pass the floor to our Head of Market Analysis, Konstantinos Simantidas, for a market update and his closing remarks.