Diana Shipping inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Diana Shipping Incorporated 2020 First Quarter Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If you would like to ask a question at any time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star 0 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Ed Nebb, Investor Relations Advisor. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Donna, and thanks to all of you for joining us for the Diana Shipping, Inc. 2020 First Quarter Conference Call. The members of the management team who are with us today include Ms. Semiramis Paliu, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Anastasios Margaronis, President, Mr. Yanis Zafirakis, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer and Secretary, and and Ms. Maria Day-Date, Chief Accounting Officer. Before management begins, let me briefly summarize the Safe Harbor Notice. Certain statements made during this call, which are not historical fact, are forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, and such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, expectations, projections, or beliefs as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. for a description of the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's filings with the OCT. And with that, let me turn the call over to Ms. Pagliu.

Thank you, Ed. Good morning and thank you for joining us today to discuss the results of Diana Shipping, Inc. for the first quarter of 2020. I am addressing you today in my capacity as Acting Chief Executive Officer. I also bring greetings from our chairman and CEO, Simon Paglios. He asked me to tell you that he looks forward to joining us on future calls. As individuals, businesses and governments around the world continue to deal with the challenges of the pandemic, the near-term outlook for the dry box shipping sector is uncertain. What is certain, however, is that Diana Shipping Inc. has successfully navigated previous difficult economic cycles, We are confident in our strategies and our ability to emerge from this period as a strong shareholder-focused company. To summarize the results of the 2021st quarter, the company's financial performance primarily reflected lower time charter revenues, an impairment loss on vessels' values, a loss from the sale of a vessel, and higher expenses related to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, we continued our strategic approach to managing our fleet, announcing an agreement to sell an older vessel. And we have once again returned capital to our shareholders in the form of a self-tender offer early in the quarter and share repurchases under our share repurchase plan. With respect to our financial results for the first quarter of 2020, Diana Shipping reported a net loss of 102.8 million US dollars and a net loss attributed to common stockholders of 104.3 million US dollars, including a 93.1 million US dollar impairment loss. This compares to net income of 3.0 million US dollars and net income attributed to common stockholders of 1.5 million US dollars in the first quarter of 2019, including a $4.8 million impairment loss. Loss per share for the first quarter of 2020 was $1.21 compared to earnings per share of $0.02 for the same period in 2019. Adjusted loss per share excluding impairment loss was $0.13 for the recent quarter compared to adjusted earnings per share of 0.07 for the same quarter of 2019. Time charter revenues were $43.8 million for the first quarter of 2020, compared to $60.3 million for the same period of 2019. This was primarily due to decreased average time charter rates, as well as the sale of one vessel in the first quarter of 2020, and six vessels in 2019. Turning to the balance sheet, cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, totaled $111.2 million at March 31, 2020. Long-term debt, including the current portion, was $465.4 million, while stockholders' equity was $457.7 million. Consistent with our commitment to return value to shareholders, the company completed a new self-tender offer to purchase 3,030,303 shares on February 3, 2020. Additionally, during March, the company repurchased 1,088,034 shares under the company's share repurchase plan. Continuing our active management of the company's fleet, we completed the sale of the 2002-built vessel Norfolk in February for a sale price of US$8.75 million before commission. We will continue to manage our fleet in a responsible manner that promotes a balance of time-shutter maturities and produces a predictable revenue stream. As we look ahead of 2020, we will continue the prudent management of our financial position and our fleet and will maintain our focus on delivering value to our shareholders. With that, I will now turn the call over to our President, Stacey Margaronis, for a perspective on industry conditions. He will then be followed by our Interim Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer and Secretary, Ioannis Zafirakis, who will provide a more detailed financial overlook. Thank you.