Diana Shipping inc.

Greetings. Welcome to Diana Shipping's 2020 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. The question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero from your telephone keypad. Please note that this conference is being recorded. At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Ed Nebb, Investor Relations for Diana Shipping. Ed, you may begin.

Well, thank you, Rob, and thanks to all of you for joining us for the Diana Shipping, Inc. 2020 Third Quarter Conference Call. The members of the company management team who are with us today include Mr. Simon Palios, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Semiramis Paliu, Deputy 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 Ms. Maria Dede, Chief Accounting Officer. Before management's remarks, let me just briefly summarize the Safe Harbor Notice. Certain statements made during this call which are not historical fact are forward-looking statements as defined by the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, and such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, expectations, projections, and beliefs. as to future events that may or may not prove to be accurate. A description of the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements are contained in the company's filings with the SEC. And with that, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Simon Palios, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Simon Palios Thank you, Ed. Good morning and thank you for joining us today to discuss the results of Diana Shipping Inc. for the third quarter of 2020. As a challenging year winds towards a close, the world is still feeling the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on people's lives and global economic activity. While recent developments in terms of potential vaccines are promising, in the near term we are facing renewed lockdowns due to a resurgence of the coronavirus. Such measures will continue to negatively affect the global economy and the market demand for worldwide shipping. In response to these uncertainties, the company has continued to pursue strategies to prudently manage our financial resources, our fleet, and our overall operations. To summarize, the 2023 quarter, Diana Shipping reported a net loss of $13.2 and a net loss attributed to common shareholders of US$14.6 million for the third quarter of 2020, including a US$6.8 million in permanent loss which resulted from the agreement to sell the vessels Sideris GS and Koronis. This compares to net income of 1.8 million US dollars and net income attributed to common shareholders of 0.3 million US dollars reported in the third quarter of 2019. Time charter revenues were 42.3 million US dollars for the third quarter of 2020 compared with 53.5 million US dollars for the same period of 2019. This decrease was mainly due to the sale of vessels in 2019 and 2020 and decreased average time charter rates. The balance sheet remains sound with total cash including restricted totaling 90.4 million US dollars at September 30, 2020. We have taken several steps to strengthen our financial position in recent periods. In July, we repurchased an aggregate amount equal to $8 million of the outstanding senior unsecured bonds. You may recall that we also extended and financed several loan facilities during the second quarter to extend their maturities. With respect to fleet management, in September we agreed to sell the 2006 built vessel Coronis for a sale price of 7.1 million US dollars before commissions. Later that month we agreed to sell the 2006 built vessel Sideris GS for a sale price of 11.5 million US dollars before commissions. Both vessels will be delivered to the buyers later by January 20th, 2021. In conclusion, we are confident that Diana Shipping Inn can continue to navigate the prevailing challenging conditions while remaining sharply focused on preserving and building shareholder value. With that, I will now turn the call over to our President, Stacy Margaronis, for a perspective in industry conditions. He will then be followed by our interim chief financial officer and treasurer, Ioannis Zafirakis, who will provide a more detailed financial overview. Thank you.