Diana Shipping inc.

Greetings and welcome to Diana Shipping, Inc. 2022 fourth quarter and year end conference call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Edward Nebb, IR Advisor. Please go ahead.

Well, thank you, Brock, and thank you, everyone, who is joining us for the Diana Shipping, Inc., fourth quarter year-end conference call. With us today from the company are Semiramis Paliu, Chief Executive Officer, and in a moment she will introduce the other persons present from the company. And so without further ado, I will turn it over to Ms. Paliu.

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc.' 's fourth quarter and end of the year 2022 earnings call. My name is Samira Mispaliou, the company's CEO, and it is an honor to have the opportunity to present to you today. Joining me today, this morning, we have Mr. Stacey Margaronis, president of Diana Shipping, Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, CFO and chief executive in Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Lefteris Papatrifon, Director of Diana Shipping Inc., and Ms. Maria Dede, the Company's Chief Accounting Officer. Before I begin, I kindly ask everyone to review the forward-looking statements applicable to today's presentation, which can be found on page four of the accompanying fourth quarter and end of the year presentation. 2022 has been another profitable year for our company. It has also been a very busy and productive one. While market conditions have become less robust over the last quarter and into 2023, our disciplined chartering strategy has allowed us to continue generating attractive free cash flows. As a result, not only have we announced another cash dividend for this quarter, but for the first time since our public listing, we have also provided guidance of our intention to declare a cash dividend of at least 15 cents per share for the next three quarters. Additionally, as a result of prudent and creative sale and purchase activity, the company announced today another special dividend in kind in the form of OceanPal Series D convertible preferred shares. We believe that the combination of the cash and the in-kind dividends is a true testament of our will to keep rewarding our shareholders when conditions are favorable. Turning to slide 5, I will review with you the company's snapshot as of today. Once again, we find ourselves owning and operating an expanded fleet of 41 vessels in the water, with a carrying capacity of approximately 4.7 million deadweight tons. As already announced, our fleet will increase by one to 42 vessels by the end of the second quarter 2023, as we expect to take delivery of one more Utamax in April. Our fleet utilization has remained at very high levels, coming in at 98.9% for the fiscal year 2022. At the end of the fourth quarter, we employed 1,020 people at sea and ashore. Moving on to slides six and seven, I will go over the highlights of the fourth quarter and recent developments. More specifically, in November of this year, we declared a cash dividend of 17.5 cents per common share, or approximately 17.3 million US dollars in aggregate for the third quarter of 2022. and a special stock distribution of all Series D convertible preferred shares of OceanPal Inc. held by the company. In December, we concluded the sale of TSI Andromeda to an unaffiliated Japanese third party for the amount of $29.85 million, and bare-bolt charted in the vessel for a period of 10 years. Also in December, and in preparation of the just mentioned transaction, we made a prepayment of 22 million US dollars for the release of the mortgage of DSI Andromeda. During the same month, the company took delivery of two Ultramax dry bulk vessels, DSI Sigasus and DSI Altair. And finally, before the end of the year, the company released its third ESG report for 2021, a copy of which can be found on our website. Referring to our more recent developments, in January, the company took delivery of one more Ultramax dry-bulk vessel, the motor vessel DSI Aquarius, successfully concluding the SCH fleet acquisition transaction. Also, the company signed a memorandum of agreement for the sale of motor vessel Aliki for the price of $15.08 million to an unaffiliated third party. In February, the company signed a memorandum of agreement for the sale of Melia for an aggregate price of $14 million to OceanPal Inc. The amount of $4 million was paid in cash upon signing of the memorandum of agreement, and the remaining amount was paid upon the delivery of the vessel in the form of 13,157 Series Z convertible preferred shares issued by OceanPal. Also in February, we signed a memorandum of agreement for the purchase of one more Ultramax dry bulk vessel, the motor vessel Nord Potomac, for a purchase price of 27.9 million US dollars. The vessel is expected to be delivered in early April. In February, we entered into a term sheet for a senior secured term loan facility with a major European bank for up to 100 US dollars million US dollars, sorry, for the refinancing of nine vessels. This is still subject to concluding customary documentation. As announced, we have declared a cash dividend of 15 cents per common share for the fourth quarter of 2022. We intend to maintain this dividend of 15 cents for the duration of 2023. In addition, We declared a special stock dividend in the form of 13,157 Series D convertible preferred shares of OceanPal Inc. held by the company, the payment of which remains subject to certain regulatory approvals in connection with the distribution. Lastly, as of February 16th, we have secured 68% of the remaining ownership days of 2023. securing approximately $169.2 million of contracted revenues and have also secured approximately $39.5 million of contracted revenues or 14% of the available ownership days for the entire year of 2024. Yanis will provide later on a more detailed analysis of our cash flow generation potential based on the current market environment. Turning to the financial highlights of the fourth quarter of 2022, on slide eight, we find ourselves as of December 31st, 2022, with a cash and cash equivalent position of 143.9 million US dollars, including restricted cash and time deposits as against 126.8 million US dollars as of December 31st, 2021. Our debt, Net of deferred financing costs stood at $663.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, as against $423.7 million at the end of 2021. Our time charter revenues for the fourth quarter of 2022 amounted to $75.7 million, as against 68.8 million US dollars for the same period of 2021. Lastly, our earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2022 came in at 27 cents versus 48 cents per share for the same period of 2021. Yanis will go over these numbers in more detail further on in the presentation. Moving on to slide nine. We find a summary of our recent chartering activity. Consistent with our disciplined chartering strategy, we have continued chartering our vessels in a staggered manner and have secured profitable time charters for 17 vessels of our fleet since our last earning presentation on November 17, 2023. More specifically, we have charted five Ultramax vessels at a weighted average daily rate of 14,000 US dollars and for a remaining average period of 284 days per vessel. We also have charted one cancer mark for Panamaxes and three post-Panamax vessels at a weighted average daily rate of 14,315 and for a remaining average period of 296 days per vessel. two Cape size and two new Casper Max vessels at a weighted average daily rate of 17,622 and for a remaining average period of 532 days per vessel. We intend to keep chartering our vessels in a similar way by staggering maturities, locking in cash flows and positioning us in a manner that allows us to participate in the market in a balanced way. I now turn it over to Yanis to go over the financials in more detail.