Diana Shipping inc.

Greetings and welcome to Diana Shipping, Inc., second quarter 2023 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 call, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to hand the call over to Ed Nebb, investor relations advisor with the company. Thank you. You may begin.

Thanks, Daryl, and thanks to everyone who is joining us today for the Diana Shipping, Inc. 2020 Second Quarter Conference Call. With us today for management are Samir Amis Palyu, Chief Executive Officer, who will introduce the other members of the management team. And so without further ado, I will turn it over to Samir Amis.

Thank you, Ed. So, good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc.' 's second quarter 2023 earnings call. My name is Samira Mizpaliou, the CEO of the company, and it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to present to you today. I am joined by our esteemed team, Mr. Stacey Margaronis, Director and President of Diana Shipping Inc., Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, Director, CFO, and Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Lesteris Papatrifon, Director of Diana Shipping Inc., and Ms. Maria Dede, the Company's Chief Accounting Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone to review the forward-looking statements applicable to today's presentation, which can be found on page four of the accompanying second quarter 2023 presentation. Q2 2023 has proven to be a profitable quarter for our company. despite less robust conditions prevailing in the market. Our disciplined chartering strategy once again has largely insulated us from the market weakening and has allowed us to generate positive free cash flows. In line with the guidance provided during the company's previous earnings call, we are pleased to declare the distribution of a dividend for this quarter amounting to 15 cents per share, which will be paid in shares or, at any shareholders' election, in cash. We aim to continue rewarding our shareholders when conditions allow us to do so. Turning to slide five, I will provide an overview of the company's snapshot as of today. We currently own and operate a fleet of 42 vessels in the water, including a partial interest through a joint venture arrangement in one Ultramax, with a carrying capacity of approximately 4.7 million deadweight tons. Our fleet utilization has remained consistently high, reaching 99.6% for the second quarter of 2023. Additionally, we employed 1,024 people at sea and ashore as of the end of the second quarter. Moving on to slide six and then seven, We'll go over the key highlights from the second quarter and recent developments. In April, we successfully secured a $100 million US term loan facility from Danish Ship Finance, which has been drawn down to refinance existing loan facilities secured by nine vessels. Within the same month, we acquired the longer vessel DSI Drammen for a purchase price of $27.9 million US dollars, The vessel was delivered to the company in April, and within the same month, we completed the joint venture for her ownership and procured debt financing from Nordea Bank. Moving on to May 2023, we declared a quarterly dividend of 15 cents per common share, amounting to approximately 16 million US dollars. Shareholders had the option to receive a dividend in the form of DSX shares or cash, according to their election. During June, we took further steps to optimize our financial position. We signed and utilized the $22.5 million term loan facility with Nordea Bank to refinance existing loan facilities secured by four vessels. Additionally, we entered into another $100 million US term loan facility with D&B Bank to refinance existing loan facilities secured by 10 vessels. After this refinancing, We do not have any debt maturities from now till the end of 2025. Lastly, within the same month, we repurchased approximately US$6 million of our 8.375% senior unsecured bonds listed on the Oslo Bourse. In July, we signed an amended and restated term loan facility the Export-Import Bank of China for the transition into the secured overnight financing rate SOFR. As a result, all our debt agreements have now been successfully converted into SOFR. Today, we are pleased to announce a quarterly dividend of 15 cents per common share, totaling approximately 16 million US dollars, to be paid in the form of DSX shares or, at the election of any shareholder, in cash. As of July 27, we have secured revenue for 80% of the remaining ownership days of 2023, amounting to approximately $87.5 million of contracted revenues. Additionally, we have secured approximately $77.7 million of contracted revenues for 2024, representing 31% of the available ownership days for the entire year. Yanis will provide a more detailed analysis of our cash flow generation potential based on the current market environment. Turning to the financial highlights of the second quarter of 2023 on slide eight, as of June 30th, 2023, we held a cash and cash equivalent position of $197.6 million, including restricted cash and time deposits, compared to $143.9 million as of December 31, 2022. Our net debt, including deferred financing costs, stood at $671.9 million at the end of June 30, 2023, compared to $663.4 million at the end of December 31, 2022. Time charter revenues for the second quarter of 2023 amounted to $67.4 million compared to $74.5 million for the same period in 2022. Lastly, our earnings per share for the second quarter of 2023 came in at $0.09 compared to $0.42 per share for the same period in 2022. Yanis will provide a more detailed analysis of these numbers later in the presentation. Moving on to slide nine, let's review a summary of our recent chartering activity. We have continued to implement our disciplined chartering strategy by securing profitable time charters for three vessels since our last earnings presentation in May 2023. To provide some detail, we have chartered one Ultramax vessel with a daily rate of 13,800 US dollars for a remaining average period of 387 days. Additionally, we have charted one Kamsar Max and one Cape-sized vessel with a daily rate of $12,670 and a remaining average period of 470 days, and at a daily rate of $16,000 and a remaining average period of 439 days, respectively. We intend to continue chartering our vessels in a staggered manner, focusing on locking in cash flows and positioning ourselves in a balanced way to participate in the market efficiently. I will now pass on the floor to Yannis to provide a more detailed analysis of our financials.