Diana Shipping inc.

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Diana Shipping, Inc. conference call for the first quarter 2025 financial results. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. There'll be a presentation followed by a question and answer session, at which time, if you'd like to ask a question, you may do so by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Ms. Semiramis Palu. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc. First Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. I'm Samira Misfayou, the CEO of the company, and it's my pleasure to present alongside our esteemed team, Mr. Stacey Malgaronis, Director and President, Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, Director, Co-CFO and Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Lefteris Papatrifon, Director, Ms. Maria Dede, Co-President, Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone to review the forward-looking statements on page four of the accompanying presentation. After a record year for dry bulk volumes through 2024, the market seems to have taken a general breather. This can be attributed to the current global uncertainty, both economical as well as geopolitical. Even though industry segments, which are tariff sensitive, such as container vessels, are very volatile, the dryback market has been dull and uninspiring so far this year, except for a significant dip in February. The overall market levels are still historically healthy, but sentiment is clearly lacking, even though cargo volumes are stable compared to the same period in 2024. Nowhere is this more evident than in the new building market, where dry bulk vessel contracting so far this year has slumped to only 0.1% of the global fleet. Q1 was the second lowest quarterly contracting level on record. Only Q3 2016 was lower, but the higher rates and asset prices were a fraction of today's levels back then. Unfortunately, scrapping remains at historically low levels, with only 16 vessels scrapped so far in 2025, for a measly 0.1% of the fleet. Meanwhile, the forward curve has become flat for all sizes. However, this has not stopped us from securing improved charter hires, especially in the K-size segment. Turning to slide five. Let's review our company's snapshot as of today. Diana Shipping Inc., founded in 1972 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 2005, operates a fleet of 37 dry bulk vessels, six of which are mortgage-free. Our fleet has an average age of 11.6 years and a total deadweight capacity of approximately 4.1 million tons. We anticipate the delivery of two methanol dual-fuel new building Camp Thermax dry bulk vessels at the end of 2027 and early 2028, respectively. Fleet utilization reached 99.6% for the first quarter of 2025, highlighting our effective vessel management strategy. As of the end of the first quarter, we employed 974 individuals at sea and the shore. Financially, our net debt stands at 42% of market value, supported by 187.7 million in cash reserves as of quarter end, and total secured revenues of approximately 124 million as of May 22. Moving on to slide six, Let's go over the key highlights from the first quarter and recent developments. In February 2025, continuing the renewal and modernization of our fleet, we announced the sale of rotor vessel ASMI for a purchase price of approximately US$11.9 million before commission. She was delivered to her new owners in March 13, 2025. Furthermore, in March, we became a strategic partner with an 80% equity interest and invested in a newly established joint venture, EcoGas Holding AS. This joint venture has agreed to order two 7,500 cubic meters semi-refrigerated LPG new buildings, with an option for two additional vessels. Delivery of the first vessel is expected in the first quarter of 2027, and of the second vessel in the fourth quarter of 2027. In April, we celebrated the company's 20-year anniversary of listing on the New York Stock Exchange with a closing bell ceremony and hosted an investor day in New York. The investor presentation is available on the company's website. As of May 22nd, the company has raised $25.6 million from the exercise of 6,414,000 warrants under the ongoing warrants program to purchase common shares for cash. Of further, 64.9 million US dollars could be raised under the scope of the program if all outstanding warrants are exercised. As of May 22, 2025, we have also secured 86.8 million US dollars of contracted revenues for 66% of the remaining ownership days of the year 2025, and have secured 36.5 million US dollars of contracted revenue for 13% of the ownership days of the year 2026. Finally, we are pleased to declare a quarterly cash dividend of one cent per common share, totaling approximately 1.2 million US dollars. Slide 7 summarizes our recent chartering activities. Since our last earnings presentation, we have secured favorable time charters for nine vessels. One Ultramax vessel at a weighted average daily rate of $14,000 for 232 days. Three Panamax, one Post-Panamax, and one Cantermax vessel at a weighted average daily rate of $11,764. for an average of 299 days. Two Newcastle vessels at $24,272 for an average of 490 days. Slide eight highlights our disciplined chartering strategy. We focus on staggered, medium to long-term charters to avoid clustered maturities, ensuring earnings visibility and resilience against market downturns. Now I'll pass the floor to Maria for a more detailed financial analysis. Thank you, Samira.

Okay, going to slide nine. We can say that this first quarter of 2025 was a good quarter for Diana, despite the negative market dynamics in the dry bark sector. Our time charter revenues for the first quarter were $54.9 million, decreased by about 5% compared to the $57.6 million for the same quarter last year. This decrease was due to the decrease in the size of the fleet and an increase in drive-up days rather than time charter rates, as the upper time charter rate that our vessels were fixed in the quarter was better than than that of the same quarter last year, which we will see later in the presentation. For the same reasons, our adjusted EBITDA decreased to 23.3 million compared to 24.9 million in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of 6%. Our adjusted EBITDA is calculated by deducting from our operating income, depreciation and amortization of deferred charges, and the gain on sale of assets. Our net income for the quarter increased to 3 million compared to 2.1 million for the same quarter in 2024, an increase that is mainly attributable to decreased interest and finance charges as a result of a combination of decreased average debt and decreased weighted average interest rates. Net income has also been affected by decreased losses from non-operating activities recorded as fair values. Earnings per common share diluted was one cent in the first quarter of 2025 and remained unchanged compared to the same quarter of 2024. On the balance sheet side, our cash includes cash on hand and advance, time deposits maturing in periods below three months included in cash and cash equivalents, deposits with maturities above three months excluded from cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash, non-currents, serving as compensating cash balance to secure our loan facilities. On March 31st, 2025, our cash decreased to 187.7 million, compared to 207.2 million as of December 31st, 2024. In that quarter, we generated positive operating cash flows, which covered our break-even costs, which include operating costs and debt service, but cash decreased due to the repurchase of our common shares in January 2025 in a tender offer, under which we repurchased 11.4 million shares for 23 million. Long-term debt and finance liabilities, net of deferred finance and costs, decreased to 623.9 million as of March 31st, 2025, compared to 637.5 million as of December 31st, 2024, a decrease of around 2%, which reflects the static quarterly amortization of our indebtedness. Going to slide 10. In this slide, we present to you the financial and other data which affected revenues, our time charter equivalent rate, and the daily operating expenses rate for the periods in review. The average number of vessels was 37.8 in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 39.7 vessels, average vessels, in the first quarter of 2024, and decreased due to the sale of the vessel like Queenie early in March this year, and the sale of two more vessels in the first and third quarters of 2024. This decrease in the size of the fleet is also reflected in the decreased ownership available and operating days of the fleet, which we use to calculate time charter equivalent rates, daily OPEX, and utilization. Our time charter equivalent, which is defined as our revenues, less voyage expenses divided by the available days, was $15,739 per day for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $15,051 per day in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 5%, reflecting the better rates achieved in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year. It is important to note that this increased time starter equivalent rate is the result of our consistent and disciplined commercial strategy rather than market conditions, A strategy that is designed to leverage market volatility, deliver a more resilient performance across cycles and stable earnings. Clips utilization for the quarter also increased to 99.6% compared to 99.1% in the same quarter last year as a result of less of higher days. Vessel operating expenses decreased in absolute numbers by 4% due to the decrease in the average number of vessels, but the daily operating expenses increased by 2% to $5,866 per day compared to $5,775 per day during the same period in 2024. The company actively and consistently monitors its expenses and tries to maintain its costs at optimal levels without compromising the quality of its fleet and its operations. Slide 11 presents our current debt profile. This slide shows how the company has prudently and proactively designed its financing strategy, having a mix of variable and fixed rate debt instruments. Variable rate instruments consist of secured loan agreements fixed at terms offered plus a margin. Fixed rate instruments consist of an unsecured bond, for sale and lease back agreements at very favorable fixed rates, and an interest rate swap under which we receive terms offered and pay fixed. We have a fixed annual debt amortization of $47.1 million without any maturities or balloons until 2029, when our bond becomes due. This steady amortization provides good visibility of our debt service cost, reduces debt in a predictable manner, allows better management of the company's liquidity, strengthens our balance sheet, and reduces the company's credit risk profile. As of March 31, 2025, in slide 12, You can see that our break-even rate was $16,218 per day. As of May 22, 2025, we have fixed 66% of the ownership days for the remainder of 2025 and expect to generate $86.8 million of revenues at an average time charted rate of $15,806 per day. For 2026, we have fixed 13% of the ownership days and expect to generate 36.5 million of revenues at an average time charter rate of $20,363 per day. On top of our contracted revenues, we have calculated the revenues that we could generate for the unfixed days of 2025 and 2026. by using the FFA rates presented in this slide. Based on these assumptions, we have estimated that for the remainder of 2025, we could generate revenues of $123.6 million on aggregate at an average time chart rate of $14,911 per day And for 2026, we could generate revenues of $190.7 million on aggregate at an average time chart rate of $14,118 per day. Although it appears that the estimated revenues may not be adequate to cover our break-even rate going forward, By taking into account that current FFA rates are not particularly strong due to negative market conditions in the dry bulk sector, increased volatility and uncertainty, we believe that through our chartering strategy, we could capture any market upside going forward by fixed investors at one year time charter rates for short to medium term periods. Also, we believe that the company is well positioned having strong balance sheet and predictable cash flows to navigate through the cycles, even if market conditions do not improve. And slide 13. This slide presents our dividend payout since the third quarter of 2021, which has rewarded our shareholders with quarterly distributions of both cash and shares. Consistent with this payout, we have declared another dividend of one cent per share, increasing our cumulative dividend paid since 2021 to $2.67 per common share. Thank you for listening to this presentation, and now I will pass the call to Stacey, who will continue with the dry ball market overview.