Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd

Please stand by. Your program is about to begin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Genco Shipping and Trading Limited First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Presentation. Before we begin, please note that there will be a slide presentation accompanying today's conference call. That presentation can be obtained from Genco's website at www.gencoshipping.com. To inform everyone, today's conference is being recorded and is now being webcast at the company's website, www.gencoshipping.com. We will conduct a question and answer session after the opening remarks. Instructions will follow at that time. A replay of the conference will be accessible anytime during the next two weeks by dialing 800-938-2487 and entering the passcode 24967. At this time, I will now turn the conference over to the company. Please go ahead. Good morning.

Before we begin our presentation, I note that in this conference call, we will be making certain forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements use words such as anticipate, budget, estimate, expect, project, intend, plan, believe, and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with the discussion of potential future events, circumstances, or future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and observations. For a discussion of factors that could cause results to differ, please see the company's press release that was issued yesterday, the materials relating to this call posted on the company's website, and the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, and the company's reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K subsequently filed with the SEC. At this time, I would like to introduce John Wobensmith, Chief Executive Officer of Genco Shipping and Trading Limited.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Genco's first quarter 2024 conference call. In addition to reviewing our Q1 2024 and year-to-date highlights, we want to use this opportunity to provide an update on the progress we are making three years into our comprehensive value strategy, as well as on the industry's current fundamentals. We will then open up the call for questions. For additional information, please also refer to our earnings presentation posted on our website. Separately from our earnings release, we issued a press release yesterday with the news that leading proxy advisory firm ISS made recommendations consistent with those of our board for all of the items to be voted on at our annual meeting of shareholders this year. While we are pleased with this result, the focus of our call this morning will be over the results for the first quarter of 2024 and the ongoing implementation of our comprehensive value strategy. If you wish to see more information regarding matters to be voted on at our annual meeting, please refer to the press release I mentioned or our website at www.voteforjenco.com. Beginning on slide five, during the first quarter, we further executed our value strategy, which is aimed at driving returns through the dry bulk cycles and creating sustained long-term shareholder value. Building on a solid end to 2023, Q1 2024 marked another strong quarter for Genco. We drew on our leading commercial platform and significant operating leverage to generate Q1 net income of $18.8 million, driven by a fleet-wide time chart equivalent rate of $19,219. Notably, Q1 TCE increased relative to Q4 for the first time in over 15 years. In terms of shareholder returns, we increased the Q1 dividend quarter over quarter to 42 cents per share as our strong Q1 earnings flowed into our dividend consistent with our transparent policy. During the quarter, we also further improved our risk-reward balance as we voluntarily paid down debt and improved our net leverage position to 7% as we approach our goal of net debt zero. Turning to slide six, we provide a snapshot of how our approach to capital allocation centered around dividends, deleveraging, and growth has developed since implementing our value strategy a little over three years ago. In 2021, we laid out a clear path and related objectives to transfer Genco into a low leverage, high dividend yielding company with significant financial flexibility to provide shareholders with returns and opportunistically grow through the dry bulk shipping cycles. Since that time, we have paid down $279 million of debt while distributing nearly $200 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and investing $236 million in our fleet. As we implemented the strategy in 2021, we prioritized vessel acquisitions and debt paydowns to reduce our cash flow breakeven when the cyclical turn in the market began, creating a strong foundation for the execution of our value strategy. Since 2022, we have continued to voluntarily pay down debt while increasing our focus on dividends. On page seven, we highlight the compelling dividends we have provided to shareholders. The first quarter dividend marks our 19th consecutive quarterly dividend payment, representing the longest period of consecutive dividends in our peer group. Over this time, we have declared $5.57 per share in dividends, or approximately 25% of the current share price. Complementing shareholder returns during Q1, we continue to prioritize fleet renewal as highlighted on page eight. Following the timely acquisition of two high specification Cape size vessels in Q4, we divested three 2009 to 2010 built vessels that delivered to buyers in Q1 and early Q2 2024. Through these transactions, we have improved the fuel efficiency of our fleet, increased our earnings power, reduced our fleet's average age, and saved approximately $10 million in dry docking CapEx for 2024. Importantly, we also increased utilization in the current strong market. With the execution of this phase of our fleet renewal plan, we have further advanced our barbell approach to fleet composition, as shown on page 9. Cape-sized vessels provide high operating leverage and upside potential with a focus on the iron ore, coal, and bauxite trades, while the minor bulk vessels provide more stable earning streams, operate on diverse trade routes, and are more closely linked to global GDP growth. We believe owning ships in both of these sectors support Genco's value strategy. Moving forward, we continue to evaluate further opportunities in the sale and purchase market to further renew our fleet. Turning to slide 10, we continue to generate strong TCE performance. In Q1, our fleet ride TCE increased by 38% on a year-over-year basis. Looking ahead to Q2, 65% of our available days are fixed to date, at over $20,000 a day, pointing to another firm quarter as this is well above our cash flow breakeven rate of approximately $10,000 per day. Turning to slide 11, we believe Genco remains in a highly advantageous position moving forward. Specifically, we have an industry low net loan to value and cash flow breakeven rate in nearly $300 million in undrawn revolver availability. This provides significant financial flexibility and optionality for the company going forward. We believe our low leverage, high dividend payout model executed in scale is industry leading in the dry bulk shipping public markets. Given the volatility and cyclicality of dry bulk shipping, we also believe it creates a favorable risk reward balance to provide sizable returns to shareholders, opportunistically grow the fleet, and enhance our earnings powers through the cycles. I will now turn the call over to Peter Allen, our Chief Financial Officer.