Navigator Holdings Ltd.

Good morning and good afternoon and thank you very much for joining this Navigator Gas Earnings Call for Q2 2026. Before we get into the results, let me just say a few words about the Middle East. We continue to have no vessels operating in or transiting the Hormuz Strait and we don't see any material operational impacts. As I'll touch on shortly, and though it's on a sad background, the conflict continues to create real commercial tailwinds for us. Please turn to slide number four. Q2 2026 was an exceptional quarter, and I mean that in the most literal sense. We set all time records for net income, for EBITDA, for earnings per share, and average TCE rate, all at the same quarter. and for a company that's been operating for over 25 years, that is quite special. Let me walk you through a couple of the highlights. On the commercial side, TCE rates hit a record high of almost $34,000 per day. This is up significantly from Q1 and up 20% from the same period last year. Utilization came in above our 90% benchmark. These are strong numbers across the board. Our ethylene export terminal at Morgans Point delivered yet another record 374 tons in the quarter. That follows from previous record that we set just one quarter ago. Demand from Europe and Asia for US ethylene continues to grow, driven by high NAFTA prices and structural changes to how global crackers are sourcing their feedstock. We've also signed a fourth new off-take contract in the quarter and discussions for further contracts remain active. On portfolio management, we completed the sale of Navigator Pegasus in April for approximately $31 million and a book gain of over $15 million. And in July, we signed the definitive agreement to divest the eight Unigas pool vessels for a combined $183 million. That's a significant transaction and we expect most of those sales to complete during Q3. We expect the net book gain on this transaction of 65 to 70 million dollars and this again underscores the value of our vessel portfolio. We have indeed been quite consistent in booking net gains on our vessel sales. Financing for all six new built vessels are now in place, both the four Panda ethane ethylene carriers and the two coral ammonia new builds. Completing that financing package is a real milestone and it was done at the most competitive terms ever for Navigator. The balance sheet is healthy. Available cash at quarter end was $226 million after significant debt repayments, shipyard payments and capital returns. Our investment in a sane fuel solution is developing towards a final investment decision to build three ammonia bunkering terminals along the west coast of Norway. It's supported by a significant Innova grant from the Norwegian government upon reaching final investment decision. On capital return, we are again delivering on our commitment. The board has declared a dividend of 7 cents per share for Q2. and together with buybacks, we will return 35% of net income to shareholders in line with our improved capital return policy. From Q3, we are raising the fixed cash dividend element to $0.08 per share. Now on the outlook. Q3 is expected to see some normalization in TCE rates and terminal volumes. That's also consistent with the seasonal patterns and a tighter arbitrage on Ethylene. The underlying demand picture, though, driven by the growing U.S. natural gas liquids production, remains fully intact. And the homeless straits situation continues to support demand for U.S. commodities across LPG, ethane, and petrochemicals. On the supply side, the handy-sized order book stands at just 11% of the fleet, while 17% of vessels are over 25 years old. The math on the fleet renewal continues to work in our favor. With that, I'll pass on the word to Gary, and please go ahead with a little bit more detail on the financials. Go ahead, Gary.

Thanks, Mads, and hello, everyone. Following on from where we left off on our last call in May this year, the tailwinds we described as we moved through the second quarter did indeed arrive, and as Mads has said, we're pleased to report exceptional second quarter results. This was achieved against a backdrop that included continued disruption across key global shipping corridors, including the Strait of Hummus, which... Having limited direct operational or financial impact on us has acted as a meaningful demand catalyst, pushing customers towards North American supply chains and benefiting our utilization and rates in the quarter. Oeyvind will go more into this shortly. Turning to more detail on slide six, we're reporting an average TCE of 33,946 for the second quarter of 2026, an all time high. being more than $4,000 per day higher than the 29684 in the first quarter of 2026 and over $5,000 per day higher than the 28216 in the second quarter of last year. Utilisation was above our benchmark at 90.8% compared to 90.6% in the first quarter of 2026 and 84.2% in the second quarter of last year. Voyage expenses are showing higher in the second quarter of 2026, but which are effectively pass-through costs to our customers related to bunker fuel and other such spot voyage costs, and they're reflective of the record total operating revenues that we're reporting this quarter. Vessel operating expenses at $47.1 million for the quarter were broadly flat in absolute dollar terms, though up on the basis of dollars per vessel per day at $9,554 compared to $8,905. This was mainly driven by high accruing and logistics costs and the timing of project-related expenses incurred in the quarter. The depreciation was down at $31.5 million compared to the second quarter of last year, reflecting our reduced fleet size following vessel sales, and the sale of the Navigator Pegasus in this quarter brought us the gain of $15.3 million on proceeds of $30.5 million. EBITDA for the quarter was an all-time high of $101.6 million compared to $80.3 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $71.9 million in the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA, also a record, was $86.4 million, up from $65 million in the first quarter of 2026, and significantly higher than the $60.1 million in the second quarter of 2025. As always, Randy will discuss more about our ethylene terminal, but throughput volumes for the second quarter were another record high of 374,278 tonnes, with our share of the terminal's results reflected in the equity method investment income line of $7.1 million for the quarter, up from $4.8 million in the second quarter of last year. Our income tax line reflects current tax and deferred tax in relation to our equity investment in the Ethylene Export Terminal in line with the stronger terminal results for the quarter. Net income attributable to stockholders for the second quarter of 2026 was $53.0 million, or 86 cents per share. Again, the highest Navigator has ever reported, surpassing the previous record set just last quarter, and well above the $21.5 million, or 31 cents per share, reported in the second quarter of 2025. We continue to actively use, strengthen and build our balance sheet as shown on slide 7. Our cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash balance was $274 million at June 30, 2026 and this figure was $362 million at close on August 3, 2026, in particular following the $57 million we drew from our recently closed new-built vessel financing facility. As a precautionary measure, in April 2026, when the war in Iran started, we drew down just over $91 million under our revolving credit facilities, given the geopolitical uncertainty seen at that time. And whilst this, of course, has not gone away, we expect to repay those revolving facilities in the coming months based on our ongoing assessment of market conditions and as the proceeds from the sale of the Unigas vessel fleet are received. Our healthy liquidity position at June 30, 2026 is after returning $10.6 million to shareholders across dividends and share buybacks, repaying $26.8 million of scheduled loan amortisation and, ahead of our agreed sale of the Unigas pool fleet, early repaying $43 million of debt secured against certain of those vessels. We also made $20.8 million of payments towards our new-build vessels during the quarter. Our share in the Morgans Point Ethylene Export Terminal remains unencumbered. We also own 14 unencumbered vessels at June 30th, 2026, eight of which are part of the Unigas fleet to be sold. And with our bond having $60 million of untapped capacity, we continue to retain significant additional liquidity for if and when needed. Looking beyond this quarter, we've paid from our own cash a total of $131.6 million at June 30th, 2026 towards the six vessels we have under construction, of which $8.5 million represents capitalised interest under US cap. On July 17, we drew $57.6 million, as I referred above, from our new $164 million bridge loan facility, recouping 80% of the pre-delivery instalments paid to the shipyard to date for the first of our two Panda Newbill vessels. We continue to press forward in maintaining a balanced capital structure and on slide eight across the quarter and with a very supportive banking group and a strong underlying business, we were again able to return cash to shareholders, use funds for the construction of our new builds, reward shareholders through buybacks and continue managing and refreshing our debt to meet our financing needs in an efficient and cost competitive way. In respect to the first quarter of 2026, we returned 30% of net income attributable to stockholders comprising $6.3 million of share buybacks and $4.3 million of cash dividend representing 7 cents per share. And in respect to the second quarter of 2026, our Board yesterday approved an increase such that we will return 35% of net income attributable to stockholders This will comprise $4.3 million of cash dividend, representing 7 cents per share, and we expect the balance will comprise around $14.2 million of share repurchases to take place between now and September 30th, 2026. Given the company's strong cash position for the third quarter ending September 30, 2026, yesterday our Board also approved an increase in the fixed element of the company's capital return policy to 8 cents per share of the company's common stock, while maintaining that the fixed element and the variable element together should equal 35% of net income attributable to stockholders of the company. Just note that the declaration of any dividends and the amount of any such dividends, including with respect to the third quarter, do remain subject to approval by the company's Board of Directors following the conclusion of each quarter as normal. We've continued to be busy with vessel financings and we've now closed three transactions relating to our six Newbill vessels. In addition to the March 2026 facility we previously announced that finances two of those vessels, on June 18th 2026 we secured pre-delivery bridge finance for our first two Panda ethylene Newbill vessels and we drew the 57.6 million of that on July 17th as I mentioned earlier. plus at the same time we obtained committed 205.8 million Jolco financing to refinance this bridge facility on delivery of the vessels and provide long-term post-delivery financing on very competitive terms. Then very recently, only last week on July 31st, we signed a new secure terminal facility for up to $121.8 million to finance approximately 70% of the cost of our two coral ammonia new-build vessels, executed at our lowest ever margin, 135 basis points plus SOFA. The facility is available to draw on delivery of the vessels around May and September 2028 respectively and as always we'd like to thank our banking group for their continued support. Net debt to last 12 months adjusted EBITDA fell to 2.2 times at June 30th 2026 down from 2.5 times at March 31st 2026 and we have only relatively small near and mid-term balloons as we work to ensure our debt profile is pushed to the right. Net debt was $653 million and our loan-to-fleet value ratio remains approximately 31%, or below 30% when you include a reasonable value for our Morgan's Point terminal investment, and 55% of the company's debt was either hedged or on a fixed interest rate basis at the quarter end, consistent with the prior quarter. We'll continue to prioritise returning capital to shareholders while maintaining balance sheet strength, lowering the cost of our debt where we can, and balancing growth, deleveraging and shareholder returns, all in a disciplined, deliberate and careful manner. On slide nine, this again highlights two of the core strengths of our navigator platform, our ability to generate consistent operating cash flow and our structurally lower all-in cash break-even when isolating for the change in ownership days. Starting with cash flow over the last 12 months to June 30th, 2026, the business continued to generate strong underlying operating cash flow with a pre-CAPEX cash flow yield averaging around 17%. Post-CAPEX free cash flow continues to reflect investment in our new build program. Our latest estimate for 2026, all in cash break-even, is $21,990 per vessel per day, up from $21,230 last quarter. The increase versus last quarter's estimate principally reflects our agreed sale of the eight Unigas pool vessels, which reduces the average fleet size across which costs are spread. Notwithstanding, our headroom over our TCE revenue remains substantial, even adjusting out the exceptional rate levels we've seen in this quarter. Our cash break-even figure incorporates over $175 million of operating costs, $114 million of debt amortisation and approximately $44 million of net interest expense. Expense guidance for 2026 is materially unchanged from the guidance provided in our first quarter earnings results presentation when accounting for the change in ownership days, noting that in particular OPEX and depreciation have reduced accordingly with the upcoming sale of the eight Unigas vessels. Slide 10 outlines our historic quarterly adjusted EBITDA, adding this second quarter's result. We now have 14 quarters in a row since the beginning of 2023, where we've reported at least $60 million of quarterly adjusted EBITDA and with an average of $72 million per quarter over that period. We've also added for reference some historic data points to this slide showing our share of the terminals adjusted EBITDA. Then as we've highlighted previously, our earnings remain sensitive to TCE movements and we estimate approximately $17 million of annual additional EBITDA uplift or 28 cents per share of annual EPS uplift for every $1,000 increase in TCE rates, all other things being equal. Then, as for previous quarters, an update on our vessel dried up schedule, projected costs and time taken can be found in the appendix, should that detail be of interest to anybody. And finally, looking ahead, after an exceptionally strong second quarter, we do expect TCE and utilisation to moderate in the third quarter, also consistent with normal seasonal patterns. Even so, we expect the business to remain cash generative and despite the geopolitical uncertainty of market crosswinds that remain, Navigator is in an excellent financial position and it gives us the confidence and the flexibility to move forward and pursue opportunities as they arise. And with that, I'll hand over to Oeyvind to provide the latest commercial update. Oeyvind.

Thank you, Gary. Good morning, everyone. I'll spend the next few minutes on the Strait of Hormuz and what it's doing to maritime trade lanes. Then the Ethelin story, our utilization, and I'll wrap up with a quick view on vessel supply and rates. So let's start with the big one, which continues to be the Strait of Hormuz on page 12. The Strait continues to disrupt global shipping lanes and is creating inefficiencies across pretty much every ship segment. Today, Only around 20% of the vessels that would normally transit the Hormuz are actually doing so. The rest are either finding employment elsewhere or they're sitting in the Indian Ocean waiting for a green light to resume Middle East loadings. And where do the cargoes come from instead? It's North America. It's really the only region with enough capacity to substitute the lost Middle East supply. So we're seeing a meaningful number of vessels heading toward the Panama Canal. And because Panama comes with its own headaches, transit uncertainty and auction fees that can run into millions of dollars for one-way passage, many ships are going the long way round instead via the Cape of Good Hope. Either way, it's more days at sea. In shipping terms, that is called inefficiency. And inefficiency, at least in the short term, works in our favor. You simply need more ships to move the same amount of cargo from A to B, and that's positive for the supply and demand ballots. We're seeing this play out in LPG, in ethane, and in ethylene. And of the three, ethylene is where the impact on our shipping demand has been the biggest. So let's turn to page 13. Since the straight close to commercial shipping on the 28th of February, ethylene exports out of the US have been climbing. You can see it on the right hand graph on March, April and May were particularly strong. Most of that volume went transatlantic to Europe. And why? Because the arbitrage between US and European pricing was at its widest. You can see this on the left-hand graph with the light blue line sitting above the others, meaning an exporter of US etlin could on paper make the biggest net back selling to European buyers. That picture has shifted over the past couple of months. Both graphs show it. The arbitrage is now widest to Asia, The dark blue line versus the grey line. And that's pulling ethylene across the Pacific. From where we sit, that's good news. Longer voyages, more ton miles for the handy size ethylene segment. And ethane pricing, which underpins US competitiveness for both ethane and ethylene, has stayed remarkably flat through all the volatility. Ethane is really the rock in all of this. It is key when thinking about long-term fundamentals. These exports drove our utilization higher, and you can see that on page 14. We averaged 90.8% for the quarter, well above the same quarter last year. This is illustrated by the green dotted line on the left-hand graph. Now, toward the end of the quarter, uncertainty crept in. The geopolitics, the strait itself, the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding on ceasefire, conflicting messages became the norm, like a traffic light flipping from green to orange to red and back again for the strait transits. That clearly resulted in less activity. Many market participants simply went into wait-and-see mode. That said, Ettelin seems to have found a floor when looking at the dotted dark blue line on the right hand graph. Volumes have come off the record highs of May, yes, but recent exports are still running above historical average for this time of the year. And that is good to see. Moving to fleet supply on page 15, the order book across the gas segments is largely unchanged from last quarter. which is also applicable for our handy size segment. As Mads mentioned in his opening remarks, we have a low order book, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of the operating fleet of 125 vessels. We believe this is very much manageable going forward. One thing to note, our eight smaller ships, the dark blue box at the bottom middle of the chart, will drop out of the picture by next quarter's call, we think, as they're part of the Unigas transaction we just announced and which was commented on. And finally, market rates on page 16. It shows the updated Clarkson's 12-month time charter assessment. Rates rose during the second quarter on the surge in demand across all vessel classes, including hand size. The assessment has since come back to pre-Hormuz levels. But let's remember, those pre-Hormuz levels were quite robust to begin with. And as always, spot rates can run above the 12-month assessment and aren't necessarily captured by this index. So to wrap it up, Global trade disruption is generally positive for shipping, and we've seen that firsthand, particularly in ethylene exports on seagoing demand for our vessels. These inefficiencies, Panama being a good example, won't disappear anytime soon. was holding back the record 2Q volumes from carrying straight into third quarter is uncertainty. Market participants are hesitant to commit beyond critical keep-the-lights-on deals and are shying away from longer-term transactions. But the market itself remains robust at levels similar to before Hormuz happened. With that, over to Randy. Randy, what do you got to share?