Safe Bulkers, Inc.

Thank you for standing by, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to SafeWalker's conference call, the third quarter 2025 financial results. We have with us today Mr. Polis Hadjianou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Lucas Bamparas, President, and Mr. Constantinos Adamopoulos, Chief Financial Officer of the company. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. At which time, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. Following the conference call, if you need any further information on the conference call or the presentation, please contact Capitol Inc. at 212-661-7566. I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today. The archived webcast of the conference call will soon be available on the SafeBulkers website, www.safebulkers.com. Many of the remarks today contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations. Actual results may differ materially from the results projected from those forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in the follow-up statements is contained in the third quarter 2025 earnings release, which is available on the State Poker's website again, www.statepokers.com. I would like to turn the conference over to our speakers today, the Chairman and CEO of the company, Mr. Paulius Haggiano. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning to all. I'm Lucas Barbaris, President of Safe Bikes, and I will do the today's presentation. And I'm welcoming you at your quarterly results. Key developments of the previous period include the postponement of the IMO net zero framework and the expected gradual market fragmentation due to geopolitical reasons for fees and tariffs, resulting in increased market volatility. The dry bucket market recovered compared to the previous quarter, and we saw the two of our oldest fleet renewal strategy. Our company maintains a strong capital structure, providing flexibility in our capital allocation. Lastly, we have declared a dividend of 5 cents per share of common stock, rewarding our shareholders. Following a comprehensive review of the forward-looking statements language presented in slide 2, let us proceed to examine the supply-side dynamics in slide 4. The drive-back fleet is projected to grow by about 3% on average in 2025 and in 2026 due to stable new deliveries. The order book now stands below 11% of the current fleet. Asset prices are projected to pick up in line with the current freight market. Recycling volumes are anticipated to rise through as market conditions prompt the retirement of water vessels, especially in relation to the 25% of dry bark fleet being older than 15 years and the overall average age of the dry bark fleet. As a result, the seed recycling could be double over the next 10 years compared to the previous decade, as per the BIMCO projection. Currently, 15% of ship capacity in the dry bark order book will be added to use alternative fuels upon delivery, and out of those ships, 52% may use methanol, 35% LNG, and 13% ammonia or hydrogen. However, the dual fuel order book remains small on dry bark segment. The postponement in adoption of the global fuel standard by IMO will bring another path on decarbonization towards more pragmatic solutions. We do have two dual-QL new builds on order with delivery in first quarter of 2027. So, Bacchus Fleet now counts 12 phase new vessels on the water, all delivered 2022 onwards. On top of that, 24 vessels have been environmentally upgraded, and 11 are eco-vessels having superior design efficiencies. 80% of our fleet comprises Japanese-built vessels, double the global average of 40%, while our average fleet age of 10.1 years being two and a half years younger compared to the global average of 12.6 years. Our commercial competitiveness will strengthen as we will be taking delivery of our remaining order book of six phase three vessels. By the first quarter of 2027, safe backers' fleet will be comprised of 35% Phase III vessels, 18 out of 51, positioning us favorably to compete based on the fuel efficiency of our vessels while the shipbuilding capacity will continue to be constrained, leading to longer fleet times. Moving on to slide five, we'll present the numbers of the demand and basic commodities trade. The combination of trade war as expected through tariffs, high debt, high interest rates, new fiscal demands, and persisting geopolitical tensions, a big policy uncertainty, straining public finances, and puts a considerable down risk for global growth and disinflation. For our segment, we anticipate an improving trade market array as a result of the trade truce resulted from the agreement between the U.S. and China with an increasing focus on the existing free decarbonization and energy-efficient new bills. The global GDP growth expectations for 2026 and 2027, as reflected in the IMF's October forecast, core fuel growth of about 3% in the coming years, accompanied by a gradual control of inflationary pressures. According to BIMCO, the forecast global dry bulk demand growth will be 2% in 2026, followed by 1.5% in 2027, with grains and minor bulks being the best-performing sectors. China and India are gradually boosting domestic coal production, reducing import demand. China has been rapidly phasing out fossil fuels from electricity generation, boosting renewables, reducing import dependence. China's economy is still being affected by the property sector crisis and manufacturing overcapacity. Great tensions between the US and China, although a truce has been reached, remain a key source of global economic uncertainty. On the good side, additional Chinese purchases of U.S. soya beans were reported, with a total of about 1 million tons or so since the U.S.-China trade war, while the U.S. has suggested that China could purchase up to 12 million tons of U.S. soya beans. India continues to perform. and is projected to experience the fastest growth among economies, with a forecasted 6.2% GDP increase in 2026. Each expanding domestic market and manufacturing sector may continue to contribute positively to the drive-back demand, with infrastructure investments playing a vital role. The Japanese government approved 135 billion economic stimulus packets The country's largest package since the COVID period amidst slowing economic growth, with measures also containing dedicated funding for the Japanese shipbuilding industry. Currently, in the spot-fed market, multiple miners continue offering cargoes in both bases. Steady gains were made in the Atlantic, with sentiment supported by expectations of further U.S.-China grain sales and a tight forward tonnage list. Fresh U.S. grain cargoes also boosted NOPA grades. Looking forward in 2026 and 2027, an expected decline in coal cargoes and limited iron ore cargo growth will negatively impact demand growth. Instead, growth is expected to come from stronger grain and minor bulk shipments and from longer sailing distances. Summing up the supply-demand equilibrium on slide 6, the supply growth is expected to continue to outpace demand. The freight market has rebounded recently during the start of the third quarter. All eight of our CAPEs are presently period-charted, with an average remaining chatter duration of almost 1.7 years and an average daily chatter rate of $24,800, providing us visibility of cash flows, topping $124 million in contract revenue backlog from CAPEs alone. Moving to slide 8, we present an overview of our quarterly highlights. We have declared our 16th consecutive quarterly dividend of 5 cents, representing 4.1 dividend yield. At the same time, our free cash flows finances our new building program. We maintain ample liquidity, profitability, and capital resources of 390 million. and a comfortable leverage of about 35%. We sold two of our oldest vessels in our fleet, in line with our fleet renewal strategy, and achieved zero vessels in the key carbon-intensity CII rating of IMO for 2024, as described in our 2024 sustainability report. In slide 9, we present our returns to shareholders of 83.9 million paid in common dividends, and 74.9 million shares repurchases since 2022. We have been persistent in generating sustainable returns across market fluctuations because of our track record, management, and our overall business model. Concluding the company update in slide 10, we present our strong fundamentals. Safe Bikes is a dry bike company with 496 million market cap. 45 vessels in the water, having 274 million scrap value. We maintain significant firepower with 124 million gas and 267 million in un-drawn RCFs, or in the current facilities, and 176 million borrowing capacity against our significant order book of six new bricks, mainly in Japanese shipyards. We focus on our majority Japanese fleet advantage on fleet energy efficiency and lower CO2 taxation reflected in our CII rating of zero vessels on the bottom ratings of DNE. We maintain a young technologically advanced fleet, strong balance sheet, comfortable leverage, and low net debt per vessel of 8.7 million for a 10.1-year-old fleet. We have built a resilient business model with cash flow visibility of 164 million in revenue backlog, healthy expansion for a sizable fleet that achieves a scale and a meaningful 4.1% annualized dividend yield, positioned to leverage on its fuel efficiency. I now pass the floor to our CFO, Kostradinos Adamopoulos, for our quarterly financial review.

Konstantinos, the floor is yours. Thank you, Lucas, and good morning to everyone. During the third quarter of 2025, we operated in a weaker charter market environment compared to the same period in 2024, with decreased revenues due to lower charter hires and decreased earnings from scalper-feeded vessels. Slide 12 with our quarterly financial highlights for the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024. Our adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2025 stood at $36.1 million compared to $41.3 million for the same period in 2024. Our adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2025 was 12 cents. This is calculated on a weighted average number of 102.3 million shares, compared to 16 cents during the same period last year, calculated on a weighted average number of 106.8 million shares. In the graph on the top, during the third quarter of 2025, we operated 46.51 vessels on average, earning an average bank charter equivalent of $15,507, compared to 45.27 vessels on average, earning TCE of 17,108 during the same period in 2024. Our daily vessel running expenses decreased by 4% to $5,104 for the third quarter of 2025, compared to $5,311 for the same period in 2024. Daily running expenses, excluding dry docking and pit delivery expenses, increased by 1% to $5,060, for the first quarter of 2025 compared to $4,999 for the same period last year. In slide 13, we see a quick overview of our quarterly operational highlights for the third quarter of 2025 in comparison to the same period last year. Let's continue now to slide 14, where we will present our balance sheet analysis and noting that our assets are presented in their book value. The company maintains a healthy balance sheet supported by robust equity pace at the concerned levels. Strong liquidity and ample cash reserves provide significant financial flexibility to navigate market volatility and take advantage of market opportunities. Our capital structure positions the company for sustainable long-term growth and resilience. Concluding our presentation, in the last slide, number 15, we present our daily free cash flow for the nine months of 2025, illustrating the company's ability to generate free cash flows, highlighting disciplined cost control and efficient virtual operations. We would like to highlight that based on our financial performance, the company's board of directors has declared a five cent dividend for common share, The companies maintained a healthy cash flow position of $187 million as of November 21, 2025. Another $210 million in available undrawn revolving credit facilities, so a combined liquidity and capital resources just shy of $400 million, plus a contracted revenue of These underscores are capacity to support debt service, reinvestment, and shareholder returns at the same time, which enable us to expand the fleet, build a resilient company, and create long-term prosperity for our shareholders. Thank you, and we are now ready for the Q&A session. Thank you.

We'll now continue the question-and-answer session. If you'd like to be placed in the question queue, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing star 1. Once again, that's star 1 to be placed in the question queue. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. As a reminder, that's star one to be placed into question queue. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further closing comments. If there are no questions, I'll turn it back over to management.

Okay. So, thank you very much for attending this conference call, and we'll be in touch this quarter. Thank you very much.

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.