StealthGas Inc. (NASDAQ:GASS) Q2 2023 Results Conference Call August 18, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Michael Jolliffe - Chairman

Harry Vafias - CEO

Konstantinos Sistovaris - IR

Conference Call Participants

Tate Sullivan - Maxim Group

Climent Molins - Value Investor’s Edge

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the StealthGas Q2 2023 Results Conference Call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Michael Jolliffe, Chairman of the Board. Please go ahead.

Michael Jolliffe

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2023 earnings conference call and webcast. I’m Michael Jolliffe, Chairman of the Board of Directors and joining me on our call today is Harry Vafias, our CEO, to discuss market and company outlook and Konstantinos Sistovaris, handling Investor Relations to discuss the financial aspects.

Before we commence our presentation, I would like to remind you that we will be discussing forward-looking statements, which reflect current views with respect to future events and financial performance. At this stage, if you could all take a moment to read our disclaimer on slide 2 of this presentation. Risks are further disclosed in StealthGas filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

I would also like to point out that all amounts quoted, unless otherwise clarified, are implicitly stated in U.S. dollars. Today, we released our earnings results for the second quarter 2023. While we didn’t break last quarter’s record profits, we maintained a strong profitability of $10.5 million, resulting in our best performance on record for the first half of any year.

So, let’s proceed to discuss these results and update you on the Company’s strategy and the market in general. Please turn to slide 3, where we summarize some highlights.

In terms of our sale and purchase activity, we continue to look for opportunities to sell some vessels now that asset prices are rising. We first concluded the previously announced sale of 4 vessels and the last 2 were delivered in July and then entered into a new agreement for the sale of 2 more of the smaller LPGs, the Eco Dream and Eco Green to a third party with delivery in early 2024 for circa $35 million on block.