Diana Shipping, Inc. (NYSE:DSX) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call August 1, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Edward Nebb - Comm-Counsellors

Ioannis Zafirakis - CFO, Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer, Secretary & Director

Semiramis Paliou - CEO & Director

Anastasios Margaronis - President & Director

Conference Call Participants

Omar Nokta - Jefferies

Operator

Greetings and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc. Second Quarter 2023 Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions]. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to hand the call over to Ed Nebb, Investor Relations adviser with the company. Thank you. You may begin.

Edward Nebb

Thanks, Daryl, and thanks to everyone who is joining us today for the Diana Shipping Inc. 2023 Second Quarter Conference Call. With us today from management are Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer, who will introduce the other members of the management team. And so without further ado, I will turn it over to Semiramis.

Semiramis Paliou

Thank you, Ed. So good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Diana Shipping Inc.'s Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Semiramis Paliou, the CEO of the company, and it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to present to you today. I am joined by our esteemed team, Mr. Stasi Margaronis, Director and President of Diana Shipping, Inc; Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, Director, CFO and Chief Strategy Officer; Mr. Eleftherios Papatrifon, Director of Diana Shipping, Inc; and Ms. Maria Dede, the company's Chief Accounting Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone to review the forward-looking statements applicable to today's presentation, which can be found on Page 4 of the accompanying second quarter 2023 presentation.

Q2 2023 has proven to be a profitable quarter for our company despite less robust conditions prevailing in the market. Our disciplined charter-in strategy once again has largely insulated us from the market weakening and has allowed us to generate positive free cash flow. In line with the guidance provided during the company's previous earnings call, we are pleased to declare the distribution of a dividend for this quarter amounting to $0.15 per share which will be paid in shares or at any shareholders' election in cash. We aim to continue rewarding our shareholders when conditions allow us to do so.

Turning to Slide 5. I will provide an overview of the company's snapshot as of today. We currently own and operate a fleet of 42 vessels in the water, including a partial interest through a joint venture arrangement in 1 Ultramax with a carrying capacity of approximately 4.7 million deadweight tonnes. Our fleet utilization has remained consistently high, reaching 99.6% for the second quarter of 2023. Additionally, we employed 1,024 people at sea and ashore as of the end of the second quarter. Moving on to Slide 6 and then 7. We'll go over the key highlights from the second quarter and recent developments. In April, we successfully secured USD 100 million term loan facility from Danish Ship Finance, which has been drawn down to refinance existing loan facilities secured by 9 vessels.