Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 24, 2022 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Ed Nebb - Investor Relations

Semiramis Paliou - Director and Chief Executive Officer

Anastasios Margaronis - Director and President

Ioannis Zafirakis - Director, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer

Eleftherios Papatrifon - Chief Operating Officer

Conference Call Participants

Ben Nolan - Stifel

Operator

Greetings. And welcome to the Diana Shipping Inc. 2022 First Quarter Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

It’s now my pleasure to turn the call over to Edward Nebb, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Ed Nebb

Thank you, Kevin and thanks to everyone who is joining us for the Diana Shipping Inc. 2022 first quarter conference call. Let me remind you to be aware of the Safe Harbor notice which you can see in the presentation that accompanies todays’ call. But I’ll just remind you that certain statements made during the call, which are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. With us today from management are Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer; Anastasios Margaronis, President; Ioannis Zafirakis, CFO, Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer and Secretary; Eleftherios Papatrifon, Chief Operating Officer and Maria Dede, Chief Accounting Officer.

And now without further ado, I will turn it over now to Semiramis Paliou, Chief Executive Officer.

Semiramis Paliou

Thank you, Ed. Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome Diana Shipping Inc.’s first quarter 2022 earnings call. My name as Ed said is Semiramis Paliou, the company’s CEO, and it is an honor to have the opportunity to present you today. Mr. Anastasios Margaronis, Mr. Ioannis Zafirakis, Mr. Eleftherios Papatrifon and Ms. Maria Dede are joining us today on this call.

Before I begin, I kindly ask everyone to review the forward-looking statements applicable to today's presentation, which can be found on page four of this presentation. The first quarter of 2022 has been another fantastic quarter for our company, following a strong fourth quarter last year. Market conditions remained robust during the first quarter and allowed us to maintain our profit margins and continue generating attractive free cash flow. As a result, we have announced an even higher quarterly dividend while we remain positive about the prospects of our market for the rest of the year.