Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the StealthGas Third Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Michael Jolliffe. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. I am Michael Jolliffe, Chairman of the Board of Directors and joining me on our call today, as usual, is our CEO, Harry Vafias, to discuss the market and the company outlook and Konstantinos Sistovaris 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. So if you could all take a moment to read our Disclaimer on Slide 2 of this presentation, I should be grateful. Risks are further disclosed in the StealthGas's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. So let's proceed to discuss these results and update you on the company's strategy and the market in general starting with Slide 3 for some highlights. Today, we released our results for the third quarter and nine months 2024. It was admittedly a successful quarter despite the seasonally weaker summer months. We did not manage to break the previous quarter's record, but we have reported the most profitable nine months ever. Revenues came in at a solid $40.4 million slightly down by 3% from the previous quarter, but considerably higher by 17% for the year earlier. The reported net income on an adjusted basis for the third quarter was $14.2 million compared to $12 million last year, 18% higher. Adjusted profit for the first three quarters of this year reached a record $61 million. In terms of earnings per share, on an adjusted basis, these were $0.38 for the quarter, 23% higher and $1.67 for the nine-month period, marking a 61% increase over the nine-month period. This was also assisted by the reduced share count as a result of…

Thank you, Michael. I will discuss the financial results that were released today. Let's turn to Slide 7, where we have a snapshot of the income statement for the third quarter and nine-month period of 2024 against the same period of 2023. Due to vessel sales that placed last year, there was a corresponding reduction in fleet days of 2% for the quarter and 10% for the nine months period. Net revenues after voyage expenses came in at $37.5 million for the quarter, an increase of 16% and at $115.3 million for the nine months, a similar increase of 16%, mainly the result of rechartering vessels at higher rates throughout the past year. And also the addition of two larger vessels in the fleet with higher earnings capacity. Net revenues would have been higher this quarter if it weren't for the lower operational utilization as a result of having to dry-dock -- vessels during the quarter. Operating expenses were $12.3 million for the quarter at the same level as last year and $36.2 million for the nine months down 10%. That corresponds about the reduction of the fleet. Overall, a good performance in containing expense so far in 2024 despite the inflationary pressures throughout the economy. The main drag for this quarter results were the drydocking expenses at $2.9 million as four vessels and partially a fifth one had to undergo their statutory five-year special survey and dry-dock. The cost for these dry-docks that involve also lost time and revenues are expensed as incurred and not amortized. So there was a hit in the third quarter, especially when compared to last year when there were no vessels to be dry-docked at the time. In the third quarter, there was also an increase of $1 million in G&A costs as a…

Moving on Slide 10. Our brief insight on the LPG market. Over the last three years, Global LPG exports are on a steady upward path. After making a 4.3% increase in 2023, the latest data showed that over the first nine months of '24, the increase is slightly higher at 5.5%. Data coming out of the US showed that for the first nine months of this year, propane exports from the world's number one export quarter, the US continued to grow, marking an impressive 12% year-on-year increase. There was a slight dip over the summer as a result of Hurricane Beryl but exports have resumed their upward path after that. We expect the rate of growth to slow in the coming quarters and assume as capacity expansion projects are completed by '26 to allow volumes to increase by another 20%. The Panama Canal situation now resolved and crossings are back to normal, leading with a downward adjustment in VLGC rates also affecting the medium gas carrier rates. In the second largest exporting market, Middle East, volumes have moderated over the last couple of years since OPEC implemented production cuts and the area has been losing market share. We will be waiting to see if the forthcoming administration change in the US is going to have any effect in lifting the self-imposed production cuts. Although increasing volumes are sent from the US to Europe, LPG demand in Europe continues to remain flat. Although in the important intraregional trade, there has been some activity with petchem cargoes of late. We're waiting to see the advent of the colder weather as so far the weather has been relatively mild with temperatures below average and that does not help demand for domestic heating consumption. On a more localized level, we mentioned last time, the…

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. End of Q&A: