And good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the StealthGas Inc. Q4 2024 Results Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. There will be no question and answer session at the end. I would now like to turn the conference over to your first speaker, Mr. Michael Jolliffe, Chairman of the Board. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. I am Michael Jolliffe, Chairman of the Board of Directors. Joining me on our call today, as usual, are our Chief Executive Officer, Harry Vafias, to discuss the market and company outlook, and Konstantinos Sistovaris. 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 two of this presentation. The risks are further disclosed in StealthGas filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. So let's proceed with the presentation of our 2024 results and update you on the company's strategy and the market in general, starting with slide three for some highlights. Today, we released our results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024. It was another very successful quarter in what can be described as a relatively stable market. Revenues came in at a solid $43.5 million, 27% higher than a year earlier. For the full twelve months of 2024, revenues came in at $167.3 million, the highest revenue figure in the company's history. To give you some historical perspective, the closest revenues we had to this year's figure was back in 2018 when revenues were close to $164 million. We were such a different company that this revenue figure back then had led us to barely make a profit on an adjusted basis. As today, with a much leaner structure, and following sound strategic policies, our revenues led to a record yearly profit of $77 million on an adjusted basis. I should also stress that this is not a one-time profit record. It is the third year…

Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone. I will discuss the financial results that were released today. Let's turn to the next slide, slide seven, where we have a snapshot of the income statement for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024 against the same periods of 2023. Due to sale and purchase transactions that took place over the period, there was a very small increase in fleet days of 2% for the quarter and a larger reduction in fleet days of 7% when comparing the yearly period. Net revenues, that is the revenues after the voyage expenses, came in at $40.3 million for the quarter, an increase of 31%, and at $155.6 million for the twelve months, an increase of 19%, mainly the result of rechartering vessels at high rates throughout the past year, and also the addition of the two larger vessels in the fleet with a higher earnings capacity. In the fourth quarter, revenues were slightly impacted by the downtime due to the dry docking of three vessels. Operating expenses were $13.6 million for the quarter, a 6% increase mainly due to higher crew costs and maintenance fees, and $49.8 million for the twelve months, reduced by 6%. That corresponds to the reduction in the fleet over the twelve months. Overall, a good performance in containing expenses in 2024. We have seen rises as a result of cost pressures throughout the economy, but not above the general inflation levels. Again, this quarter's results were negatively impacted by the dry docking expenses of the three vessels. They had to undergo their statutory five-year special survey and dry dock. The cost of the dry dockings that involve also lost time and revenues as they can take up to thirty days are expensed as incurred, and not amortized. So there…

On slide ten, we have a brief insight on the LPG markets and some thoughts. Over the last three years, global LPG exports are on a steady upward path. After marking a 4.3% increase in 2023, the latest data show that there was a similar increase in 2024 at 4.4%. The world's largest LPG exporter, the US, finished the year marking an impressive 11% year-on-year growth. As we have said before, we expect a slowdown due to the capacity constraints, but we are already approaching the first flood capacity additions starting with the Energy Transfer Texas terminal that will export 250 additional barrels per day in the second half of 2025. Thereafter, once more expansion projects are completed by 2026, volumes should increase by another 20%. On the other hand of the equation, the two largest importers, China and India, preliminary figures for 2024 show that both increased their LPG imports by 11.5% and 6.6%, respectively. Imports in China were more volatile as demand is more industrially driven. So far, we have yet to see if the measures taken late last year by the Chinese authorities managed to pull the economy back on its targeted 5% growth track. Now, PDH plants that need LPG for propylene production continue being built. Three more are expected this year that should underpin long-term demand, but in the short term, we see volatility coming depending on their utilization rates, which is both a factor of the strength of the economy and overcapacity. So in terms of trade, the figures were excellent for LPG in 2024. Where the picture gets murkier is in terms of geopolitical amounts. That is not to say that they are positive or negative because in shipping more often than not, conflicts lead to improved rates, but rather to emphasize there…

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.