Thank you for standing by. Ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. Conference Call on the First Quarter ending March 31, 2025, financial results. We have with us Mr. Stamatis Tsantanis, Chairman and CEO, and Mr. Stavros Gyftakis, Chief Financial Officer of Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a question and answer session at which time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad, and you will then hear an auto message advising that your hand is raised. Please be advised that this conference call is being recorded today, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. The archived webcast of the conference call will soon be made available on the Seanergy website, www.seanergymaritime.com under the webcast and presentation section under the Investor Relations page. Many of the remarks today contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations. Actual results may differ materially from the results projected from those forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that can cause the actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, earnings release, which is available on the Seanergy website again, www.seanergymaritime.com. We would now like to turn the conference over to one of your speakers today, Chairman and CEO of the company, Mr. Stamatis Tsantanis. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone. Today, we are going to be presenting our financial results and company updates for the first quarter of 2025. Following a year of record financial performance, significant shareholder rewards, and targeted fleet expansion, Seanergy entered 2025 with strong momentum and a clear strategic vision. We position the company to fully leverage the positive long-term fundamentals of the Capesize market. Our actions in the first quarter of the year reflect our continued commitment to disciplined growth, balance sheet strength, and delivering value to our shareholders. Despite a softer earnings environment in the first quarter, our conviction on the long-term strengths of the Capesize segment remained unchanged. The market's core supply and demand fundamentals remain intact, and this confidence is reflected in our Board's decision to declare a dividend of $0.05 per common share. The payout exceeded what our formula would typically dictate, but the board acted decisively to uphold our commitment to consistent shareholder returns even during temporary market softness. The subsequent rebound in spot Capesize rates to normalized levels further supports this decision and our market outlook. Turning to our financial results, in the first quarter of 2025, we recorded revenue of $24.2 million, EBITDA of $6.6 million, and a net loss of $6.8 million. As of quarter-end, our cash balance stood at $31 million. Despite the quarterly loss, I want to emphasize the strength and flexibility of our balance sheet, which positions us to ramp up capital returns as the Capesize market continues to recover. On the operational front, in February, we took delivery of two high-quality Japanese-built Capesize vessels. The Blue Ship, built in 2011 at Mitsui Shipbuilding in Japan, was acquired via a six-month bareboat charter and has commenced employment with a first-class operator on an index-linked hire contract plus FX…

Thank you, Stamatis, and welcome to everyone joining us on today's earnings call. Let's begin with a review of the key highlights from our financial performance for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. Our net revenue for the quarter totaled $24.2 million over a TCE of $13,400 per day, compared to $38.3 million and a TCE of $24,100 in the same period last year. However, it is worth stating that our TCE still outperformed the Baltic Capesize Index, reflecting the advantages of our hedging within the context of our overall commercial strategy. Adjusted EBITDA stood at $8 million, while we recorded an adjusted net loss of $5.2 million. Looking ahead, we expect to return to profitability in the second quarter, supported by a stronger market and the freight hedging activities discussed previously by Stamatis. Current estimates indicate a recovery in TCE levels to over $19,000 per day. On the expense side, we have successfully reduced our daily OpEx by 7% year-over-year, thanks to the improving efficiency of our ship management team. Now moving on to our balance sheet, our cash position stood at $31 million. Despite the soft Capesize market and cash outlays, our cash balance declined only moderately during the quarter. This was achieved on the back of our proactive financing strategy, which enables a healthy balance between liquidity and leverage. This active management of our loan book, in combination with a consistently strong market evaluation of our fleet, supports our financial resilience. It has allowed us to sustain dividend distribution, maintain operational flexibility, and fund investments on our vessels that are scheduled to go through drydocking in the coming quarters. Our total assets stand at $603.5 million, while balance sheet equity stood at $264.8 million. Our debt, including liabilities under finance leases, amounted to $323.7 million at…

Thank you, Stavros. After registering a strong performance in 2024, the Capesize market experienced a temporary correction in the first quarter of 2025, consistent with historical seasonality. But this time, it was exacerbated by severe weather disruptions affecting Australian exports and the strong inventories built up in 2024, especially on coal. Capesize daily charter rates rebounded sharply in March as normal cargo flows resumed, with the Baltic Capesize Index recovering from a low of about $6,000 a day to a high of approximately $23,000 within the same quarter. While short-term volatility continues to be shaped by cautious economic sentiment and evolving trade policy uncertainty, the long-term Capesize fundamentals remain firmly positive. The primary reason is highly constrained vessel supply growth combined with steady and resilient demand for major dry bulk commodities. On the supply side, the Capesize and Newcastlemax order book is currently slightly below 8%, one of the lowest levels historically, especially significant given the increasing demand for fleet renewal due to tightening environmental regulations. Approximately 10% of the existing fleet is over 20 years old and becoming less and less competitive due to the rising cost of environmental compliance. New orders remain limited due to constrained yard capacity, high newbuilding prices, and uncertainty about propulsion technology. Only six new Capesize and Newcastlemax orders have been placed year-to-date compared to 77 for all of 2024. Net fleet growth is expected at just 1.5% in 2025 and 1.9% in 2026. Factoring in increased drydocking, effective growth may be even negative during the year. Vessel speeds have stayed historically low due to EEXI and CII regulations and are expected to remain subdued further, reducing the effective supply. Taken together, this points to minimal net fleet growth for several years, creating a very supportive environment for Capesize earnings. On the demand side,…

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on the telephone. To register your question, please press star one. We will now take the first question from the line of Mark Reichman from Noble Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Yes. Would you please walk us through the dry dock schedule? I mean, we had assumed fifty days in each of the first and fourth quarters, a hundred days in each of the second and third quarters. So basically twenty-five days per vessel.

Hi. Morning, Mark. This is Stavros. For your question. Yes, basically, I mean, we have approximately seven ships remaining for dry docking this year. Which we are trying to push a couple of ships to the first quarter of next year depending also on the prevailing market conditions. If the market remains at current levels, we will do as much as possible this year expecting next year to be a bit stronger. We expect in the second, third, and fourth quarter in total, around ten to fourteen million of CapEx concerning the dry dockings. Around twenty days per vessel. We have already dry docked four vessels this year, one in the fourth quarter and three in the second. So, basically, this is what remains.

Okay. Great. That's very helpful. And then just secondly, would you just please elaborate on the company's strategic and capital allocation priorities? I mean, I think in the commentary, you mentioned, you know, capital returns and market opportunities. And so I was kind of wondering now that you have concluded deliveries of the two new vessels, what's next for your fleet?

Hi. It is going to be consistent with last year. As you saw last year, we had the top priority to distribute a very significant part of our cash flow in dividends. We did some buybacks as well. And at the same time, we arranged to buy a few ships. So I believe that 2025 will also be consistent. We do not have anything lined up in respect of further acquisitions. Not because we do not want to, but because the selection of assets right now is scarce and limited. So, unfortunately, there are not any, how do you say it, compelling candidates right now in place. But if I were to give a good prediction, I would say that we will stay along the lines with last year.

That's very helpful. Thank you very much.

You are very welcome. Have a good day.

Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Tate Sullivan from Maxim Group. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. Good day. Good day. Can you talk about when the ship opportunities arise, are you competing against some of the trading houses, large mining companies, or who are some of the other buyers out there in the type of market for?

Well, we are fortunate to have some kind of a right of first offer on a number of ships that are potentially available for sale or purchase by us. So that's very helpful in the event that we have these opportunities. And as far as the commercial agreements, we are also fortunate to have some key partners that are ready to provide us with lucrative agreements for chartering the ships. So in both cases, thanks to all these long-standing relationships we have with a number of potential sellers as well as commercial operators and charters, we have the ability to buy and charter ships as we have proven very successfully. As a testament to that is the two recent purchases that we did. As you can see, not only were in both cases ships that were not available for sale and they were not into the sales reports at all up until the moment that we concluded the deal. The chartering arrangements were also above market at very profitable rates. Not because it's only the relation, but the fact that we upgrade the vessels with all these devices and things that we do for better operation. So overall, thanks to our long-standing relationships and good work that our operations and technical department are performing, we are able to provide good contracts and, you know, overall great projects for their shareholders.

Thank you.

Very welcome, Tate. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Liam Burke from B. Riley Securities. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Mr. Tsantanis, Mr. Gyftakis, how are you today?

Very well. How are you?

I'm doing just great. Thanks. Stamatis, you talked about the MAC on iron ore. You've got greater ton miles because it's being sourced further away at what's the capacity come on in Guinea and pretty stable underlying steel production. Bauxite has given you a nice follow-through on Capesize demand. Could you give us a little more detail on how much more we can see that bauxite supporting demand over time?

Well, as you know, the bauxite has basically gone up by almost forty to forty-five percent since last year. So it's a major, major commodity now for transportation on a long-haul basis. And we expect that to continue. I cannot really say that it's going to go another forty percent next year, and I don't really see a flat demand maybe five percent up for the remainder of the year and for 2026. Which already, as I mentioned before, has increased significantly since last year. So bauxite has become a dominant commodity, raw material, for the transportation by Capesize vessels. So both iron ore and bauxite are expected to be quite good. Up year on year, even though we had some sort of a weak period year to date. But I'm confident that as we turn into, you know, Q3 and everything, we will see bigger and bigger volumes coming up from West Africa. We don't see any slowdown as your information from the brokers are telling us.

Great. Thank you. Stavros, your daily OpEx per vessel dropped nicely. Is that just quarter-to-quarter variability, or is there something else?

Hi, Liam. So as I've told you in previous calls, I mean, we prefer to look at OpEx on an annual basis because, I mean, you avoid fluctuations quarter over quarter. But, basically, as more of the ships that we have acquired in the last three years go through dry dockings with our own technical management team, then, I mean, you have a direct impact on OpEx after the dry docking. So this you will see reducing or stabilizing at around the levels that you see in the first quarter. And we're happy to see drastic improvement so far, and we hope that this trend will continue into the next quarters.

Thank you very much, Kim.

Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Lars Eide from Arctic Securities. Please go ahead.

Hello? Hi. Good morning. Good afternoon.

Good morning. Thank you for taking my question.

I guess I have a question on the market. It was touched upon briefly during the presentation as well. But I was wondering about with the Capesize rates having been somewhat directionless recently. And in terms of near-term market catalysts, what do you consider to be the most impactful over the coming months? What are you tracking the closest? Is it geopolitics? Is it a new list announcement or something different? Thank you. Can you please repeat the first part of the question? We kind of lost you for a moment.

Yeah. I was saying that with the Capesize rates being somewhat directionless recently, and in terms of, like, near-term market catalysts. Is it something you're tracking? What do you think will be the most impactful over the next coming months? Or is it something that you're tracking closely, or is it yeah. If you just elaborate a bit on that, that would be great.

Yeah. That's a great question. Thank you. So for us, it's not a matter of demand. Yes. It has been slightly lower the volumes compared to last year, but not enough to make such a big damage that we incurred, especially in the first quarter, in the beginning of the first quarter in February. The biggest issue, as I have repeated many, many times, is the splitting of cargoes. We had a big variation between the Capesizes and the Panamax Kamsarmaxes. And, basically, zero congestion on the smaller sizes. Which meant that in order to secure employment, the Panamax Kamsarmaxes took a lot of coal cargoes from the Capesize vessels. So it's not a matter of demand. I mean, the overall volumes are pretty much stable. We have not really seen any material decrease in demand. It was the increase of the attractive supply which is, as I mentioned, driven by the Kamsarmax Panamax incremental effective availability because of significantly reduced congestion levels all over the world. Now for the second half of the year, the positive news is that all the major miners have reiterated their export projections, which means that in order to cut the figures that they have said that they will be able to meet, export levels will need to increase substantially. Just to get where they have predicted they will get. Having said that, I believe that once we see the increased volumes or the increased push of commodities, that are completely aligned with last year or maybe slightly lower, we expect we will see rates being significantly higher for the remainder of the year. Just to give you some thoughts on this matter further, 2023, that was, let's say, the weakest year of the last five years. We had an overall average five BCI of $17,500 approximately. In order to get to the weakest year in 2025, assuming that is our low-case scenario, the remainder of the year needs to be anywhere between $23,000 and $25,000 on the Capes. Which means that, you know, we see a lot of upside on that. And as an absolute downside risk, I would say that this is where the FFAs are telling us today. I see material upside. As far as we're concerned above that. Which may be anywhere in the $22,000, $23,000, or even in the high twenties. For the remainder of the year. I cannot give you that, but this is kind of internal predictions we have made.

Okay. Thank you very much for the call. I'll turn it over.

Thank you. Hope it clarifies.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please standby.