Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SHIP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Stamatis Tsantanis : Of course, J, nice to hear from you. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you for your question. We are now taking the next question. So please standby. The next question is from Tate Sullivan from Maxim Group. Please go ahead.

Tate Sullivan: Thank you for taking the follow-up. Stavros, circling back on the vessel operating expenses per day, they did drop 7% year-over-year and drop quarter-over-quarter as well. Is that — is some of the 6,651 in 4Q from bunker fuel gains? And what’s a reasonable run rate going forward, the daily OpEx please?

Stavros Gyftakis : Thanks, Tate. No bunkers are not coming to the OpEx calculation. So OpEx, consents only operating expenses, no voyage expenses. So that’s mainly crew expenses, the majority of — around 60% of the operating expenses has to do with crew, then you got spares and supplies. And then you have also insurance. The increase in the OpEx can be basically apportioned mainly on the inflationary environment and the fact that stores and supplies have gone up. At the same time, forwarding cost due to COVID has also increased. And also crew expenses have generally and especially repatriation, traveling expenses and accommodation have increased a lot. And also, please bear in mind that we have expanded the fleet load. We have acquired many new ships and basically in order to crew these vessels and have the quality of the crew that Seanergy wants on its ships, we have been paying top dollars for our crews. That’s the reason behind the increase in OpEx.

Tate Sullivan: Thank you. And then on the refinancing, seems very active. Is it securing new relationships or establishing new relationships with lenders and also increasing the floating rate during a rising interest rate environment for the refinance, can you talk a little bit more about —

Stamatis Tsantanis: Refinancing the one that we announced now that concerns the Championship, this will be refinanced through one of our existing lenders, Danish Ship Finance. The reason behind these refinancings were mainly commercial. This vessel was financed through a sale and leaseback agreement with Cargill whereby the charter had the biggest profit share, the biggest share of the profit from the scrubber and there was a small discount versus the Index due to the financing background of this agreement. Now we are refinancing the ships through a third-party lender and the commercial arrangement would be more beneficial for the company. We include a premium to the Index and the majority of the scrubber profit sharing will be on the account of Seanergy. Next refinancings that we have lined up are mainly aimed at expanding our relationships with the Japanese lenders. We have — which are very competitive, both on their overall terms and on their pricing.

Tate Sullivan: Thank you very much. Have a great rest of the day.

Stamatis Tsantanis: Thanks, Tate.

Operator: Thank you for your question. We are now taking the next question. Please, stand by. The next question from Kristoffer Skeie from Arctic. Please, go ahead.

Kristoffer Skeie: Hello, gentlemen, congrats on the quarter.

Stamatis Tsantanis: Hello. Good morning, good afternoon. Nice to hear from you.

Kristoffer Skeie: Good, good. Likewise, good afternoon. So I understand the rationale behind the dividend reduction for the cost. So it makes perfect sense given how the market has been. But as you pointed out, I mean, the supply side, it looks fantastic going forward into 2024. So the outlook is definitely strong and in connection with that, I was looking, sort of, how are you considering capital allocation going forward in terms of acquiring vessels versus the share buybacks or dividends?