Stealthgas Inc. Reports Third Quarter And Nine Months 2008 Results Stealthgas Inc. Reports Third Quarter And Nine Months 2008 Results And Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend Of $0.1875 Per Common Share. ATHENS, GREECE, November 13, 2008. STEALTHGAS INC. (NASDAQ: GASS), a ship-owning company primarily serving the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector of the international shipping industry, announced today its unaudited financial and operating results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2008. Third Quarter 2008 Results: For the three months ended September 30, 2008, voyage revenues amounted to $28.9 million and net income was $5.4 million, an increase of $5.7 million, or 24.6%, and an increase of $1.4 million, or 35.0%, respectively, from voyage revenues of $23.2 million and net income of $4.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2007. Basic and diluted earnings per share were $0.24 for the three months ended September 30, 2008 as compared to basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.19, for the three months ended September 30, 2007. Adjusted EBITDA for the three months ended September 30, 2008 was $13.5 million, an increase of $3.8 million, or 39.2% from $9.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2007. A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income and to net cash provided by operating activities is set forth below. For the three months ended September 30, 2008, the Company had a loss of $2.0 million on interest rate swap arrangements, which was comprised of a $1.0 million realized cash loss and a $1.0 million unrealized non-cash loss, plus approximately $0.6 million of stock-based compensation expense related to restricted share awards granted to the Company’s directors and key staff members of its affiliated manager Stealth Maritime Corp. This compares to an approximately $2.8 million non-cash loss for the three months ended September 30, 2007, which was comprised of a $1.8 million unrealized non-cash loss on interest rate swaps and $1.0 million of stock-based compensation expense related to restricted share awards granted to the Company’s directors. Before the non-cash items described above, net income was $7.0 million, or $0.32 per share, for the three months ended September 30, 2008, as compared to $6.7 million, or $0.33 per share, for the three months ended September 30, 2007, an increase of $0.3 million, or 4.5%. An average of 38.7 vessels were owned by the Company in the three months ended September 30, 2008, earning an average time-charter equivalent rate of approximately $7,681 per day as compared to 35.1 vessels, earning an average time-charter equivalent rate of $6,747 per day for the same period of 2007. Nine Months 2008 Results For the nine months ended September 30, 2008, voyage revenues amounted to $84.4 million and net income was $22.2 million, an increase of $20.5 million, or 32.1%, and an increase of $5.9 million, or 36.2%, respectively, from voyage revenues of $63.9 million and net income of $16.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2007. Basic and diluted earnings per share were $1.01 and $1.00, respectively, for the nine months ended September 30, 2008 as compared to basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.99 for the nine months ended September 30, 2007. Adjusted EBITDA for the nine months ended September 30, 2008 was $45.6 million, an increase of $12.0 million, or 35.7%, from $33.6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2007. A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income and to net cash provided by operating activities is set forth below. For the nine months ended September 30, 2008, the Company had a loss of $2.5 million on interest rate swap arrangements, which was comprised of a $1.1 million realized cash loss and a $1.4 million unrealized non-cash loss, plus approximately $1.6 million of stock-based compensation expense related to restricted share awards granted to the Company’s directors and key staff members of its affiliated manager Stealth Maritime Corp. This compares to an approximately $1.5 million unrealized non-cash loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2007 on interest rate swaps and $1.0 million of stock-based compensation expense related to restricted share awards granted to the Company’s directors. Before the non-cash items described above, net income was $25.2 million, or $1.14 per share, for the nine months ended September 30, 2008 as compared to $18.8 million, or $1.14 per share, for the nine months ended September 30, 2007, an increase of $6.4 million or 34.0%. CEO Harry Vafias commented “As we advised previously the third quarter saw an increase in crewing costs as a result of a wage increase we gave at the beginning of July and these along with an increase in voyage expenses due primarily to an increase in bunker costs have led to a slight decline on a quarter by quarter performance of our business at the operating income level. However, our revenues were in line with expectations and on a year on year basis the Company continues to progress with the significant increases in EBITDA and Net Income as outlined in this earnings release. At the net income level we have also been adversely effected by a $1.0 million increase in derivative costs as a result of the decline in US$ LIBOR against the fixed rates at which 67% of our current debt is swapped out at. The aggregate interest rate level of our swaps is 4.27% which we believe over time will prove to be a prudent level to have fixed the above mentioned portion of our debt, however, currently due to the very low level of prevailing rates, we are being negatively affected by these previously taken measures. Overall, due to the underlying nature of the markets we serve and the commodities we carry, we continue to view the future with reasonable confidence, despite the current turmoil in the world economy. I am also pleased to confirm that the valuations of our vessels continue to hold up well and have not experienced the declines seen in other shipping sectors. These factors together with our prudent chartering policy with some 67% of vessels already fixed for 2009 to high class charterers means that we should continue to make steady progress next year, despite the ongoing slowdown and challenges presented by the global economy.” CFO Andrew Simmons said “We are pleased to say that despite the problems in the banking sector we have continued to receive good support from both our existing and new banks in the recent weeks and that the vast majority of our vessels to be delivered in the future have committed credit facilities that will be used to fund part of their purchase price upon delivery to us. Although the terms of some of these facilities are somewhat less favourable than the terms available to us in the recent past, including increases in margin and fees. We are pleased nevertheless with the levels of support we continue to receive from our lending institutions, at a time when there has been a significant decline in the provision of credit to the shipping sector generally.” Quarterly Dividend: At today’s meeting, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1875 per common share, payable on December 1, 2008 to shareholders of record on November 24, 2008. This is the twelfth consecutive quarterly dividend since the company went public in October 2005. Since then, the Company has declared quarterly dividends aggregating $2.25 per common share. About STEALTHGAS INC. Headquartered in Athens, Greece, STEALTHGAS INC. is a ship-owning company serving primarily the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector of the international shipping industry. STEALTHGAS INC. currently has a fleet of 38 LPG carriers with a total capacity of 170,286 cubic meters (cbm) and two M.R. Product Tankers. In addition, the company has also entered into agreements to acquire one second hand and two resale newbuilding LPG carriers with expected deliveries in December 2008, March 2009 and May 2009, five new building LPG carriers with expected delivery from September 2010 through December 2011, two resale newbuilding M.R. Product Carrier with expected deliveries in April and November 2009 and a contract to construct two 156,000 deadweight Suezmax tankers with deliveries scheduled for April and July 2011. The company has also entered into an agreement to sell the Gas Amazon with delivery to her new owners scheduled for November 2008.Once these acquisitions and disposal are completed, STEALTHGAS INC.’S fleet will be composed of 45 LPG carriers with a total capacity of 203,973 cubic meters (cbm), four M.R. Product Tankers with a total capacity of 191,500 deadweight tons (dwt) and two Suezmax tankers with a deadweight of 312,000 tons (dwt). STEALTHGAS INC’S shares are listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and trade under the symbol “GASS”. StealthGas Inc. Press Release