Star Bulk Carriers Corp. reports financial results for the fourth quarter and the year ended December 31, 2012 and announces the sale of capesize vessel Star Sigma

Athens, Greece, March 19, 2013

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (the "Company" or "Star Bulk") (Nasdaq: SBLK), a global shipping company focusing on the transportation of dry bulk cargoes, today announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the three and the twelve months ended December 31, 2012.

Financial Highlights



Furthermore, Star Bulk today announced that the Co mpany has entered into an agreement to sell the Star Sigma, a 184,403 dwt Capesize vessel, built 1991, to a third party for a contracted sale price of $9.0 million. The Company plans to deliver the vessel to the buyers within April 2013. On January 2, 2013, Star Bulk announced that the Company had reached an agreement with its lenders for the deferral of a minimum of $20.2 million of its principal repayments and the relaxation of its financial covenants during 2013 and 2014. Additiona lly, in accordance with these agreements, the Company has reclassified $7.3 million of restricted cash to free cash and has prepaid $9.4 million.

Spyros Capralos, President and CEO of Star Bulk, commented:
“We are pleased to be reporting positive results during another quarter of challengi ng freight market conditions. I believe that the Company’s operational efficiency and cost opt imization strategy have had a very important contribution towards this full year’s results. I ex pect we will manage to improve our results in the current and the next quarters, as the market impr oves, especially in the Supramax segment. We have agreed to sell our oldest Capesize vessel, t he Star Sigma, for scrap, at a contracted price of $9.0 million, which will assist in deleveraging of our balance sheet and further relaxation of our principal amortization re quirements for 2013 a nd 2014. Following the sale of Star Sigma, the coverage of our capesize fleet is at 88% for 20 13 at an average gross rate of $23,650.

We view the agreements the Company announced in January as a clear demonstration of our lenders’ trust and support towards the company. We believe these agreements are crucial for the Company’s future, as they provide to the Company additional liquidity and financial flexibility. Our outlook for the dry bulk industry remains positi ve for the medium-term, especially as we move past this year’s unbalanced supply growth. We expect demand for dry bulk commodities from major developing countries to continue to grow, and that t he freight market will start to improve due to the lower orderbook, increased scrapping, slow steaming and the scarcity of bank financing.”

Simos Spyrou, Chief Financial Officer of Star Bulk, commented:
“Last quarter our results were negatively affected by the low Supramax charter rate s and the repositioning of part of our fleet to the Atlantic. Another negative effect came from the Star Polaris, which lost 49 days of hire during the fourth quarter, due to main engine repairs.

Star Polaris went back to service on 19 November, 2012 at a gross rate of $16,500 per day. On the positive side, we received a non-recurring net amount of $0.9 million related mainly to the settlement of commercial claims, which effectively offset the Star Polaris off-hire and the low Supramax rates within the quarter.

In addition, the Company has continued to successfully implement its cost optimization strategy. We succeeded in further reducing our average daily OPEX for the full year 2012 to $5,361, or by 5%, compared to 2011. What needs to be underlined is the reduction of our general and administrative (G&A) expenses by 25% to $9.3 million in 2012. This reduction was ac hieved, while the average number of our employees has increased in order to support the third-part y vessels we have recently taken under management, that is already contributing to our revenues. We continue our efforts towards operational and management efficiency and we feel optimistic about the future of the Company.”

Full report at: www.starbulk.com

About Star Bulk
Star Bulk is a global shipping company providing worldwide seaborne transportation solutions in the dry bulk sector. Star Bulk's vessels transport majo r bulks, which include iron ore, coal and grain and minor bulks which include bauxite, fertilizers and steel products. Star Bulk was incorporated in the Marshall Islands on December 13, 2006 and main tains executive offices in Athens, Greece. Its common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "SBLK".

Currently, Star Bulk has an operating fleet of fourteen dry bulk carriers with a definitive agreement to sell one of its carriers. The total fleet consists of six Capesize and eight Supramax dry bulk vessels with a combined cargo carrying capacity of 1,475,005 deadweight tons. The average age of our current operating fleet is approximately 11 years. Additionally, we have three third party vessels under our management, one Capesize and two Supramax vessels with a combined cargo carrying capacity of 293,843 deadweight tons.

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. press release