TOP Ships Reports Six Months Ended June 30, 2019 Financial Results

ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TOP Ships Inc. (the “Company”), an international owner and operator of modern, fuel efficient "ECO" tanker vessels, announced today its unaudited financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2019.

Highlights of First Half of 2019:

• Total revenues increased by 51% to $29.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to $19.7 million for the same period in 2018
• Adjusted EBITDA increased by 341% to $15.0 million for the six month ended June 30, 2019 compared to $3.4 million for the same period in 2018*
• Operating income increased to $5.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 compared to an operating loss of ($3.5) million for the same period in 2018
• Net loss decreased by 91% to ($0.6) million for the six month ended June 30, 2019 compared to a net loss of ($6.6) million for the same period in 2018
• Total Assets increased by 64% to $423.0 million as of June 30, 2019 compared to $258.5 million as of December 31, 2018

Evangelos Pistiolis, the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company, said:

“During the first half of the year we further grew our fleet after we took delivery of 4 high specification vessels from Hyundai South Korea: 2 MR Product tankers and 2 Suezmax Crude carriers, 3 of the 4 vessels are scrubber fitted and all entered into time charter employment with high quality counterparties. The newly delivered vessels which were delivered during Q1 and Q2 have already started contributing positively to our financial results. We expect the full operating contribution for these vessels to occur from the second half of the year onwards.

We have made greater operating and financial strides as a company as we have increased our fleet. As a result we have significantly improved total revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and operating income.”

*Non-US GAAP Measures

This report describes Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (Adjusted EBITDA), which is not a measure prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP (i.e., a “Non-US GAAP” measure). We define Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, vessel bareboat charter hire expenses (including amortization of prepaid hire), operating lease expenses, vessel impairments, and gains/losses on derivative financial instruments.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure that is used as a supplemental financial measure by management and external users of financial statements, such as investors, to assess our financial and operating performance. We believe that this non-U.S. GAAP financial measure assists our management and investors by increasing the comparability of our performance from period to period. This is achieved by excluding the potentially disparate effects between periods of interest, gain/loss on financial instruments, taxes, depreciation and amortization, vessel bareboat charter hire expenses (including amortization of prepaid hire), operating lease expenses and vessel impairments, and which items are affected by various and possibly changing financing methods, capital structure and historical cost basis and which items may significantly affect results of operations between periods. Furthermore, pursuant to the implementation of the new lease accounting standard (ASC 842) effective from January 1, 2019, we are required to present all expenses relating to operating leases in one line item under “Operating lease expenses”. Hence for the period ended June 30, 2019 “Operating lease expenses” is equal to the aggregate of “Bareboat charterhire expenses” and “Amortization of prepaid bareboat charter hire”, that referred to the same operating leases, as those that were presented under the previous accounting standard (ASC 840) in the period ended June 30, 2018.

This Non-U.S. GAAP measure should not be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or superior to financial measures prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.  In evaluating Adjusted EBITDA, you should be aware that in the future we may incur expenses that are the same as or similar to some of the adjustments in this presentation. Our definition of Adjusted EBITDA may not be the same as reported by other companies in the shipping industry or other industries. Adjusted EBITDA does not represent and should not be considered as an alternative to operating income or cash flow from operations, as determined by U.S. GAAP.

                                                                                                                                
Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA

About TOP Ships Inc.

TOP Ships Inc. is an international owner and operator of modern, fuel efficient "ECO" tanker vessels.

For more information about TOP Ships Inc., visit its website: www.topships.org.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “believe,” “anticipate,” “intends,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,” “may,” “should,” “expect” “pending” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, our management's examination of historical operating trends, data contained in our records and other data available from third parties. Although we believe that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond our control, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

Contact:

Alexandros Tsirikos
Chief Financial Officer
TOP Ships Inc.
Tel: +30 210 812 8107
Email: atsirikos@topships.org