TOP Ships Q4 & FY2009 Results

TOP Ships Inc. (NASDAQ: TOPS) announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009.
For the fourth quarter of 2009, the company reported:
--  A net loss of $35.9 million or $1.20 per share. The results of the fourth quarter of 2009 include an impairment charge of $36.6 million relating to the write-down of the older two of the Company's tanker vessels to their fair market values. Excluding the impairment charge, the net loss would have amounted to net income of $0.7 million, or $0.02 per share.

--  An operating loss of $31.7 million. Excluding the impairment charge of $36.6 million operating loss would have amounted to operating income of $4.9 million

--  Revenues of $24.4 million.
For the year ended December 31, 2009, the company reported:
--  A net loss of $50.2 million, or $1.78 per share.  Excluding net expenses of $12.2 million, relating to the termination of leases and the impairment charge of $36.6 million, the net loss would have amounted to $1.4 million, or $0.05 per share.

--  An operating loss of $34.2 million. Excluding net expenses of $12.2 million, relating to the termination of leases and the impairment charge of $36.6 million, the operating loss would have amounted to operating income of $14.6 million.

--  Revenues of $108.0 million.

Evangelos J. Pistiolis, President and Chief Executive Officer of TOP Ships Inc., commented:
During 2009, we reached two very important milestones in the history of our company under a very tough financial environment for the global economy and the shipping industry:
--  We completed our newbuilding program by taking delivery of six product tankers, from a well-established Korean yard, all of which we immediately chartered out at fixed rates for periods that range between 7 and 10 years. These charters have been agreed on a bareboat basis, which not only reduces our long-term market risk relating to the vessels, but also eliminates our operational risk for that period.

--  We terminated the charters on the last five chartered-in vessels in our fleet. These vessels were product tankers and their daily cost, taking into account lease hire payments and operating expenses, was significantly higher than the market rates that have been prevailing in the product tanker segment.We took an impairment charge during the fourth quarter, on our two older tankers in our fleet, due to the fact that their present time charters expire during the current year, and we expect that future charters will be at lower rates given the market conditions that have been prevailing in the product tanker segment.

I would also like to bring to everyone's attention, the impeccable utilization rates of the last quarter of 2009. We will do our best to maintain these rates going forward.
Looking into the future, we believe that we offer a solid growth platform due to the following characteristics:
--  We do not have any capital commitments.

--  We have a very young owned fleet made up of 13 vessels; eight product tankers with an average age of 2.9 years and five dry bulk vessels with an average age of 8.9 years.

--  We have a diverse charter portfolio with significant value. 84% of total ship days until the end of 2011 are under fixed employment and the gross revenue that we expect to receive from these charters amounts to approximately $151 million. Looking further into the future, 75% of our total ship days until the end of 2012 are under fixed employment and the gross revenue that we expect to receive from these charters amounts to approximately $199 million.

Outstanding Indebtedness
As of December 31, 2009, we had total indebtedness under senior secured and unsecured credit facilities with our lenders of $404.3 million (excluding unamortized deferred financing fees of $5.2 million) with maturity dates from 2010 through 2019.