STAR BULK CARRIERS : REPORTS FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER ENDED MARCH 31, 2019

STAR BULK CARRIERS CORP. REPORTS FINANCIAL RESULTS

FOR THE FIRST QUARTER ENDED MARCH 31, 2019

ATHENS, GREECE, May 22, 2019 - Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (the "Company" or "Star Bulk") (Nasdaq and Oslo: SBLK), a global shipping company focusing on the transportation of dry bulk cargoes, today announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019.

Financial Highlights

(Expressed in thousands of U.S. dollars,			First quarter	First quarter
except for daily rates and per share data)
		2019	2018
Voyage Revenues							$121,057
					$166,490
Net income/(loss)					($5,342)	$9,900
Net cash provided by operating activities			$12,408	$31,582
EBITDA	(1)								$46,424	$44,449
Adjusted EBITDA	(1)					$43,875	$46,422
Adjusted Net income / (loss)	(2)			($8,532)	$11,859
Earnings / (loss) per share basic			($0.06)	$0.15
Adjusted earnings / (loss) per share basic	(2)		($0.09)	$0.18
TCE Revenues	(3)							$98,967	$81,597
Daily Time Charter Equivalent Rate ("TCE")	(3)		$10,624	$12,586
Fleet utilization							96.5%	100.0%
Average daily OPEX per vessel	(4)			$4,046	$4,052
Average daily OPEX per vessel (excl. pre-delivery expenses)	(4)	$4,015	$3,991
Average daily Net Cash G&A expenses per vessel (excluding one-	$971	$1,101
time expenses)	(5)

1. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP measures. Please see the table at the end of this release for a reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to Net Cash Provided by / (Used in) Operating Activities, which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("U.S. GAAP"). To derive Adjusted EBITDA from EBITDA, we exclude non-cash gains / (losses).
2. Adjusted Net income / (loss) and Adjusted earnings / (loss) per share basic and diluted are non-GAAP measures. Please see the table at the end of this release for a reconciliation to Net income / (loss), which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
3. Daily Time Charter Equivalent Rate ("TCE") and TCE Revenues are non-GAAP measures. Please see the table at the end of this release for a reconciliation to Voyage Revenues, which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
4. Average daily OPEX per vessel is calculated by dividing vessel operating expenses by Ownership days.
5. Average daily Net Cash G&A expenses per vessel is calculated by (1) deducting the Management fee Income (if any), from, and
6. 1. adding the Management fee expense to, the General and Administrative expenses (net of stock-based compensation expense) and
   2. then dividing the result by the sum of Ownership days and Charter-in days. Please see the table at the end of this release for a reconciliation to General and administrative expenses, which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and

presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Petros Pappas, Chief Executive Officer of Star Bulk, commented:

"Star Bulk announced today its first quarter 2019 financial results, reporting TCE Revenues of $99.0 million, $43.9 million of Adjusted EBITDA and a Net Loss of $5.3 million during a challenging and seasonally weak period of the year, which included approximately 300 off-hire days for scrubber installations. By the end of May 2019 we are on track to have 40 vessels scrubber fitted. We expect to have a fully scrubber fitted fleet by January 2020. Because we expect 2020 to be a more profitable year, we want to maximize the operating days in 2020 and we thus bring forward to 2019 all our drydocks that would otherwise be due in 2020. We expect to undergo 52 drydocks during this year mostly concurrent with scrubber installations which, in combination with 50 at sea installations, will reduce as much as possible our off hire time during 2019.

Our average TCE for the quarter, including realized freight and bunker hedging, was $11,192 / day per vessel with 96.5% fleet utilization, and average daily Opex and Net Cash G&A expenses per vessel, at $4,015/day and $971/day respectively. As of today, we have fixed a minimum of 76% of our Q2 2019 days at average TCE rates of $10,006 per day.

We continue being busy on the financing front, having drawn and agreed to refinance approximately $329 million of debt since the beginning of the year, reducing our average margin in these facilities by 217bps. Over the past nine months, we have agreed to refinance approximately $1.04 billion creating savings of about $10 million annually in interest expense, or $250 per vessel day. We have also drawn $22.4 million of scrubber financing with another $112.2 million in place to be drawn later in the year."

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Recent Developments

FLEET UPDATE

• In April 2019, entities affiliated with E.R. Capital Holding GmbH & Cie. KG ("E.R." or "Sellers") and ourselves mutually waived our respective Put and Call Options relating to the four (4) optional dry bulk vessels (the "Step 2 Vessels") (the "Step 2 Acquisition"), as previously disclosed in the press release issued on August 29, 2018.
• On April 16, 2019, we took delivery of the Newcastlemax vessel Katie K (ex- HN 1388), with carrying capacity of 206,839 deadweight tons, built at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. ("SWS"). The vessel is financed under a bareboat lease with CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping Company Limited ("CSSC").
• On March 6, 2019 and March 8, 2019, we sold and delivered the M/V Star Aurora, a 2000 built Capesize vessel, and M/V Star Kappa, a 2001 built Supramax vessel, respectively, to their new buyers.

DEBT FINANCING UPDATE

• On May 8, 2019, we entered into a loan agreement with Citibank N.A., London Branch, the "Citibank $62.6 million Facility". The aggregate amount of $62.6 million drawn under the respective facility, was used together with cash on hand to pay all the outstanding amount under the lease agreements of M/V Star Virgo and M/V Star Marisa. The Citibank $62.6 million Facility is secured by a first priority mortgage on these two vessels and will mature in May 2024.
• In May 2019, we finalized a loan agreement with CTBC Bank Co., Ltd, the "CTBC Facility", for an amount of $35.0 million which will be used to refinance the outstanding amount under the lease agreement of M/V ABOY Karlie. The CTBC Facility will be secured by first priority mortgage on the respective vessel and will mature in May 2024.
• On March 29, 2019, we entered into an agreement to sell the vessel Star Pisces and simultaneously entered into a bareboat charter party contract with SK Shipholding S.A. to bareboat charter the respective vessel for 7 years, with purchase obligation at the expiration of the bareboat term. The amount of $19.1 million provided under the respective sale and lease back agreement was used to pay the outstanding amount of $11.7 million under the NIBC facility.
• In April 2019, we drew down an amount of $11.7 million under the Atradius Facility, which was used to finance the acquisition of scrubber equipment. In May 2019, we drew down an amount of $9.4 million and $1.4 million under the DNB $310.0 million Facility and ING Facility respectively, for the same purpose. The undrawn portion of scrubber related financing following these drawdowns stands at $ 112.2 million.

UPDATED SHARE COUNT

During 2019, we repurchased 1,535,322 of our common shares in open market transactions at an average price of $7.45 for aggregate consideration of $11.4 million, pursuant to the previously announced share repurchase program, all of which were canceled and removed from our share capital until the date of this release. Following the cancelation of the repurchased shares, we have 91,750,000 common shares outstanding as of the date of this release.

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Employment update

As of today, we have fixed employment for approximately 76% of the days in Q2 2019 at average TCE rates of $10,006 per day.

More specifically:

Capesize / Newcastlemax Vessels: approximately 69% of Q2 2019 days at $10,152 per day.

Post Panamax / Kamsarmax / Panamax Vessels: approximately 73% of Q2 2019 days at $10,131 per day.

Ultramax / Supramax Vessels: approximately 89% of Q2 2019 days at $9,712 per day.

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Amounts shown throughout the press release and variations in period-on-period comparisons are derived from the actual numbers in our books and records.

First Quarter 2019 and 2018 Results

Voyage revenues for the first quarter of 2019 increased to $166.5 million from $121.1 million in the first quarter of 2018. Adjusted time charter equivalent revenues ("Adjusted TCE Revenues") (please see the table at the end of this release for the calculation of the Adjusted TCE Revenues) were $98.3 million for the first quarter of 2019, compared to $81.6 million for the first quarter of 2018. Adjusted TCE Revenues primarily increased as a result of an increase in the average number of vessels in our fleet to 107.3 in the first quarter of 2019, up from 72.0 in the first quarter of 2018. The TCE rate though for the first quarter of 2019 was $10,624 compared to $12,586 for the first quarter of 2018 reflecting the weaker dry bulk market environment prevailing during the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.

For the first quarter of 2019, operating income was $17.2 million, which includes depreciation of $29.8 million. Operating income of $23.3 million for the first quarter of 2018 included depreciation of $21.2 million. Depreciation increased during the first quarter of 2019 due to a higher average number of vessels in our fleet as described above. Operating income declined in the first quarter of 2019 as compared to the first quarter of 2018, because of higher depreciation expense, lower TCE rates as well as the significantly higher dry-docking expense following our management's decision to bring forward to 2019 all the 2020 dry-docking services in order to install scrubbers and take advantage of the low market environment.

For the first quarter of 2019 we had a net loss of $5.3 million, or $0.06 loss per share, basic and diluted, based on 93,080,589 weighted average basic and diluted shares. Net income for the first quarter of 2018 was $9.9 million, or $0.15 earnings per share, basic and diluted, based on 64,107,324 weighted average basic shares and 64,303,356 weighted average diluted shares, respectively.

Net loss for the first quarter of 2019, included the following significant non-cash items, other than depreciation expense mentioned above:

• Unrealized gain on forward freight agreements and bunker swaps of $3.1 million or $0.03 per share, basic and diluted; and
• Amortization of the fair value of below market acquired time charters of $0.6 million, or $0.01 per share, basic and diluted, associated with time charters attached to two vessels acquired during the third quarter of 2018. These below market time charters are amortized over the duration of each respective time charter agreement as an increase to voyage revenues.

Net income for the first quarter of 2018, included the following significant non-cash items, other than depreciation expense:

• Stock-basedcompensation expense of $1.1 million, or $0.02 per share, basic and diluted, recognized in connection with common shares granted to our directors and employees; and
• Unrealized loss on forward freight agreements and bunker swaps of $0.9 million, or $0.01 per share, basic and diluted.

Adjusted net loss for the first quarter of 2019, was $8.5 million, or $0.09 loss per share, basic and diluted, compared to adjusted net income of $11.9 million, or $0.18 earnings per share, basic and diluted, for the first quarter of 2018. A reconciliation of Net income/(loss) to Adjusted Net income/(loss) and Adjusted earnings/(loss) per share basic and diluted is set forth in the financial tables contained in this release.

Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarters of 2019 and 2018, was $43.9 million and $46.4 million, respectively. A reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities is set forth in the financial tables contained in this release.

For the first quarters of 2019 and 2018, vessel operating expenses were $39.1 million and $26.3 million, respectively. This increase was primarily due to the increase in the average number of vessels to 107.3 from 72.0. Vessel operating expenses for the first quarter of 2019 included pre-delivery and pre-joining expenses of $0.3

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