FLEX LNG Ltd.

Q2 2026 Earnings Call — August 19, 2026

Management: Welcome back to Flex LNG second quarter 2026 result presentation. My name is Marius Foss. I'm the CEO of Flex LNG and today I'm joined by our CFO Knut Traaholt, who will walk you through the financial later in the presentation. Today we will summarize the second quarter results and provide an update on the LNG shipping markets. As always, we will conclude this webcast with a Q&A session. If you'd like to ask questions, please use the chat function in the webcast or send questions by email to ir at flexlng.com. Before we start, we would like to highlight the following. We are using certain non-GAAP measures such as TCE, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income. These are supplements to the earnings report, reported in accordance with US GAAP. The reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are available in the earnings report released today. There are also limitations to the completeness of our presentation. Therefore, we encourage you to read the quarterly report together with today's presentation. And with that, back to you, Marius.

Management: Thank you, Knut. Let's begin with the highlights of the quarter. We are happy to present very strong results for the second quarter. We failed in revenues of close to $107 million, or close to $103 million, excluding the EUAs. This is our second best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021. The fleet average TCE during the quarter ended up at $86,100 per day. Net income for the second quarter came in at $44.9 million, implying an earnings per share of 83 cents. When adjusting for unraised gains and interest rates, swaps and FX, we ended up with adjusted net income of $42.5 million, or adjusted earnings per share at 79 cents. Flex Artemis and Flex Volunteer have traded in a strong spot market in the second quarter and contributed to our solid quarterly results. We continue to see elevated geopolitical uncertainty in the LNG space, as the conflict in Iran causes disruption to the LNG flow from the region. Lastly, with the dry docking of Flex Vigilant in June, we have completed all scheduled five-year special service for our fleets. We maintain our full year guidance from last quarter and expect revenues to come in between 345 and 370 million dollars.

Similarly, we expect the TCE to come in somewhere between 73 and 78 thousand dollars per day. We expect adjusted EBITDA to come in between 255 and 280 million dollars. With our strong quarter, contract coverage, and solid balance sheets, the Board has declared another dividend of 75 cents per share. This is the 20th consecutive dividend of 75 cents per share, and we have now distributed around $850 million since 2021, including special dividends. Our last 12 months dividend is $3 per share, implying a dividend yield of around 9.7%. Flex Vigilant completed her dry docking in Denmark in June, and this was the third and final dry docking for 2026. The average cost per dry docking came in around $6 million per vessel, as guided, and we spent averagely 17 days in dry dock per vessel. Flex Vigilant marks the final five-year special survey in our fleet of 13 vessels. Looking ahead, we have no dry dockings coming up in 2027, and we will commence our first 10-year docking in 2028.

Management: Let's have a look at our contract backlog. Looking at our total contract coverage, we have 51 years of minimum firm backlog, which may grow to 78 years if all options are declared. In the near term, we have close to 89% coverage for remaining available days in 2026. Flex Artemis and Flex Volunteer have both been trading in the spot market in the second quarter and will come open at the end of the third quarter. We are now marketing the vessel both for spot and new term contracts. With our good contract coverage for the remainder of the year, we maintain our guiding with the upgraded last quarter. This means that we expect full year revenues to come in between 345 to 370 million dollars. Similarly, we expect TCE to come in somewhere between 73 and 78 thousand dollars per day. Lastly, we expect the adjusted EBITDA to come in between 255 and 280 million dollars. We are pleased to announce that the Board have declared a dividend of 75 cents per share. Let us briefly revisit the decision factors for the dividends. We maintain the orange level for market outlook. This reflects a softer spot market and heavy schedule of new building deliveries.

Looking ahead, we note that low European storage levels going into the cold winter season. Confidence in the long-term structural demand story remains intact, supported by the third wave of US LNG export capacity currently under construction. To keep all the considerations in orange, given the continued elevated geopolitical risk, there is still uncertainty around the duration of the Iran conflict and the timing of normalization of the Qatari supply. Taking all factors into account, the Board has declared another quarterly dividend of 75 cents per share. This brings dividend paid over the last 12 months to $3 per share. The dividend will be paid on about 17th of September to shareholders of record as of 3rd of September. And with that, I hand it over to you Knut for final financial updates.

Management: Thank you, Marius. And the second quarter was significantly improved, quarter over quarter, mainly driven by higher revenues. Revenues were 106.8 million or 102.7 million excluding E-Race. The higher revenues were driven by high spot earnings for Flex Volunteer and Flex Artemis, while both Flex Constellation and Flex Aurora contributed by having a full quarter of earnings under the new contracts that commenced in March. On the cost side, vessel OPEX was higher quarter over quarter as the second quarter was impacted by higher crew travel costs related to the disruptions in the Middle East. The average OPEX per day in the second quarter were 16,260, while the average OPEX for the first six months of the year was around 16,100 per day. We maintain our OPEX guidance of 16,000 per day for the full year. Interest expense continued to improve reflecting lower loan margins and active management of our RCF facilities. We booked 4.7 million in gains on our interest rate derivatives of which 2.3 million was realized gains and 2.4 million was unrealized gains.

Net income came in at 44.9 million or 83 cents per share. and adjusting for non-cash items like unrealized gains from their interest derivative portfolio. The adjusted net income was 42.5 million, or equivalent to adjusted earnings per share of 79 cents. This is more than a double than of the first quarter. So overall, this was a very strong quarter, impacted by improved revenues from the spot market, new contracts, completion of dry docking, and continued cost-controlled and improved financial efficiency. On the cash flow during the quarter, we generated strong cash flow from operations of 63 million, up from 37 million in the first quarter. The increase was mainly driven by higher revenues, as explained on the previous slide. This includes 19 million in positive change in working capital and 5 million of capex related to the dry dockings this year. And the reduction in receivables during the quarter was related to timing of advanced charter higher receipts.

We repaid 28 million in scheduled debt installments and distributed 41 million to our shareholders and then in sum our net cash flow was 8 million in the quarter and that resulted in a cash position of 397 million at the end of the quarter. So looking at our balance sheet, we maintain a clean balance sheet with mainly chips and close to 400 million dollars in cash. Our debt financing comprises a combination of bank loans, which gives us flexibility and attractive long-term leases. Our first debt maturity is in the first quarter of 2029. And if we look at the book equity ratio, it's robust at 27.4%. And as noted before, our book values reflect the historical costs adjusted with regular depreciations. Our interest rate subportfolio is unchanged and was valued at 22 million at the end of the second quarter. The notional value of the portfolio is 775 million with an average fixed rate of 2.46%. We expect to maintain a hedge ratio of around 70% into mid next year. And with that, I hand it back to you, Marius, for the market outlook.

Management: Thank you, Knut. Let's have a look at the LNG trade. Global LNG trade volumes are broadly flat year to date, down less than 1% compared with the same period last year. On the supply side, the key development has been significant reduction in the Qatari exports, down around 29 million tonnes. This shortfall has to a large extent been offset by strong growth from the US, where exports are up 23% or close to 40 million tonnes. We have also seen continued growth from Australia and Russia. Other exporters have contributed strongly and are up 6 million tonnes from last year. These include LNG Canada, but also West Africa exporters, including Nigeria and Senegal. Industry sources report that global export capacity ran at 96% utilization in July, excluding Qatar. This is above 90% utilization seen last year and a 5-year average of 86%. On the demand side, imports into JKT remain resilient while Europe and China are down compared to last year. At the same time, India and other importing markets have continued to grow. The key takeaway is that despite a significant disruption from one of the world's largest LNG exporters, Qatar, global trade volumes have remained resilient. And more importantly, for shipping, the growing share of US supply means more LNG coming into the Atlantic Basin. This will likely have a positive ton-mile effect when those volumes move into Asia.

Management: Let's have a look a bit closer to the supply side. The reduction in Middle East LNG volumes have been significant. Combined exports from Qatar and UAE are currently down around 63% compared to the normal levels. As you can see from the left-hand side, exports dropped very sharply earlier in the year, and while volumes have started to recover, they remain below historical levels. At the same time, the US has continued to ramp up LNG exports. US liquefaction capacity is up around Jannicke Eilertsen, and that shift is positive for the shipping demand.

Management: Let us have a look at the demand side on the competition between Europe and Asia for the LNG. Europe entered the year with relatively low gas inventories. Inventories are today 61% full, the lowest level in over 15 years and below the 73% seen last year. This means Europe still has a substantial requirement to rebuild inventories ahead of the winter season. At the same time, US LNG is highly flexible and can move between Europe and Asia depending on their relative pricing. Looking at the chart on the left hand side, there has historically been significant swings in the US LNG flows between the two regions. So far this year, both Europe and Asia have attached additional U.S. LNG volumes, although the balance has shifted through the year. Looking forward, this sets up a continued tug-of-war of U.S. LNG exports. If European storage remains low, Europe will need to keep bidding on Atlantic cargoes, while lack of Qatari volumes could pull more of those volumes into Asia.

Management: If you are looking at the new buildings we stand out on this slide ordering activity remains very strong. Even the new building prices holding around 250 million dollars and the term rates remain more moderate levels. We have already seen around 60 new buildings orders so far this year. A number of these are made without any employment contracts. This year orders are well above last year figures of 35 vessels. That tells us there is still significant confidence in the long-term LNG shipping market. At the same time, elevated new building prices continue to provide support for the value of modern existing tonnage, including our fleet. The order book remains substantial, with around 285 vessels to be delivered going forward, equivalent to roughly 38% of the existing fleet. However, the majority of these vessels are already tied up with Qatar or other long-term employment, and the number of open vessels remain fairly limited. Contracting activity remains very high levels. LNG SBA volumes signed in the first half of 2026 are already about 30 million tons per year.

This continued appetite for long-term LNG supply is important because it provides the commercial basis required for new projects to reach FID. We have already seen around 28 million tons of projects that reached FID so far this year, including Venture Global's expansion of the CP2, Commonwealth and Delfin. And there are additional projects that could reach FID later this year, up to 39 million tons. These potential projects include LNG Canada Phase 2, Sealismis in Canada, and Delfin Phase 2 and the Brownsville in the US. This would take the potential FIDs in 2026 up to around 67 million tonnes. A key takeaway is that the next wave of LNG supply continues to gain momentum, supported by strong customer contracting and a healthy pipeline of projects moving forward to FID.

Management: Let's have a look at the spot market for the modern two-strokes. We have seen increasingly vessel availability both west and east of Suez, and that continues to put a weight on the spot rates. It is worth mentioning that the number of vessels available today is in line with the five-year historical averages. This comes at the time when the LNG fleet is growing. It tells that the new buildings are being absorbed by going straight into the program after being delivered from the shipyards. We did see a sharp spike in the rates earlier this year, but since then, rates have normalized and we have seen some pressure on the spot rates over the last few weeks. As we move into the second half of the year, we would normally expect some historical seasonal tightening. We have two vessels coming open in the end of the third quarter, well positioned for a potential strong winter market.

Management: With that, let's turn into a Q&A session. Thank you Marius and thank you to everyone who has submitted questions on our webcast and also to our investor relations email. There's been an active or a lot of things happening during the quarter in particular in the Middle East and with the Strait of Hormuz. We have a number of questions coming in around that and also how that has impacted our operations. So in specific

the question is do we have any trade in that area or through the Strait of Hormuz and have we had any ships being stuck inside the Strait of Hormuz?

Management: Thank you. Now I'm pleased to confirm that all vessels in the flex fleet of 13 vessels, none of them have been trading inside since end of February, so our charter's clients are trading elsewhere for time being.

Analyst: There's also a follow-up question around this as there is a number of additional insurances that are needed to be trading through the Strait of Hormuz.

The question is specifically, who pays for this insurance and what insurance is needed to be trading here?

Management: It is required to have insurance when you sail into high risk areas. So if and when our ships are ordered to other high risk areas, this extra coverage will be paid for by the charters who are instructing the vessel to such areas.

Analyst: Sticking to the Strait of Hormuz, what's your view on the market outlook there for, first of all, the resumption of LNG exports out of Qatar and UAE, but also more on the normalization of the transit to the Strait of Hormuz?

Management: Well, we believe that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed throughout 2026, so we could potentially look at an interesting market going forward for LNG and other shipping segments.

Analyst: Moving on, you mentioned in the presentation that we have seen slightly softer spot market now, so there's questions on what's your expectations of an LNG shipping market for the third quarter and then the fourth quarter?

Management: The Q3 is normally a shoulder month before we head into the winter season, so Q3 has softened up from the spot market has been maybe on $120,000 for roundtrip during the last Q3 and now come down to $30,000. Our next ship coming open in the end of Q3, so we are preparing for the Q4 market, which historically has been strong. So we are hopeful and hoping we can contribute a little bit more there on our Q3 and Q4 results later. But if Hormuz remains closed, I think this will automatically find its way back to where the energy market should be.

Analyst: Good. Then we have some questions on the financing. First of all, on our interest rate derivative portfolio. As we say, we have 70% coverage until mid next year. And the question relates to when we expect to add more interest rate hedging to our books.

Management: In general, we are trading when the markets are favorable. We are very pleased with the coverage we have today. But obviously, when there are opportunities either for adding more in the short-term or longer-term interest rate hedging, that is our aim to do.

Analyst: There is also follow-up questions on our debt maturities in Q1 2029, when we will address that.

Management: It's a bit early to address that refinancing now, unless we see an attractive opportunity to add more or better terms to our financings. That is something we are continuously evaluating. And if there are attractive opportunities, we will act on them.

Analyst: And

the final question is a recurring question. It's about dividends, sustainability, and the outlook for future dividends.

Management: As we have repeatedly said, each dividend are declared by the board by each quarter. We are fairly transparent on the decision factors, which we have also presented today. That is a repeat of the decision factors that we had last quarter, which was basically a downgrade of certain factors. However, with the strong balance sheet and cash position and also the contract backlog, the board was pleased to confirm a dividend for this quarter of 75 cents. Future dividends will be decided by the board and reassess all these factors, including then our backlog for the open vessels.

Management: And with that, that concludes the Q&A session. Thank you for participating in our Q2 presentation. We would like to welcome you back in November for our Q3 presentation. Thank you.

Q1 2026 Earnings Call — May 13, 2026

Management: Welcome to FlexLNG first quarter 2026 results presentation. My name is Maurits Foss. I'm the CEO of the FlexLNG, and today I'm joined with our CFO, Knut Terholt, who will walk you through the financial late in the presentation. Today, we will cover the first quarter results and provide an update on the LNG shipping market. As always, we will conclude the webcast with a Q&A session. If you'd like to ask questions, please use the chat functions in the webcast or send questions by email to ir.flexlng.com. Before we start, we would like to highlight the following. We are using certain non-GAAP measures, such as TCE, adjusted EBTA, and adjusted net income. These are supplements to the earnings report, reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are available in the earnings report, which we released today. There are certain limitations to the completeness of our presentation. Therefore, we encourage you to read the quarterly report together with the presentation. And with that, back to you, Marius.

Management: Thank you, Knut. Let's begin with the highlights of the quarter. We failed in revenues of 80.5 million or 78 million, excluding the EUAs related to the EU sector. Emission trading system. The fleet average TCE during the quarter ended up at 65,700 per day. Net income for the first quarter came in at 19.5 million, implying an earnings per share of 36 cents. When adjusting for annualized gains of interest rates, swaps, and FX, we ended up with an adjusted net income of 16.9 million, or adjusted earnings per share of 31 cents. This has been an active quarter for Flex LNG. We have added more contract coverage. First, the charter of the Flex Vestalute and Flex Coratius has declared the two-year extension options from 2027 to 2029, and the rest are now fully employed until 2032. We have fixed the Flex Airora for a new two-year firm time charter until 2028, with additional 2 plus 2 plus 2 years options, potentially an 8-year charter, if all options are declared. We have now completed the dry dockings of both Flex Volunteer and Flex Freedom during the quarter. The Flex Vigilant will enter dry dock later in May.

Based on the added new backlog and improved spot market, we are updating our full year 2026 guidance as follows. We now expect revenues to come in between $345 and $370 million, around 10% increase from the previous guidance. The TCE is expected up 8%, between $73 and $78,000 per day. We expect adjusted EBITDA to come in around $255 to $280 million, up 11%. With improved earnings visibility and continued robust financial position, the board has declared another dividend of 75 cents per share. This is the 19th consecutive dividend of 75 cents per share, and we have distributed around $810 million since 2021. Our last 12-month dividend is $3 per share, implying a dividend yield of around 9.2%. We have completed two out of the three dry dockings so far in 2026. The dry docking of the Flex Voluntair was completed in January and she is now trading in the spot market. Flex Freedom completed her dry docking in March and she went straight back to service under the current charter. Both dry dockings were completed ahead of schedule. The third and final vessel to be dry docked in 2026, Flex Vigulent, is expected to enter dry dock later this month in Europe. She will, upon completion of dry dock, return back to charter. We expect the average cost of the three dry dockings to be around $6 million. Flex Vigilant marks the final five-year special survey in our fleet of 13 vessels.

Management: Let's have a look at the contract backlog. Flex Constellation was delivered to her new charter in early March, and she has now commenced her 15-year contract. In March, we were also pleased to announce that the Charter of Flex Resolute and Flex Courageous exercise their option from 2027 to 2029 for both vessels. The vessels have firm employment until 2032, and the Charters have additional options potentially extending the employment until 2039. In March, Flex Aurora was fixed on a new two-year firm contract with Supermajor and entered service almost in dire continuation after she was relivered from her previous three-and-a-half-year contract. The new contract also has two-plus-two-plus two-year options, potentially extending until 2034. Flex Artemis and Flex Volunteer have both been trading in the spot market in the first quarter. Flex Artemis is currently employed on a multi-month contract until end of September. Flex Volunteer is also fixed on a multi-contract and will come open early July. We are marketing both vessels for spot and firm contracts.

Looking at the total contract coverage, 91% of remaining available days in 2026 are now fully fixed. We have today 54 years of minimum backlog, which may grow up to 81 years if the charters declare all options. We are also pleased to present a revised of our full year guidance. The guidance we provide in the fourth quarter presentation in February reflected a muted outlook for LNG shipping for this year. Following the war in Iran and the closure of Strait of Hormuz and shutdown of LNG production in Qatar, 20% of the global LNG export capacity is currently lost. This has resulted in strong LNG shipping markets in the short term, which has positively impacted our open vessels. The addition of new contract backlog and a firm spot market for LNG shipping have resulted in improved earnings outlook for Flex LNG, and we are therefore upgrading our financial guidance for the full year.

We hike our expectation for the full year TCE rate to range between $73,000 and $78,000 per day. This is an increase around 8% from the previous guiding. The revenue range is increasing between $345 to $370 million, which is an increase of around 10% from the previous range. Adjusted EBITDA is now expected to come in between $225 to $280 million for the full year, an increase of around 11%. On the decision factors for the dividends, we maintain the market outlook on the orange level. This reflects near-term straight alongside medium-term uncertainty, driven by a heavy schedule of new building deliveries. We remain confident in the long-term demand story, supported by the third wave of U.S. LNG export capacity currently under construction. This quarter, we also have downgraded the older considerations to orange, given high geopolitical risk. There are uncertainties around duration of the Iran conflict and the normalization of the Qatari supply. Given the potential long-term implication of LNG trade and shipping markets, we believe it's prudent to reflect this risk into our dividend decisions framework. Taking all factors into account, the Board has declared another quarterly dividend of 75 cents per share. This brings dividends paid over the last 12 months to $3 per share. The dividend will be paid on around 11th of June for shareholders on record of 29th of May.

Management: And with that, over to you, Knut, for a review of the results.

Management: Thank you, Marius. The first quarter results were somewhat softer quarter over quarter, mainly driven by seasonal lower revenues. Revenues, excluding ERAs, were €78 million, driven by fewer available days in the quarter, and off-hire related to scheduled dry dockings of two ships, plus a seasonal weaker spot earnings early in the quarter for the Flex Voluntair and Flex Artemis. This was partly offset by the start of Flex Constellation's 15-year charter at a higher rate in March. We booked 5.8 million in voyage expenses this quarter, compared to 3.8 million in the fourth quarter. The $2 million increase was mainly driven by higher bunker costs and gas up and cool down expenses related to dry dock and repositioning of vessels in the spot market. On the cost side, vessel OPEX was lower quarter over quarter, as fourth quarter included higher scheduled maintenance. The average OPEX per day in the first quarter was close to $16,000 per day. We continue to maintain our office guidance of $16,000 per day for the full year. Interest expenses also improved, reflecting lower loan margins and active management of our RCF facilities.

We booked 4.9 million in gains on our interest rate derivatives, of which 2.4 million was realized gains and 2.5 million was unrealized gains. Net income came in at 19.5 million or 36 cents per share. Adjusting for non-cash items like unrealized gains from the interest rate derivatives, the adjusted net income was 16.9 million or adjusted earning per share of 31 cents.

So overall, this was a quarter impacted by scheduled dry dockings and a weaker spot market early in the quarter, but with underlying cost control. As highlighted in our revision of the full year guidance, we expect stronger contribution from the new contract for Flex Aurora and the two ships operating in the spot market from the second quarter. During the quarter, we generated cash flow from operations of 37 million. We recorded 18 million in negative change in working capital and had nine million of dry dock expenses. The buildup of receivables during the quarter is particular for the first quarter as charterer paid January higher in December, while April higher for four ships were paid early in April, causing a negative change in working capital. We repaid 28 million in scheduled debt installments and distributed 41 million to our shareholders. In sum, our cash position was reduced with 59 million, and this left us with 389 million of cash at the end of the quarter. Looking at our balance sheet, in addition to the cash position of 389 million, we maintain a book equity of 27%.

As noted before, our book equity values reflect historical costs adjusted with regular depreciations. Our interest rate portfolio was valued at 20 million at the end of the first quarter. The notional value of the portfolio is 775 million, with an average rate fixed at 2.46%. We expect to maintain a hedge ratio net of RCF utilization of around 70% into mid-2027. Since January 2021, this swap portfolio has generated unrealized and realized gains of around 137 million.

Management: And with that, I hand it back to you, Marius, for the market section.

Management: Thank you, Knut. A robust balance sheet is important to maintain commercial flexibility of our open ships. This was an important factor for the first quarter when we could position our open ships to capture the very strong LNG market that surfaced following the war in Iran. Let's have a look at the LNG trade. Global LNG trade volumes have continued to expand despite a reduction of Qatari export volumes year to date. Trade volumes grew 3% in the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year. The shortfall from Qatar due to the closure of Strait of Hormuz has largely been offset by stronger supply growth from US alongside continued growth from Australia and other exporters. On the demand side, Europe imports strongly as it rebuilds inventories ahead of winter. The more mature Asian importers, JKT, remains resistant while we see continued softness from China.

The key takeaway is that despite Qatari shortfall, global trade volumes continue to grow. From shipping markets, much of the new supply is coming from the Atlantic Basin and will move over longer distances to Asia. Looking at the left side, we see the US LNG exports continue to grow, supported by the ramp-up of Plaquemines, first rolling from Golden Pass, and Corpus Christi expansion. On an annual basis, total U.S. export volumes amount to around 130 million tons, up 18% from full year of 2025. However, on the right-hand side, the growth from U.S. is offset by shortfall of Middle East volumes. Following the war in Iran, Qatar has been forced to shut down production and declared force majeure reported until June. Therefore, Qatar export drops dramatically during March and April, removing about 20% of the global supply from the LNG market.

The net effect is a tighter LNG shipping market with strong growth from U.S. For LNG shipping, this tightness reshapes the trade flow with importers increasingly relying on Atlantic Basin supply to replace lost Middle East volumes. Here we are seeing two important dynamics shaping LNG shipping today. First, Asian demand for US LNG remains strong and the arbitrage is open. Despite very long European gas inventories, US cargoes continue to move east. Second, Europe is entering into injection season with low storage levels. That suggests Europe needs to remain active in the LNG market rebuilding inventories ahead of winter, particularly given constrained supply from Qatar and the Middle East. The trade flow dynamic we saw on the previous slide is translating into higher ton-mile demand. Average sailing distance have been increasing over the past years, driven by growing Atlantic export, especially US exports serving Asian importers.

That structural shift toward longer haul trade is supported for the supply-demand balance and reinforces the long-term demand outlook for modern LNG tonnage, like FlexLNG. This is a slide known to many of you, and I would like to highlight three points. First, new building orders so far in 2026 have now exceeded 2025. We count 38 fresh orders so far this year, compared to 35 in 2025. Some of these orders are made on a speculative basis, and this signals growing confidence in the firm shipping market later in this decade, a period that aligns well with our open exposure. New building prices for the standard 174,000 cubic meter LNG carrier built in Korea remain stable at around $245 to $250 million. This is supportive for asset value for existing tonnage, including our fleets. We are seeing term rates for 5 and 10 years increasing and moving into more attractive territory.

Looking at the new building order book, we count some 290 new buildings being delivered over the next 5 years, with 20 new buildings being delivered as per end of April this year. The order book to fleet ratio is around 40%, and we note that the number of vessels without contract remain low, estimated around 45 vessels. From a slow start in January-February, the LNG shipping market reset following the war in Iran. Spot rates moved from around $30,000 in February into more than $250 in March. While the initial spike has since normalized, rates remain well above historical levels for the time of the year.

This shows how tight vessel availability can become when trade flows are disrupted. Looking forward, both the FFA curve and assessments from various ship brokers indicate strong spot markets throughout 26. Ideally, we would like to grab a firm spot market when they're going into the winter market. The Flex Voluntary comes open early July and the Flex Artemis is open in September. We believe Flex LNG is well positioned to capitalize the winter market for the remaining open days we have. The long-term LNG supply growth story remains intact. These slides show operating liquefaction capacity today in dark blue versus capacity under construction in light blue, and the key point is that the global project pipeline is substantial. The EU stands out as the largest contributor to further growth, as the liquefaction capacity is set to double. Thus, it is important for LNG shipping, because US volumes are often long-haul cargoes, supporting ton-mile demand. Qatar also has a large expansion program under construction. Also, given the current situation, the timing of the new Qatari volumes is pushed into 2027. We also see additional growth from coming out of West Africa and Mozambique. So, while the timing of individual projects may shift, the pipeline of projects remains large.

This reports continued demand for LNG shipping capacity. Before we move on to the Q&A section, I would like to highlight three points. Firstly, we have no vessels inside the Strait of Hormuz. Secondly, Flex has now 91% covered available days for the remainder of the year. And lastly, we are increasing our full year guidance. I would also like to thank all seafarers and onshore personnel for all the hard work and safe operations. With that, let's move on to the Q&A section.

Management: Thank you, Marius, and thank you all for submitting questions to the chat and on our IR email. You mentioned here in the highlights on the situation or our fleet status in the Strait of Hormuz. There's a number of questions regarding that. Also, if we have vessels inside. During the quarter, maybe you can tell a little bit about the operations and the status of the fleet regarding Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf?

Management: Thank you. Now, we have lately had a lot of questions for the same, and I can confirm that none of our 13 vessels operating in the global market today has been trading inside the Strait of Hormuz. Right now it's closed, so it's impossible to trade in, but our charters also elected other alternatives during this period.

Analyst: And we today announced multi-month contracts for two ships, so there's a number of questions regarding what the prospects are for these two spot operating ships for the remainder of the year.

Management: Yeah, both Flex Voluntair and Flex Artemis remain open. The prospects are much better now than we saw when we spoke last in February. And if we are able to fix those two ships on, say, last done levels that we see in the current spot market, I believe Flex LNG is close to touching all-time high revenues for 2026. So it's quite exciting to look at what's going to happen going forward on those two ships.

Analyst: And while we mentioned in the presentation high fixture activity and also on the spot trading vessels, there are questions regarding long-term contracts, the activity levels and when do you expect the ships to be contracted on long-term contracts?

Management: We are continuing marketing our vessels for long-term contracts and now when the long-term levels are ticking up we are engaging those tenders that are surfacing the market. We have 54 years of backlog already and aim to expand that further going forward but we are disciplined and waiting for the right contract to the right contract partners.

Analyst: And then final questions are regarding the dividend and dividend sustainability. We had this question on the last quarter as well. So I think we'll guide you to this slide we have in the presentation on our decision factors. These are the decision factors that the board are using in declaring the dividend and which is an assessment that we do at each quarter.

Management: We maintain the market section in orange level or the outlook. That was a downgrading last quarter as we had more shifts open. This quarter we have secured employment for minimum two years for the Flex Aurora, which can be extended by additional six years. But we still remain more open exposure into 27 and 28, so we keep it for now on orange levels. We have also increased sort of other decision factors, which is more on geopolitical risk, given the uncertainty with the situation with the war in Iran. So I think it's a highlight that we've mentioned before. We have a robust balance sheet. We have cash of close to 390 million, a strong contract backlog, and no debt maturities before 2029.

Management: So with that, that concludes the Q&A session. Thank you very much, Knut. Thank you for everybody participating in today's presentation. We are looking forward to see you all back in the middle of August. Thank you very much.