FORM
6-K
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Report
of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant
to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of
the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For
the month of August 2008
Commission
File Number
TOP
SHIPS INC.
(Translation
of registrant’s name into English)
1 VAS.
SOFIAS & MEG.
ALEXANDROU
STREET
151 24,
MAROUSSI
ATHENS,
GREECE
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under
cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form 20-F
[ X ] Form 40-F
[ ]
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted
by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): ___
Indicate
by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted
by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)7: ___
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in
this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant
to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yes
[ ] No [ X ]
If “Yes”
is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in
connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): ________.
INFORMATION
CONTAINED IN THIS FORM 6-K REPORT
Attached
to this report on Form 6-K as Exhibit 1 is the press release issued by Top Ships
Inc. on August 15, 2008, announcing the resignation of Stamatis Tsantanis from
the position of Chief Financial Officer, effective September 1,
2008.
EXHIBIT
1
NEWS RELEASE for August 15,
2008
|
Contact:
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Michael
Mason (investors)
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Eirini
Alexandropoulou
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|
Allen
& Caron Inc.
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Corporate
Secretary, TOP Ships Inc.
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|
|
212
691 8087
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011
30 210 812 8107
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|
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michaelm@allencaron.com
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eia@topships.org
|
TOP SHIPS
ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE OF CFO
ATHENS,
GREECE, August 15, 2008… TOP Ships Inc. (NasdaqGS:TOPS) announced today that
Stamatis Tsantanis has resigned from the position of Chief Financial Officer,
effective September 1, in order to pursue other projects.
Mr.
Tsantanis has been the CFO and a Director of the Company since its IPO as TOP
Tankers Inc., and has initiated, managed and executed a significant number of
financial and commercial transactions for the Company.
Commenting
on the CFO’s resignation, Evangelos J. Pistiolis, President and Chief Executive
Officer of TOP Ships Inc. said: “As TOP Ships’ CFO, Stamatis significantly
contributed to our corporate transformation, including helping us to execute our
innovative IPO, enhance our liquidity position, build our finance team and
corporate infrastructure, and drive our efforts to fully comply with the
regulatory demands of Sarbanes-Oxley. Stamatis’ commitment to the Company has
been exceptional throughout. We wish him the best as he takes on new
challenges.”
Mr.
Tsantanis stated: “It has been a great experience to work with Evangelos in Top
Ships and I would like to thank the Board, the management team, and especially
my colleagues for all their hard work and support over these years. We achieved
a number of significant targets and coped with many challenging issues, which we
managed to successfully overcome. The quality of the Top Ships’ team and its
strategic ambitions put the Company in a great position for healthy future
growth.”
The
company is currently searching for a replacement for Mr. Tsantanis.
About TOP Ships
Inc.
TOP Ships
Inc., formerly known as TOP Tankers Inc., is an international provider of
worldwide seaborne crude oil and petroleum products and drybulk transportation
services. Upon delivery of the remaining Suezmaxes to their new owners, the
Company will operate a combined tanker and drybulk fleet as
follows:
|
o
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A
fleet of seven double-hull Handymax tankers, with a total carrying
capacity of approximately 0.3 million dwt, of which 58% are sister ships.
All of the Company's Handymaxes will be on time charter contracts
with an average term of two years with all of the time charters including
profit sharing agreements above their base
rates.
|
|
o
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Six
newbuilding product tankers, which are expected to be delivered in the
first half of 2009. All the expected newbuildings have fixed rate bareboat
employment agreements for periods between seven and ten
years.
|
|
o
|
A
fleet of five drybulk vessels with a total carrying capacity of
approximately 0.3 million dwt, of which 70% are sister ships. All of the
Company's drybulk vessels have fixed rate employment contracts for an
average period of 30 months.
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Forward Looking
Statement
Certain
statements and information included in this release constitute “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. 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 reflect our current views with
respect to future events and financial performance and may 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,”
“will,” “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.
In
addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in our view,
could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the
forward-looking statements include possible shareholder objections to the
settlement of the class action, possible shareholder opt outs from the
settlement, possible disapproval of the Court of the settlement, possible
shareholder class appeals of the settlement and adverse outcomes on appeal,
general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel
values, changes in the demand for our vessels, potential liability from pending
or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions,
and other factors. Please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and
uncertainties.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has
duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto
duly authorized.
TOP
SHIPS INC.
(registrant)
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Dated: August
19, 2008
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By:
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/s/ Evangelos J.
Pistiolis
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Evangelos
J. Pistiolis
Chief
Executive Officer
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SK 23116 0001
912227