United Maritime Corp. (USEA) Risk Analysis

Our corporate affairs are governed by our amended and restated articles of incorporation, our second amended and restated bylaws, and the Marshall Islands Business Corporations Act, or the BCA. The provisions of the BCA resemble provisions of the corporation laws of a number of states in the United States. However, there have been few judicial cases in the Republic of the Marshall Islands interpreting the BCA. The rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands are not as clearly established as the rights and fiduciary responsibilities of directors under statutes or judicial precedent in existence in certain U.S. jurisdictions. Shareholder rights may differ as well. While the BCA does specifically incorporate the non-statutory law, or judicial case law, of the State of Delaware and other states with substantially similar legislative provisions, shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions by the management, directors, or controlling shareholders than would shareholders of a corporation incorporated in a U.S. jurisdiction. Additionally, the Republic of the Marshall Islands does not have a legal provision for bankruptcy or a general statutory mechanism for insolvency proceedings. As such, in the event of a future insolvency or bankruptcy, our shareholders and creditors may experience delays in their ability to recover for their claims after any such insolvency or bankruptcy. Further, in the event of any bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, dissolution, reorganization, or similar proceeding involving us or any of our subsidiaries, bankruptcy laws other than those of the United States could apply. If we become a debtor under U.S. bankruptcy law, bankruptcy courts in the United States may seek to assert jurisdiction over all of our assets, wherever located, including property situated in other countries. There can be no assurance, however, that we would become a debtor in the United States, or that a U.S. bankruptcy court would be entitled to, or accept, jurisdiction over such a bankruptcy case, or that courts in other countries that have jurisdiction over us and our operations would recognize a U.S. bankruptcy court's jurisdiction if any other bankruptcy court would determine it had jurisdiction.

Our common shares are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market. There are a number of continued listing requirements that we must satisfy in order to maintain our listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. We may not be able to maintain compliance with the Nasdaq Capital Market's continued listing requirements. If we fail to maintain compliance with all applicable continued listing requirements for the Nasdaq Capital Market and Nasdaq determines to delist our common shares, the delisting could adversely affect the market liquidity of our common shares and our ability to obtain financing to repay any debt and fund our operations.

Our amended and restated articles of incorporation authorize our board of directors to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to determine the rights, preferences, privileges, and restrictions with respect to, among other things, dividends, conversion, voting, redemption, liquidation, and the number of shares constituting any series without shareholders' approval. Our board of directors issued prior to the Spin-Off (as described below), and may in the future issue, preferred shares with voting rights superior to those of the common shares, such as the Series B Preferred Shares. If our board of directors determines to issue preferred shares, such issuance may discourage, delay, or prevent a merger or acquisition that shareholders may consider favorable. The issuance of preferred shares with voting and conversion rights may also adversely affect the voting power of the holders of common shares. This could substantially impede the ability of public shareholders to benefit from a change in control and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common shares and our shareholders' ability to realize any potential change of control premium.

While our common shares have one vote per share, each of our 40,000 Series B Preferred Shares presently outstanding has 25,000 votes per share; however, the voting power of the Series B Preferred Shares is limited such that no holder of Series B Preferred Shares may exercise voting rights pursuant to any Series B Preferred Shares that would result in the total number of votes a holder is entitled to vote on any matter submitted to a vote of shareholders of the Company to exceed 49.99% of the total number of votes eligible to be cast on such matter. The Series B Preferred Shares, however, have no dividend rights or distribution rights, other than the right upon dissolution to receive a payment equal to $0.0001 per share. Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer can therefore control 49.99% of the voting power of our outstanding capital stock. Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer has substantial control and influence over our management and affairs and over matters requiring shareholder approval, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions, even though he owns significantly less than 50% of the Company economically. The superior voting rights of our Series B Preferred Shares may limit our common shareholders' ability to influence corporate matters. The interests of the holder of the Series B Preferred Shares may conflict with the interests of our common shareholders, and as a result, the holders of our capital stock may approve actions that our common shareholders do not view as beneficial. Any such conflicts of interest could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and the trading price of our common shares.

We may issue additional common shares or other equity securities of equal or senior rank in the future in connection with, among other things, future vessel acquisitions, repayment of outstanding indebtedness, or our equity incentive plan, without shareholder approval, in a number of circumstances. In addition, as of March 28, 2024, we may be obliged to issue up to 6,962,770 additional common shares pursuant to the terms of our outstanding Class A Warrants at an exercise price of $2.25 per common share, subject to adjustment pursuant to the terms of such warrants. Our issuance of additional common shares or other equity securities of equal or senior rank would have the following effects: - our existing shareholders' proportionate ownership interest in us will decrease;- the amount of cash available for dividends payable per common share may decrease;- the relative voting strength of each previously outstanding common share may be diminished; and - the market price of our common shares may decline.

The market price of our common shares may in the future be subject to significant fluctuations as a result of many factors, some of which are beyond our control. Among the factors that could in the future affect our share price are: - quarterly variations in our results of operations;- changes in market valuations of similar companies and stock market price and volume fluctuations generally;- changes in earnings estimates or the publication of research reports by analysts;- speculation in the press or investment community about our business or the shipping industry generally;- strategic actions by us or our competitors such as acquisitions or restructurings;- the thin trading market for our common shares, which makes it somewhat illiquid;- regulatory developments;- additions or departures of key personnel;- general market conditions; and - domestic and international economic, market, and currency factors unrelated to our performance. The stock markets in general, and the markets for dry bulk shipping and shipping stocks in particular, have experienced extreme volatility that has sometimes been unrelated to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common shares. Additionally, there is no guarantee of a continuing public market to resell our common shares. We cannot assure you that an active and liquid public market for our common shares will continue.

Our officers and directors have fiduciary duties to manage our business in a manner beneficial to us and our shareholders. However, Stamatios Tsantanis, who serves as our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Seanergy. In addition, Stavros Gyftakis, who serves as our Chief Financial Officer and as a director, is the Chief Financial Officer of Seanergy, and Christina Anagnostara and Ioannis Kartsonas, who serve as independent directors, also serve as directors of Seanergy. These officers and directors have fiduciary duties and responsibilities to manage the business of Seanergy in a manner beneficial to it and its shareholders and may have conflicts of interest in matters involving or affecting us and our customers or shareholders, or when faced with decisions that could have different implications for Seanergy than they do for us. The resolution of these potential conflicts may not always be in our best interest or that of our shareholders and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

We are a "foreign private issuer," as such term is defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act. As a "foreign private issuer" the rules governing the information that we disclose differ from those governing U.S. corporations pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). We are not required to file quarterly reports on Form 10-Q or provide current reports on Form 8-K disclosing significant events within four days of their occurrence. In addition, our officers and directors are exempt from the reporting and "short-swing" profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act and related rules with respect to their purchase and sales of our securities. Our exemption from the rules of Section 16 of the Exchange Act regarding sales of common shares by insiders means that you will have less data in this regard than shareholders of U.S. companies that are subject to the Exchange Act. Moreover, we are exempt from the proxy rules, and proxy statements that we distribute will not be subject to review by the Commission. Accordingly, there may be less publicly available information concerning us than there is for other U.S. public companies that are not foreign private issuers. These exemptions and scaled disclosure requirements are not related to our status as an emerging growth company, and will continue to be available to us even if we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, but remain a foreign private issuer. These factors could make our common shares less attractive to some investors or otherwise harm our share price.

Several provisions of our amended and restated articles of incorporation and our second amended and restated bylaws may have anti-takeover effects. These provisions are intended to avoid costly takeover battles, lessen our vulnerability to a hostile change of control, and enhance the ability of our board to maximize shareholder value in connection with any unsolicited offer to acquire our company. However, these anti-take-over provisions could make it difficult for our shareholders to change the composition of our board of directors in any one year, preventing them from changing the composition of our management. In addition, the same provisions may discourage, delay, or prevent a merger or acquisition that some shareholders may consider favorable. These provisions: - authorize our board of directors to issue "blank check" preferred stock without shareholder approval, including preferred shares with superior voting rights, such as the Series B Preferred Shares;- provide for a classified board of directors with staggered, three-year terms;- permit the removal of any director only for cause;- prohibit shareholder action by written consent unless the written consent is signed by all shareholders entitled to vote on the action;- limit the persons who may call special meetings of shareholders; and - establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted on by shareholders at meetings of shareholders. These anti-takeover provisions could substantially impede the ability of our shareholders to impose a change in control and, as a result, may adversely affect the market price of our common shares and your ability to realize any potential change of control premium.

We are an "emerging growth company" as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. While we have elected to take advantage of some of the reduced reporting obligations, we are choosing to "opt-out" of the extended transition period relating to the exemption from new or revised financial accounting standards. We cannot predict if investors will find our common shares less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common shares less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common shares and our share price may be more volatile. In addition, under the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Sarbanes-Oxley, for so long as we are an emerging growth company. For as long as we take advantage of the reduced reporting obligations, the information that we provide shareholders may be different from information provided by other public companies.

Investors may purchase our common shares to hedge existing exposure in our common shares or to speculate on the price of our common shares. Speculation on the price of our common shares may involve long and short exposures. To the extent aggregate short exposure exceeds the number of common shares available for purchase in the open market, investors with short exposure may have to pay a premium to repurchase our common shares for delivery to lenders of our common shares. Those repurchases may in turn, dramatically increase the price of our common shares until investors with short exposure are able to purchase additional common shares to cover their short position. This is often referred to as a "short squeeze." Following such a short squeeze, once investors purchase the shares necessary to cover their short position, the price of our common shares may rapidly decline. A short squeeze could lead to volatile price movements in our shares that are not directly correlated to the performance or prospects of our company.

Our corporate governance practices are in compliance with, and are not prohibited by, the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Therefore, we are exempt from many of Nasdaq's corporate governance practices other than the requirements regarding the disclosure of a going concern audit opinion, submission of a listing agreement, notification of material non-compliance with Nasdaq corporate governance practices, and the establishment and composition of an audit committee and a formal written audit committee charter. For a list of the practices followed by us in lieu of Nasdaq's corporate governance rules, we refer you to "Item 16G. Corporate Governance" in this annual report. To the extent we rely on these or other exemptions, you may not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.

Our second amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the High Court of the Republic of Marshall Islands shall be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any shareholders' derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Corporation, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, or employee of the Corporation to the Corporation or the Corporation's shareholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the Business Corporations Act of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (as amended from time to time), or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This forum selection provision may limit a shareholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. We may not achieve the intended benefits of having a forum selection provision if it is found to be unenforceable. Our second amended and restated bylaws include a forum selection provision as described above. However, the enforceability of similar forum selection provisions in other companies' governing documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that in connection with any action a court could find the forum selection provision contained in our second amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in such action. In particular, Section 27 of the Exchange Act, creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. In addition, Section 22 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Shareholders' derivative actions, including those arising under the Exchange Act or Securities Act, are subject to our forum selection provision. To the extent that the exclusive forum provision would apply to restrict the courts in which our shareholders may bring claims arising under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act and the rules and regulations thereunder, there is uncertainty as to whether a court would enforce such a provision. Investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. If a court were to find the forum selection provision to be inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.