Harry Vafias, chief executive of StealthGas, says the move comes in response to the company trading at a significant discount to its net asset value (NAV).

He said: “We decided it would be beneficial to our shareholders to restart our share buyback programme.”

Amit Mehrotra, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, says that although $10m is not a large sum, the initiative should support the company's shares as fleet expansion continues.

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