Clarkson Announcement

May 15, 2008

Johnson Rice & Company LLC is pleased to announce our agreement to team with Clarkson Investment Services, a division of H Clarkson Plc, to provide capital market solutions focusing on shipping, offshore support vessels (OSV) and offshore drilling rigs. H Clarkson Plc is a 155 year old publicly traded company located in London, England and is the preeminent company involved in shipping brokerage services, sales and purchase of ships and is the largest provider of information on shipping, offshore drilling rigs and support vessels in the world. The company employs approximately 770 people and has 23 offices located in major shipping markets.

The association will combine Clarkson’s global knowledge of the offshore sector with Johnson Rice’s U.S. equity research, securities distribution and investment banking business in the United States. The effort will target publicly traded and private companies in the U.S. and foreign companies seeking to enter the U.S. capital markets.

Research of publicly listed companies in the United States will be produced under the “Clarkson Johnson Rice” trade name. In the shipping and OSV support group, Daniel Burke will provide all research coverage. Offshore drilling will be provided by Joe Agular. Both research analysts are currently members of Johnson Rice.

Johnson Rice is extremely pleased to announce this relationship with Clarkson and is confident that the combination will result in the ability to better serve both financial institutions and operating companies in the areas of shipping, OSV and offshore drilling.