NOTE 11 - SHARE ISSUANCE AND REPURCHASE

On October 4, 2021, the Company and the Manager entered into an Equity Distribution Agreement with JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC, as placement agent ("JonesTrading"), pursuant to which the Company may issue and sell from time to time up to 2.2 million shares of the 7.875% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock ("Series D Preferred Stock"). Sales of the Series D Preferred Stock may be made in transactions that are deemed to be "at the market" offerings, as defined in Rule 415 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, including without limitation, sales made directly on the New York Stock Exchange, on any other existing trading market for the shares or to or through a market maker. Subject to the terms of the Company’s notice, JonesTrading may also sell the shares by any other method permitted by law, including but not limited to in privately negotiated transactions. The Company will pay JonesTrading a commission up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds from the sales of the Series D Preferred Stock pursuant to the agreement. The terms and conditions of the agreement include various representations and warranties, conditions to closing, indemnification rights and obligations of the parties and termination provisions. During the three months ended March 31, 2026 and the year ended December 31, 2025, the Company did not issue any Series D Preferred Stock through this agreement.

On or after July 30, 2024, the Company may, at its option, redeem its 8.625% Fixed-to-Floating Series C Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock ("Series C Preferred Stock"), in whole or in part, at any time and from time to time, for cash at $25.00 per share, plus accrued and unpaid dividends, if any, to the redemption date. Effective July 30, 2024 and thereafter, the Company pays cumulative distributions on the Series C Preferred Stock at a floating rate equal to three-month Term SOFR plus a spread of 5.927% per annum based on the $25.00 liquidation preference, provided that such floating rate shall not be less than the initial rate of 8.625% at any date of determination.

At March 31, 2026, the Company had 4.8 million shares of Series C Preferred Stock and 4.5 million shares of Series D Preferred Stock outstanding, with weighted average issuance prices, excluding offering costs, of $25.00.

In November 2021, the board of directors, (the "Board"), authorized and approved the continued use of its existing share repurchase program to repurchase an additional $20.0 million of the outstanding shares of the Company's common stock. Under the share repurchase program, the Company intends to repurchase shares through open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, block purchases or otherwise in accordance with applicable federal securities laws, including Rule 10b-18 and 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act. From November 2023 through October 2025, the Board authorized and approved the repurchase of an additional $32.5 million of outstanding shares of both common and preferred stock. In December 2025, the authorized amount was fully utilized. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company repurchased $4.4 million of its common stock, representing 220,188 shares.

In July 2025, the Company issued 391,380 common shares as a result of the cashless exercise of 391,955 outstanding warrants held by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., at an exercise price of $0.03 per common share. The warrants were originally issued under the terms of a 2020 note and purchase agreement, which was paid off in August 2021.