ATHENS, Greece, Aug. 6 /EMWNews/ -- TOP Ships Inc.

(Nasdaq: TOPS) announced today that on July 31, 2008, the United States

District Court, Southern District of New York approved the proposed

settlement in the securities complaints consolidated under the caption "In

Re: Top Tankers, Inc. Securities Litigation," case no. 06-cv-13761. As

previously announced, under the settlement the plaintiff, on behalf of

members of the class who do not opt out, dismisses all claims against the

Company with prejudice in exchange for a settlement payment of $1.2

million. The entire settlement payment will be covered by the Company's

insurance policy.



    The court's opinion stated that it viewed the plaintiff's case as

"thin" and the settlement "a nuisance settlement in a de minimis amount."

The court also noted the absence of any objections by the class to the

proposed settlement.



    The court stated that, after the defendants' counsel filed its motion

to dismiss the first complaint, plaintiff's lead counsel "dropped nearly

every serious (and scurrilous) allegation against defendants," such as

allegations about conflicts of interest, illegal dividends and self-dealing

by the Company's CEO, Evangelos Pistiolis. Ultimately, the court found that

plaintiff's lead counsel "quickly settled the case for whatever it could

get" and "the pittance amount recovered makes a great deal of sense from

defendant's perspective -- it is nuisance value, and no court would force a

defendant to continue litigating to victory when such victory would be

phyrric." The lack of response by the class to the settlement and to

plaintiff's lead counsel's request for attorneys' fees strongly suggested

to the court that "no one except Lead Counsel has the slightest interest in

this action."



    The complete text of the court's opinion will be available on the

Company's website at http://www.topships.org.

    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 five Suezmaxes to their new

owners the Company will operate a combined tanker and drybulk fleet as

follows:



    -- a fleet of 12 tankers, consisting of 4 double-hull Suezmax tankers

and 8 double-hull Handymax tankers, with a total carrying capacity of

approximately 1.0 million dwt, of which 86% are sister ships. Eight of the

Company's 12 tankers 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. In addition, the Company has ordered 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.



    -- 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.



    Forward Looking Statement



    Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking

statements. 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 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 the strength of world

economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations

in charter rates and vessel values, failure of a seller to deliver one or

more vessels or of a buyer to accept delivery of one or more vessels,

inability to procure acquisition financing, default by one or more

charterers of our ships, changes in the demand for crude oil and petroleum

products, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in our

operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance

costs, the market for our vessels, availability of financing and

refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken

by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future

litigation, general domestic and international political conditions,

potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political

events, vessels breakdowns and instances of off-hires 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.






     Contact:  Michael Mason (investors)        Stamatis Tsantanis, CFO

               Allen & Caron Inc                TOP Ships Inc.

               212 691 8087                     011 30 210 812 8199

               [email protected]          [email protected]