Earnings Labs

Amplify Energy Corp. (AMPY)

Q3 2018 Earnings Call· Sun, Nov 11, 2018

$6.22

+3.58%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the Amplify Energy's Third Quarter 2018 Investor Conference Call. Amplify’s operating and financial results were released earlier today and are available on Amplify’s website at www.amplifyenergy.com. During this presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Today’s call is being recorded. A replay of the call will be accessible until Wednesday, November 21st by dialing 855-859-2056 and then entering conference ID number 9465818 or by visiting Amplify’s website, www.amplifyenergy.com. I would now like to turn the conference over to Martyn Willsher, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Amplify Energy Corp. Please go ahead.

Martyn Willsher

Management

Good morning and welcome to the Amplify Energy conference call to discuss operating and financial results for the third quarter 2018. We appreciate you joining us today. Ken Mariani, Amplify’s President and Chief Executive Officer, will begin the call by updating our stakeholders on the company’s strategic direction and operating results, and I will follow with an update on our financial results. First, we would like to remind you that some of our remarks may contain forward-looking statements and are based on certain assumptions and expectations of Amplify’s management team. These remarks reflect management’s current views with regard to future events and are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this earnings call. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our statements about and discussion of, fourth quarter and full-year 2018 guidance. Please refer to our press release and SEC filings for a list of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements made during this call. In addition, these unaudited financial information that will be highlighted here is derived from our internal financial books, records, and reports. For additional detailed disclosure, we encourage you to read our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which we expect to file later today. Also, non-GAAP financial measures may be disclosed during this call. Reconciliations of those measures to comparable GAAP measures may be found in our press release or on our website at www.amplifyenergy.com. With this in mind, I will now turn the call over to Ken Mariani. Ken?

Ken Mariani

Management

Thank you, Martyn. I appreciate our stakeholders joining us today. My remarks on this call will provide an update on our strategic progress over the last quarter, as well as our operational performance in the third quarter. Since our last earnings call, the Amplify leadership team has been working hard to finalize certain key initiatives, conclude our internal asset review and prepare a go-forward strategy for our Board and stakeholders. The first key initiative finalized during the third quarter was the release of $61.5 million in cash from our Beta decommissioning trust account. This cash release was made pursuant to an order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which allowed for the release subject to certain conditions that have since been satisfied. Following the cash release, Beta’s decommissioning obligations remain fully supported by A-rated surety bonds and $90 million of cash. This $61.5 million in cash has been added to our balance sheet, and provides us with significant liquidity to fund future projects. Another key initiative we are excited to announce is the refinancing of Amplify’s revolving credit facility. Our new credit facility is led by Bank of Montreal, as administrative agent, and has an initial borrowing base of $425 million. The additional liquidity, cost savings and flexibility provided by this new facility will be extremely important to us as we pursue our go-forward strategy. Another important strategic milestone during the quarter was the decision to invest $37 million to increase oil production by approximately 900 Boe/d at the Company’s Bairoil field in the Rockies. The increase in production will be made possible by expanding CO2 recycling capacity at the facility by approximately 60 MMcf/d, which will allow the Company to bring currently shut-in wells back online. Amplify’s investment in the Bairoil expansion is expected to generate in excess of $50…

Martyn Willsher

Management

Thank you, Ken. I’d like to start by discussing our financial results for the quarter, followed by additional details on our new credit facility, liquidity, hedge positions and updated guidance for the year. Net cash from operating activities was $32.3 million for the third quarter, which was reduced from the second quarter of $42.1 million. This decline was primarily due to lower Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter and some working capital adjustments due to the reduced activity level. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $39.7 million, which was above the midpoint of the guidance range of $36 million to $42 million. This strong result was due to better than anticipated production levels from our gas-weighted properties and more favorable realized commodity pricing. G&A in the third quarter was $8.2 million, which included $1.6 million of non-cash compensation expenses plus the reversal of $0.2 million of severance costs. Excluding these one- time expenses, cash G&A was $6.8 million for the third quarter and in line with our expectations. This run rate is expected to continue in future periods and we are extremely pleased to achieve a reduction of more than 25% from 2017 levels or approximately $9 million on an annualized basis. We will continue our focus on G&A in future periods. Free Cash Flow, which we define as adjusted EBITDA less cash interest expense and capital expenditures, was $28 million for the quarter, and within the guidance range of $25 million to $31 million. These proceeds were used to pay down our revolver and enhance liquidity. As Ken mentioned, on November 2nd, we closed a new credit facility with Bank of Montreal, as administrative agent, and a syndicate of lenders for a new senior secured reserve- based revolving credit facility with an initial borrowing base of $425 million. BMO…

Ken Mariani

Management

Thank you, Martyn. The third quarter was a great success for Amplify, with a significant increase of more than $100 million in liquidity since our last earnings call on August 8th, as well as solid operational results and exciting new development opportunities. As mentioned previously, we believe we are now in a strong financial position to execute on our go-forward plans and will continue to update our stakeholders on our progress. This concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you for joining us today and as always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.