Joe Adams
Analyst · JMP. Your line is now open
Thank you very much, Alan. To start this morning, I'm pleased to announce our seventh dividend as a public company and our 22nd consecutive dividend since inception. The dividend of $0.33 per share will be paid on March 20, based on a shareholder record date of March 10. We remain committed to this dividend and there is nothing in this past quarter or ahead that we see, which places the dividend in question. Lets start with a review of the numbers for the quarter. The key metrics for us are adjusted EBITDA, and FAD or Funds Available for Distribution. Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 2016 was $22.4 million, compared to Q3 2016 of $20.3 million and Q4 2015 of $15.1 million. FAD was $20.5 million in Q4 versus $10.1 million in Q3 of 2016 and $10.1 million in Q4 of 2015. For the fourth quarter the $20.5 million FAD number was made up of $31 million from our equipment leasing portfolio, negative $1.2 million from our infrastructure businesses and negative $9.3 million from corporate. $7 million of the $31 million for the equipment FAD was the result of a sale of one aircraft and one engine for a gain of $2.5 million. Part of the reduction in the negative FAD for the infrastructure was the capitalization of $2.2 million in municipal interest expenses at Jefferson. Most importantly to take from the normalized Q4 FAD and adjusted EBITDA numbers is that our ability to generate adjusted EBITDA and FAD continues to grow stronger. And as I review the start of 2017 and our pipeline I see that growth continuing. Let's start with Aviation our largest business segment. Aviation had a very good quarter the portfolio is performing as well or better than expected and we had a very active quarter for investing. We closed on $84 million in new assets consisting of two aircraft, one airframe, and 15 engines. Our annualized adjusted EBITDA and net income without gains as a percentage of average equity were 22.1% and 12.8% respectively, slightly less than last quarter in our target of 25% and 15% respectively largely due to new assets being added without immediate lease income. Since quarter-end or year-end, 8 of the 15 engines we acquired in Q4 have gone on lease. 2017 is starting out busy as well, we currently have executed letters of intent on $130 million in assets. Consisting of 12 aircraft and 17 engines, which we expect to close mostly in Q1 and Q2. Once this equipment under LOI is purchased, we expect run rate Aviation FAD to be over $160 million per annum, which equates to approximately the same EBITDA number. It's worth noting that as our pace of business in Aviation continues to increase, our return objectives continue to be met. I'm more convinced than ever that in this narrow piece of a very large aviation leasing market, we have the best team in the industry and we are becoming a brand. To that point, I would like to highlight one particular deal for you. In Q4 we finalized an 11 aircraft purchase, eight 737-800’s and three A320’s from a Chinese airline in an exciting transaction for us, which illustrates our capabilities and somewhat unique ability to add value. The 11 aircraft are all between 15 and 16 years old and were operated in China since delivery, but were taken out of service by the airline over the last year. We intend to manage the airframe overhauls for nine of these aircraft. We will scrap two of the air frames, and manage all the engine shop visits over the coming months. We're also actively working to optimize the fleet value and are uniquely able to by utilizing engine swaps and engine module swaps. Market demand for these aircraft is very strong and we've negotiated 6-year leases covering all nine aircraft with six different airlines. We expect seven of these aircraft to enter revenue service in Q2 and the other two in the latter half of 2017. With quite a few aircraft of this vintage currently in China, we expect to see more of these type of deals. As I've previously mentioned, we are also working hard to build proprietary maintenance expense savings programs to widen the moat around our Aviation business. We have four active programs today, the first three of which are producing savings for us today and our airline customers and the fourth I believe represents significant upside in the years ahead. They are number one a maintenance and repair MRO partnerships to better manage engine overhauls resulting in lower costs and less variability in those costs. More over our MRO partners have been remarketing our leased engine inventory to their own customers, which further increases our relationships and worldwide engine leasing footprint. Second engine swaps, which are growing portfolio of engine allows us to do more often with significant savings versus a full performance restoration. Third module swaps, which allow us to combine the best sections of two or more engines to create the strongest engine with the highest value. And fourth, a joint venture we established in Q4 with a leading aftermarket maintenance solutions provider for advanced engine repairs. The JV will be developing new cost saving programs for engine repairs with a particular focus on the large and growing pool of 737 and A320 aftermarket engines. Moving on offshore, this sector continues to be very challenging but we have had a couple of positive developments recently. In Q4 both the Pride and the Pioneer were off higher more than I'd like but we were recently awarded a six month charter for the Pioneer commencing March 01. The opportunity set for charters is definitely picking up, and we've had several close calls. So I think we're past the worst of this. The investment side, however feels truly distressed and in December we invested 10.5 million in a company that purchased two 2013 built Super A Class jackup rigs at approximately 25% of the original cost of those rigs. That company is subsequently listed on the Norwegian over-the-counter market and it’s shares are quoted at a value today of approximately $19 million versus our cost of $10.5 million. Additionally we're seeing similarly discounted vessel opportunities in the inspection repair and maintenance market and we are looking. On containers in Q4 the secondary market for used boxes was very weak around $650 per box, which caused us to take approximately $3 million in losses in that quarter. However starting in Q1 of 2017, the price has rallied meaningfully to over $850 per box. So we don't expect any further losses on the remaining $4 million position. Even with the improved outlook for containers. We do not see this sector as an area of focus for us. Let's now turn to Infrastructure. Jefferson made significant progress this quarter in each of four areas of business development. One, Canadian crude by rail, two crude blending and storage, three, ethanol by rail storage and distribution and four, refined products to Mexico by rail. Starting with Canadian crude by rail in Q4 we moved 10 trains through the terminal of LLU or Lloydminster Undiluted, from Canada through the terminal and saw a meaningful up-tick in interests from oil traders, local refineries, and export opportunities by ship. As the spread between WCS and WTI widens out to about $14 or $15 per barrel we have established relationships with regular buyers now. In Q1 we've already delivered nine trains, and have bookings for 7 in March. Additionally we are focused on securing long-term supply and offtake contracts for a consistent flow of LLU through the terminal. And while we don't have such a contract in hand today, we believe it's just a matter of time. As Canadian production grows in 2017, and 2018 pipelines are becoming increasingly constrained which is good for rail. Regarding crude oil and refinery feedstock storage, we have plans to deliver 1.1 million barrels of heated storage by the end of 2017, which would bring our total terminal storage to 1.8 million barrels. The first 500,000 barrels of these will be placed into service in October of 2017 under a long-term contract with a local refinery. We've also begun to work to add over 600,000 barrels of additional heated storage expected to be in service by the end of 2017. Demand for storage is very high and increasing our capacity will facilitate more flow and lead to longer term commitments from more users. Ethanol is shaping up really well, the construction is on time and under budget and demand from several exporters and Green Plains is robust. We expect to contract up the current capacity of 15 trains per month before we open in July of 2017 and we'll explore expansion after that. The macro-economics for export of ethanol to Brazil, India, the Philippines and South Korea has never been better. Also on refined products to Mexico, is a significant opportunity for Jefferson. We have commenced Phase I of a rail loading system, which would enable us to deliver 20,000 barrels per day of multiple grades of refined product for a $25 million to $30 million investment by the end of 2017. We've had detailed negotiations with users on multi-year minimum volume commitments to serve the large and growing markets in North and Central Mexico and we expect to sign with the first user shortly. Phase I fully utilized, should produce EBITDA of about $10 million to $15 million per annum. For an incremental $25 million investment, we could double that capacity to about 40,000 to 50,000 barrels today, per day if the market opportunity is there. We believe our location gives us a cost advantage over Houston and is close to major refineries, who are all looking at Mexico as an important long-term market. To conclude the overall outlook for Jefferson has never been better. Assuming continuing crude by rail from Canada, plus the commencement of the ethanol joint venture and crude storage deals previously announced plus Phase I of the refined products to Mexico business we expect combined annual run rate EBITDA by Q4 2017 to be approximately $15 million to $20 million and growing thereafter. Central Maine and Quebec railroad also had a good quarter. Revenue increased 9% year-over-year in Q4. And as service and reliability continue to improve. We've seen nice organic traffic growth across the board and head into 2017 with multiple business development initiatives for both existing and new customers. In particular we see potential upside from wood pellet production and distribution to Europe and new chemical moves across the system. Turning to Repauno now we have begun construction to put the 186,000 barrel cavern in to service for butane storage in Q2 of 2107. Total investment of $20 million in rail, truck rack, piping and pumping equipment should produce a minimum of $2 million of annual EBITDA. But we see this as just the beginning with the tremendous growth in natural gas liquids coming out of the Marcellus region as our location is an ideal spot to establish a major hub for storage and distribution of butane, propane, ethane, and natural gasoline. Note that a decent amount of this initial $20 million, investment in terminal infrastructure particularly the rail and the truck rack will be available for use in future natural gas liquid projects. We've also started work on the waterfront, which will enable us to build a new dock which can be used to load and unload ships for import or export of natural gas liquids and function as an import and export dock for autos and construction equipment. The negotiations for the auto terminal are going well, Repauno is becoming a very valuable property. Regarding Hannibal, we continue to make good progress on permitting the 500 megawatt gas fired combined cycle power plant, which we expect will be approved by Q3 of this year. While we have a lease from the property owner covering the land needed for the power plant, we still have several open points for the current owner of the property. So we cannot predict whether or when we will purchase the entire site. Before concluding, let me talk about our capital structure. At the end of January, we closed on a $100 million loan facility to fund the growth of Aviation. Shortly we expect to raise approximately $250 million in unsecured term debt, which will replace the $100 million we just borrowed and give us another $150 million in long-term capital to continue growing the portfolio. To sum it up, FTAI has an outstanding Aviation business, which is producing significant cash flow and earnings to pay the dividend, and our portfolio of infrastructure, port and rail terminals will provide excellent earnings growth and value creation opportunities over the long-term. And because we have low leverage, we have access to debt capital to allow us to grow aviation and build out infrastructure. With that let me turn the call back to Alan.