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Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (MMLP)

Q1 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, May 7, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Martin Midstream Partners LP First Quarter 2013 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host for today Mr. Bob Bondurant, Chief Financial Officer. Sir, you may begin.

Robert D. Bondurant

Analyst

Thank you, Ben. Anyway, let everyone know who's on the call today, we have Ruben Martin, President and CEO; Joe McCreery, VP of Finance and Head of Investor Relations; and Wes Martin, VP of business development. Before we get started with the financial and operational results for the first quarter, I need to make this disclaimer. Certain statements made during this conference call may be forward-looking statements relating to financial forecast, future performance and our ability to make distributions to unitholders. We report our financial results in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and use certain non-GAAP financial measures within the meanings of SEC Reg G, such as distributable cash flow and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. We use these measures because we believe it provides users of our financial information with meaningful comparisons between current results and prior reported results, and it can be a meaningful measure of the partnership's cash available to pay distributions. DCF should not be considered an alternative to cash flow from operating activities. Furthermore, DCF is not a measure of financial performance or liquidity under GAAP and should not be considered in isolation as an indicator of our performance. We also included in our press release issued yesterday a reconciliation of DCF to the most comparable GAAP financial measure. Earnings press release is available at our website, www.martinmidstream.com. Now I'd like to discuss our first quarter performance. For the first quarter, we had net income from continuing operations of $16.6 million, compared to $9.2 million for the fourth quarter. As with other MLPs, we believe the most important measure of performance is distributable cash flow. Our total distributable cash flow or DCF for the first quarter was $28.9 million, a distribution coverage of 1.38x. This coverage ratio does not include any IDR…

Joe McCreery

Analyst

Thanks, Bob. I'll start with our normal walk-through of the debt components of the balance sheet and then discuss our bank ratios. I'll then highlight the M&A activity for the Partnership followed by an overview of the financing activities that impacted our liquidity position. My first quarter remarks will be brief today so we can get to Q&A. At March 31, 2013, the Partnership had total funded debt of approximately $520 million. This consists of approximately $423 million of senior unsecured notes, approximately $91 million drawn under our $600 million revolving credit facility and approximately $9 million of capitalized lease obligations and other long-term notes payable. Thus, the Partnership's available liquidity on March 31 was $509 million. This large increase in liquidity is attributable to 2 financings which took place during the quarter, which I will highlight momentarily. For the first quarter 2013, our bank compliant leverage ratios, defined as senior secured indebtedness to adjusted EBITDA and total indebtedness to adjusted EBITDA, were 0.75x and 3.92x, respectively. Additionally, our bank compliant interest coverage ratio, as defined by adjusted EBITDA to consolidated interest expense, was 4.07x. Looking at the balance sheet, our total funded debt to total capitalization was 59.5%, which is slightly higher than the year end December 13 number as a result of growth capital spending during the quarter. In all, at March 31, the Partnership was in full compliance with all banking covenants, financial or otherwise. As of last Friday on May 3, the current amount borrowed under our revolving credit facility was $102 million. Now let's discuss the Partnership's M&A and growth initiatives during the first quarter. Back in February, the Partnership purchased 6 liquefied petroleum gas pressure barges and 2 commercial push boats for approximately $50.8 million from affiliates of Florida Marine Transporters Incorporated. Organizationally, the…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] We have a question from the line of Michael Gaiden of Robert W. Baird.

Michael Gaiden

Analyst

I just want to ask if you could provide some more detail around the strength in the lubricant side of the business and prospects for that continuing, not only in the second quarter, but throughout the balance of the year?

Joe McCreery

Analyst

Sure, Michael. I think as we listed the lubricant side, the first quarter was the first full quarter of innovative business model there after the drop-down from Cross into the Partnership and I think we've organized that very well during the quarter. You saw from performance. We're thinking now that, that particular side of the business could do anywhere from maybe $15 million to $16 million of cash flow this year, which dropping the assets down, we thought it was maybe $11 million to $13 million. So it's certainly better than we anticipated 1 quarter out of the gate. And that being said, I think, as we've alluded to in our public remarks, it's also a very strong growth platform for us and I think we're looking closely at several growth initiatives in that side of the business.

Michael Gaiden

Analyst

Great. And can you maybe share what accounts for that side and expected cash flow performance? Is that revenue? Is that cost savings? What's driving that there?

Joe McCreery

Analyst

Yes. It has been revenue on the demand side for those products.

Robert D. Bondurant

Analyst

Yes. There's certain large wholesale distributor -- or I guess, retail distributors. We're selling to wholesale companies -- large big-box type stores that are becoming new customers and we're spreading out countrywide on those type of customers.

Michael Gaiden

Analyst

That's great. And can I lastly ask, as you guys think about growth opportunities over the balance of the year and where you want to spend your expansion capital. Is there 1 part of the business that sticks out versus the other or are there a few that bubble up to the top as the most likely to receive those incremental expansion dollars?

Joe McCreery

Analyst

Yes, I think on balance, the disproportion of that capital spending will be in Terminalling and Storage. We have an opportunity to continue to expand at Corpus Christi and we have the opportunity, as I mentioned, to continue to expand our growth platform within the Cross side, the lubricant side of the business. So I think abnormal amount of the attention will be at the Terminalling and Storage side.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of TJ Schultz of RBC Capital Markets.

TJ Schultz - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Just on the Corpus Christi terminal, I missed the beginning of the call, but if you could just give any progress on contracting out the last 300,000 barrels of that facility. And then if you could maybe just expand on what other potential crude logistics opportunities could be in and around the asset?

Joe McCreery

Analyst

Yes, at Corpus, I would say we're very close with a contract announcement there. We're getting to work with the counterparty. And I would suspect that will happen this quarter. As we think about the buildout there, TJ, you have probably 9 months to a year. So in our models for 2014, we're showing those assets, the last 300,000, coming online kind of in the late first quarter.

Ruben S. Martin

Analyst

I think it's important to note, too, that on that last 300,000, we are adding dock capacity, too. One of the biggest problems that we have at Corpus Christi is getting to the dock. And so this will allow additional throughput through at simply because we'll have a dedicated dock for our storage that allows to mix and match when it comes to timing on the docks. It should help increase the throughput.

Robert D. Bondurant

Analyst

Than the original 6...

Ruben S. Martin

Analyst

Yes, than the original 6. So we'll have more docks.

TJ Schultz - RBC Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division

Analyst

Okay, great. I guess just last for modeling purposes on the maintenance CapEx. Did you say you were still looking at $13 million to $15 million this year? So is that -- should we just kind of rate...

Robert D. Bondurant

Analyst

Yes, correct. And we spent basically $2 million in the first quarter. So that means you have an incremental of $11 million to $13 million the last 3 quarters.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Selman Akyol from Stifel, Nicolaus. Selman Akyol - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc., Research Division: Just real quickly. On Cardinal, you guys talked about the $500,000 versus $800,000 in the prior quarter and you expect to go back up, I guess next quarter, at $800,000. Can you just talk a little bit about the variance and what's going on there?

Wes Martin

Analyst

Yes, this is Wes. I'll take that. It's really a timing of certain contracts rolling over and then also a contribution of interruptible revenue. So we have this, as Bob mentioned, $500,000 last quarter. We're back up to $800,000. And we sort of -- I think we see that sort of flatlining from this point forward now that all the contracts have rolled over. So in that $700,000 to $800,000 range is where we see it.

Operator

Operator

And I'm showing no further questions in queue. I'd like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

Ruben S. Martin

Analyst

This is Ruben. I think everybody needs to keep in mind that we did go up on our distribution recently and we had a good strong quarter. I think every -- all the segments performed well. And we see that as we go forward, we've got different drivers in different segments that are going to help keep everything balanced. So we see a lot of growth in Corpus and packaging and our lubricant side of the business. So we appreciate everybody's time, and thanks for your interest in our company.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may all disconnect. Have a great rest of the day.