Bob Bondurant
Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is open
Thank you, Kieran. And let everyone know who's on the call today we have Ruben Martin, our CEO; Joe McCreery, our VP of Finance and Head of Investor Relations; and Wes Martin, our VP of Corporate Development. Before we get started with the financial and operating results for the 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 non-GAAP financial measures within the meanings of SEC Reg G, such as distributable cash flow, or DCF, earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortization or EBITDA, and also adjusted EBITDA. 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 can be a meaningful measure of the partnership's cash available to pay distributions. We also included in our press release issued yesterday a reconciliation of EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, and distributable cash flow to the most comparable GAAP financial measure. Our earnings press release is available at our website, MartinMidstream.com, and also we plan to file our 10-Q after the market closes today. Now, I would like to discuss our first quarter 2016 performance compared to the fourth quarter of 2015. For the first quarter, we had adjusted EBITDA of $49.3 million, compared to $51.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2015. Our distributable cash flow for the first quarter was $32.5 million for distribution coverage of 0.98 times. This distribution coverage includes incentive distribution right payments of $3.9 million in the first quarter. Without the IDR payment, our DCF coverage would have been 1.09 times. Although our DCF was slightly below our one times coverage, we experienced an abnormally heavy first quarter in maintenance capital expenditures and refinery turnaround costs. Our total for these costs were $7 million. These expenditures which occurred in Q1, or 25% of the calendar year, represent approximately 40% of our 2016 forecasted maintenance and turnaround cost. The largest component of these first quarter maintenance costs were our refinery turnaround, a dry-docking of our offshore sulfur tow, and several tank repairs in our terminalling segment. Looking toward the remaining three quarters of 2016, on average, we should experience much lower maintenance capital expenditures per quarter when compared to the recently completed first quarter. Now, I would like to discuss our first quarter performance compared to the fourth quarter. In our natural gas services segment, our first quarter EBITDA was $20 million compared to fourth quarter EBITDA of $24.9 million. The cash flow from our Cardinal Gas Storage assets was $11.5 million in the first quarter compared to $11 million in the fourth quarter. While Cardinal revenue was basically flat between periods, we benefited from reduced operating costs, primarily repairs and maintenance, which were higher than normal in the fourth quarter. The cash flow from our NGL Logistics business was $8.5 million in the first quarter compared to $13.9 million in the fourth quarter. The decline between periods was due to a reduction of butane volume sold to our refinery customers in the first quarter when compared to the fourth quarter. This is not unusual, as refineries' butane demand drops in March as refineries begin to eliminate purchases of butane as vapor pressure rules become more restrictive beginning April 1. We have now begun the process of purchasing railcar butane supply and we are transporting it to our North Louisiana underground salt dome storage to begin storing product for the refinery demand and the resulting sales that will begin late in the third quarter. In addition to the cash flow generated in our natural gas services segment, we received a $2.5 million distribution from West Texas LPG in the first quarter, down from a distribution of $3.4 million received in the fourth quarter. This decrease was driven by lower throughput on the system associated with well freeze-offs and higher operating expenses associated with the timing of certain maintenance projects. Throughput on the system has recovered and is currently at the levels experienced in the fourth quarter. However, we have lowered our distribution expectations for at least the next two quarters from our interest in West Texas LPG as a result of a recent order signed by the Railroad Commission of Texas in a proceeding based on complaints filed by several shippers on the system. These complaints challenged several rates that were increased by West Texas LPG on July 1 of 15. Prior to filing the new tariff rates, the operator of the West Texas LPG system performed a thorough investigation to determine market rates for this system, and despite the recommendation of the hearing examiners in this proceeding to allow the new rates to remain in place during the pendency of this proceeding, the commissioners of the Railroad Commission of Texas elected to order West Texas LPG effective as of March 8 of 2016 to revert back to the rates that were in place on June 30, 2015, until a final decision is rendered. The Commission has indicated it supports market-based rates, and we expect a final ruling to be issued in the fourth quarter of 2016 or the first quarter of 2017. If the Commission affirms the higher rates in a final ruling in this proceeding, West Texas LPG will seek to recover the higher rates from shippers retroactively as indicated in its current tariff. Now moving to our terminalling segment, our first quarter EBITDA was $17.2 million in the first quarter compared to $15.3 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of $1.9 million. $1.5 million of this increase was from the operations of our Smackover naphthenic lubricant refinery. Half of the refinery's cash flow increase came from increased throughput rates to our general partner, and the other half came from improved operating cost. The balance of the terminalling segment's cash flow increase came from our Corpus Christi crude terminal. Although our volume averaged 93,000 barrels a day in the first quarter compared to 120,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter, we had significant reduction in operating cost, primarily due to an unusually heavy repair and maintenance spend in the fourth quarter of 2015. Also in our terminal segment is our packaged lubricant business, which cash flow of $1.8 million for both the first and fourth quarters. However, based on our current visibility, we believe the cash flow for this business is poised to significantly increase in the second quarter, allowing us to meet previously disclosed packaged lubricant guidance. In our sulfur segment, our EBITDA was $10.8 million compared to $8.6 million in the fourth quarter. Our fertilizer EBITDA was $7.7 million in the first quarter compared to $3.5 million in the fourth quarter. Our fertilizer sales volume increased 85% in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter. In spite of the seasonal increase, we did not meet our internal volume targets, as wet weather has delayed some demand. As a result, we believe we have not missed any sales volume, it has just been delayed. Also, our lower feed stock cost is helping us to improve our margin per ton sold. Because of these factors, we believe our fertilizer cash flow will exceed our original internal projection for the second quarter. In the refinery sulfur byproduct business, our first quarter EBITDA was $3.2 million compared to $5.1 million in the fourth quarter. The decrease was driven by a service contract renewal with our largest molten sulfur customer, and also a reduction of our overall gross margin per ton, specifically the prilled sulfur side of the business on the West Coast. We anticipate a recovery of our West Coast prilled sulfur margins in the second quarter. We should also see an increase in our West Coast buy-ins as the Bay Area refineries that supply our sulfur had multiple turnarounds in the first quarter. We also had our offshore tow down for a turnaround during the quarter, impacting molten sulfur sales volume. This vessel is back in service beginning in mid-April, which will help improve our future sulfur cash flow. In our marine transportation segment, we had EBITDA of $2.5 million compared to $4.1 million in the fourth quarter. The decrease in cash flow was primarily on the inside of our business, as inland EBITDA fell $1.3 million in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter, as inland revenues fell by $1.5 million. The revenue impact for the 7% decline we experienced in our utilization was $0.8 million, and the 6% decline in our average day rate impacted inland revenue by $0.7 million. Our inland utilization was negatively impacted by the fleet having more spot tows in Q1 compared to the previous quarter. This was driven by decreased refinery utilization, as several refineries had maintenance turnarounds in the first quarter. Looking toward the second quarter, we believe our inland marine cash flow should improve due to increased utilization, as we have increased our term tows relative to our spot tows in the second quarter. Also, we believe inland rates have stabilized and are beginning to firm due to the increased demand from Gulf Coast refineries. Our partnership's unallocated SG&A cost excluding non-cash unit compensation expense was $4 million in the first quarter compared to $4.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. This reduction is primarily due to reduced overhead charge from our general partner in 2016. We continue to hold a $15 million note receivable due for Martin Energy Trading and affiliate of our general partner. This investment generated $2.3 million of interest income in 2015 and should continue in 2016. This interest income is included as EBITDA for calculating our bank leverage covenants. Now I would like to turn the call over to Joe McCreery, who will speak on our balance sheet, our amended bank deal, and our reconciliation to guidance.