Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NRP) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Natural Resource Partners LP Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Tiffany Sammis, Investor Relations. Tiffany, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, and welcome to the Natural Resource Partners Second Quarter 2026 Conference Call. Today's call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on our website. Joining me today are Craig Nunez, President and Chief Operating Officer; Chris Zolas, Chief Financial Officer; and Kevin Craig, Executive Vice President. Some of our comments today may include forward-looking statements reflecting NRP's views about future events. These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from our forward-looking statements. These risks are discussed in NRP's Form 10-K and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. Our comments today also include non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our second quarter press release, which can be found on our website. I would like to remind everyone that we do not intend to discuss the operations or outlook for any particular coal lessee or detailed market fundamentals. Now I would like to turn the call over to Craig Nunez, our President and Chief Operating Officer.

Thank you, Tiffany, and good morning, everyone. NRP generated $42 million of free cash flow in the second quarter and $163 million of free cash flow over the last 12 months before the $39 million we put to work in our soda ash business back in the first quarter. The world has been noisy recently, geopolitical conflict, shipping disruptions, tariff fights. I don't know how those will resolve. What I do know is that we paid off our bank revolver last month and have only $14 million of debt outstanding. Barring something unforeseen, we intend to raise distributions significantly in November. Coal, both metallurgical and thermal has settled down and shown modest improvement off the lows, although I can't point to any single event that's likely to push prices sharply higher from here. We're not in the business of predicting commodity prices anyway. What matters more is that our Mineral Rights segment just keeps doing what it's done for years, producing cash, rain or shine. Through every major coal cycle, it has been the most dependable cash generator we've ever owned. On thermal coal, if oil prices remain high, that tends to bring more associated natural gas production along with it, which puts downward pressure on thermal coal prices in North America. Cheaper oil would work the other way. Meanwhile, renewables keep getting more competitive, and that will pose a long-term headwind for thermal coal. Now soda ash. The honest picture is that global supply still exceeds demand, and we don't see a quick fix. The encouraging sign is that international prices after a long and painful decline appear to have found a floor, but it's a floor below most producers' cost of production, which tells you the downturn still has room to run. Domestic soda ash prices have always traded at a premium to international prices due to transportation costs, trade frictions and the value domestic customers place on reliable supply. That premium is unusually wide right now, mostly because domestic contracts get set once a year, while international prices move with the spot market. As a result, domestic prices haven't caught up with how far international prices have fallen. As contracts for 2027 deliveries get negotiated this year, we expect that gap to close, which means lower domestic prices ahead. We've seen this movie before. The 1999 to 2004 downturn looked a lot like today's market, and it eventually corrected as supply and demand found their way back into balance. We're starting to see hints of that with recent announcements of extended closures amounting to roughly 4% of global capacity. Markets have a way of curing their own excessive given time. So to sum it up, despite challenges for all 3 of our key commodities, NRP is generating strong free cash flow. We're almost debt-free and barring the unexpected, we plan to raise distributions significantly starting in November. So with that, I'll turn it over to Chris.

Thank you, Craig. In the second quarter of 2026, NRP generated $25 million of net income, $41 million of operating cash flow and $42 million of free cash flow. Of these second quarter consolidated amounts, our Mineral Rights segment generated $36 million of net income and $45 million of operating and free cash flow. When compared to the prior year second quarter, Mineral Rights segment net income decreased by $3 million, primarily due to increased DD&A expense caused by revised mine plans at certain longwall thermal coal mines that resulted in higher per ton depletion rates. This decrease in net income was partially offset by increased revenues, primarily due to increased metallurgical and thermal volumes and pricing at certain properties. Operating cash flow and free cash flow each decreased $1 million as compared to the prior year period, primarily due to higher recoupments during the 3 months ended June 30, 2026, partially offset by increased cash from minimum payments during the quarter. Regarding our met thermal coal royalty mix, metallurgical coal made up approximately 70% of our coal royalty revenues and 45% of coal royalty sales volumes in the second quarter of 2026. Our soda ash segment's second quarter net income decreased $7 million compared to the prior year quarter. This decrease was driven by lower sales prices due to the oversupplied international soda ash market and weakened demand for flat glass. Operating and free cash flow each decreased $5 million when compared to the prior year period. These decreases were due to not receiving a distribution in the second quarter of 2026 as compared to receiving a $5 million distribution in the second quarter of last year. NRP does not expect distributions from Sisecam Wyoming to resume until the soda ash demand rebounds where there is a significant supply response to this depressed market. Moving to our corporate and financing results. Net income for the second quarter of 2026 improved $2 million, while operating cash flow and free cash flow each improved $1 million as compared to the prior year period. These improvements were due to having less debt outstanding, resulted in lower interest costs and less cash paid for interest. Regarding our quarterly distributions, in May, we paid the first quarter distribution of $0.75 per common unit. And today, we announced our second quarter distribution of $0.75 per common unit to be paid later this month. Regarding our debt, I'm pleased and proud to report that we have now completely repaid our OpCo credit facility and have one final $14 million scheduled payment due in December on our OpCo senior notes. As a result, and as Craig mentioned earlier, we expect to be able to significantly increase NRP unitholder distributions for the next quarterly distribution to be paid in November. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Trevor, our operator for questions.

[Operator Instructions] There are no questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Craig Nunez for closing remarks. Craig, go ahead.

Thank you, Trevor, and thank you, everyone, for joining our call today, and thank you for being partners with us at NRP. I look forward to talking to you next quarter. Have a good day.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.