Ira Birns
Analyst · Evercore ISR. Please proceed with your question
Thank you Mike and good afternoon everybody. Before I begin the formal financial third quarter review, I would like to point out a few changes to the way we will be presenting financial information each quarter going forward. Rather than discussing both sequential and year-over-year comparisons, we will now generally only review year-over-year information, which we believe is most relevant and consistent with market practice. We have also now added segment volume information to our earnings release, which I know makes many of you very happy. Consolidated revenue for the third quarter was $7.8 billion, down 33% compared to the third quarter of 2014. This decline was due to lower oil prices offsetting part by increased volumes across all three of our business segments. As reflected in our earnings release, our aviation segment volume was a record 1.7 billion gallons in the third quarter up 165 million gallons or 11% year-over-year. Volume in our marine segment for the third quarter was a record 8.6 million metric tons up approximately 2.1 million metric tons or 33% year-over-year. Broker business activity for the quarter was approximately 12% a total marine volume as compared to 8% in the third quarter last year. Our land segments sold record volume of 1.3 billion gallons during the third quarter up 160 million gallons or 14% from the third quarter of last year. Total consolidated volume was a record 5.2 billion gallons up 20% year-over-year. Consolidated gross profit for the third quarter was $227 million. That's an increase of $12 million or 6% compared to the third quarter of 2014. Our aviation segment contributed a record $107 million of gross profit in the third quarter, an increase of $11 million or 11% compared to the third quarter of 2014. While the aviation segment benefited from traditional summer seasonality, we also took advantage of market volatility and related dislocations between certain markets driven in part by unplanned refinery disruptions during the third quarter. Year-over-year growth was driven by a 10% increase in volume and a larger contribution from our government related business in Afghanistan. As we enter into the fourth quarter we do expect the seasonal decline however it is unlikely that such decline will be as pronounced as it was in the fourth quarter of 2014. The marine segment generated gross profit of $49 million, down slightly year-over-year while margins declined due to lower market prices and a reduction in offshore activity, this was offset by a 33% year-over-year increase in volume. Volatility clearly increased a bit in the third quarter especially in the early part of the quarter which helped us stabilize margins and improve the profit contribution for priceless management products at the low we experienced in the second quarter. Based upon activity and volatility levels quarter-to-date, we expect our marine business to deliver a similar result in the fourth quarter. Our marine segment delivered gross profit of $71 million in the third quarter, that’s an increase of $2 million or 3% year-over-year. The gross profit increase is principally related to increases in our core fuels activity which is comprised of our dealer, wholesale, commercial, industrial businesses compared to year ago period. As we look to the fourth quarter, we should see a benefit from seasonality in our Watson business in the U.K. as well as our natural gas business in the Unites States. Non fuel related gross profit associated with our multiservice business was $12.6 million in the third quarter that’s an increase of approximately 7% year-over-year. We have continued to build out our team in multiservice which has a growing suite of opportunities that should drive further growth in this part of our business as we enter 2016. Operating expenses in the third quarter excluding our provision for bad debt an approximately$3 million of onetime acquisition related cost, were $156 million that’s up $17 million or 12% year-over-year. Excluding the impact of acquired businesses, operating expenses increased $10 million or 7% year-over-year and our bad debt provision for the third quarter was $1.6 million up approximately $400,000 year-over-year. The year-over-year increase in core operating expenses principally related to expenses of acquired businesses, integration cost and compensation related to strategic hires in several areas of our overall business. As we look towards 2016, we remain focused on improving operating efficiencies, as well as driving greater operating leverage from acquisitions going forward. The $3 million of acquisition related costs related to two acquisitions which we completed during the quarter, as well as other opportunities which we‘re actively pursuing. As Mike mentioned earlier, we acquired Pester Marketing, which is a leading distributor of motor fuels and lubricants, also an operator of convenience stores and a leading supplier to industrial and commercial customers head quartered in Denver, Colorado. We also acquired certain interest in aviation fuel operations at airport locations in Sweden and Denmark from BP. The combined purchase price for the two investments was approximately $78 million. As a part of the Pester acquisition, we acquired certain assets and liabilities with a net book value of approximately $35 which we expect to sale within the next six months. We expect these investments to be accretive earnings between $0.07 and $0.09 per diluted share during the first 12 months excluding the impact of related upfront integration costs. Total operating expenses excluding bad debt expense should be in the range of approximately $157 to $161 million in the fourth quarter including a full quarter of expenses associated with the two acquisitions I just referenced. Consolidated income from operations to the third quarter excluding onetime items was $69 million down $5 million or 7% year-over-year and EBITDA for the third quarter again excluding onetime items was $89 million. Also down $5 million or 5% compared to 2014. Non-operating expenses, which principally consists of interest expense in the third quarter with $6 million that’s effectively flat compared to the third quarter of last year. And I would assume such non-operating expenses will be approximately $6 million to $7 million in the fourth quarter. Our tax rate in the third quarter was 19.5% compared to 19.8% in the third quarter of last year and we estimate that our effective tax rate in the fourth quarter should be between 17% and 19%. Adjusted net income, which excludes approximately $3 million of one-time acquisition related expenses was $51.7 million this quarter down $4 million or 8% year-over-year. Non-GAAP net income which also excludes intangible amortization, stock based comp, in addition to acquisition related expenses was $60 million in the third quarter, a decrease of $5 million or 7% year-over-year. An adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.74 in the third quarter as a decrease of 6% year-over-year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.86 in the third quarter, a decrease of 5% from last year. Our total accounts receivable balance was $2 billion at the end of the third quarter, down approximately $300 million year-to-date principally related to the decline in average fuel prices offset by increased volume across all of our business segments. Networking capital was $824 million down approximately $70 million year-to-date and return of working capital was 32% in the third quarter up from 28% in the third quarter of last year. We generated $147 million of operating cash flow in the third quarter marking the 13th consecutive quarter of positive operating cash flow and totaling nearly $950 million over this period. CapEx was $15 million this quarter down from $17 million in the third quarter of last year. During the third quarter we also returned $40 million to our shareholders by repurchasing 1 million shares of our common stock in the open market taking our repurchases year-to-date to approximately $1.6 million shares and leaving approximately $60 million available under our current authorization. As stated in the past, the principal objective of our share repurchase program is to offset the diluted impact of employee stock awards although as evidenced by our action this past quarter, we may also repurchase shares, we feel that shares are significantly undervalued. Our net debt was $274 million down more than $100 million year-to-date, which revises with significant capacity to fund organic growth and future strategic investment opportunities while continuing to maintain a strong and unleveraged balance sheet. So in closing, we bounced back from an unusually weak second quarter. All our businesses grew volumes and delivered improved results. We completed two acquisitions, repurchased $1 million of our stock and still reduced our net debt position driven by our 13 consecutive quarter of operating cash flow. As we look towards the fourth quarter and 2016 with the investments we have made to strengthen and expand our leadership during 2015, we believe our team is stronger than ever and well prepared to pursue the multitude of growth opportunities that remain ahead. I would now like to turn the call back over to Palmer our operator to begin Q&A session. Palmer?