Ira Birns
Analyst · Stifel
Thank you, Mike, and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Before getting into the company's results for the third quarter, I would like to thank our employees who have responded to the challenges of 2020, remaining focused on deepening relationships with our customers while supporting one another as well. We remain grateful for our employees' resilience, perseverance and dedication to our business. And of course, we hope you and your families are healthy and well. On to the third quarter results. As usual, please note that the following figures exclude the impact of nonoperational items in the third quarter, as highlighted in our earnings release. The nonoperational income and expenses in the third quarter principally related to the gain on the sale of our MultiService business, which was completed on September 30, but also included other acquisition and divestiture and restructuring related expenses. To assist you in reconciling results published in our earnings release, the breakdown of these non-operational items can be found on our website and on the last slide of today's webcast presentation. Now let me begin with some of the third quarter highlights. Volume increased sequentially in all 3 of our business segments with the most significant rebound of being in aviation. As we announced at the end of September, we completed the sale of our Multi Service Payment Solutions business, resulting in an after-tax gain of $64 million or $1 per share in the third quarter. Adjusted third quarter net income and earnings per share were $20.7 million and $0.33 per share, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $64 million, that's an increase of 13% sequentially. And lastly, we generated $246 million of cash flow from operations during the quarter, which combined with the proceeds from the Multi Service sale, enabled us to reduce our gross debt balance by approximately $570 million, further increasing our available liquidity and putting us in a net cash position for the first time in nearly 10 years. Consolidated revenue for the third quarter was $4.5 billion, negatively impacted by the continued impact of COVID-19 on our segment volumes as well as the overall decline in average fuel prices when compared to last year. Sequentially, revenues increased 42%, driven by increased volume across all segments and higher average fuel prices. Our aviation volume was 1.02 billion gallons in the third quarter, a significant rebound sequentially, but still well below pre-COVID activity levels. Cargo activity remains strong with commercial passenger and business aviation activity experiencing healthy rebounds from the low point in the second quarter. With the pandemic still looming or in some areas surging, we do not assume meaningful incremental growth in the fourth quarter. While statistics indicate that commercial passenger activity in the U.S. is slowly improving, down 95% in April compared to 63% in recent weeks relative to the same prior year periods. Volume in our marine segment for the third quarter was 4.4 million metric tons, down approximately 21% year-over-year, but an increase of 9% sequentially as activity levels modestly rebounded during the third quarter. Our land segment volume was 1.2 billion gallons or gallon equivalents during the third quarter. That's a decrease of 8% year-over-year, but an increase of 6% sequentially. The year-over-year COVID related volume declines were prevalent across our retail, commercial and industrial and wholesale operations, partially offset by increases in our growing World Connect Power and natural gas platform. Regardless, the land team has done a solid job delivering volumes very close to the prior year despite the impacts of the pandemic. Consolidated gross profit for the third quarter was $214 million. That's a decrease of 30% compared to the third quarter of 2019, but flat sequentially. Our aviation segment contributed $98 million of gross profit in the third quarter, down 38% year-over-year, but up 6% sequentially. While commercial passenger aviation activity increased sequentially, related gross profit remains significantly below the prior year. Continued troop withdrawals in Afghanistan also contributed to the year-over-year decline in aviation gross profit. Although near-term activity remains very difficult to forecast, as we look to the fourth quarter, we do expect gross profit to decline sequentially related to a further reduction in government-related activity in Afghanistan, seasonal declines in our core business and the impact of renewed COVID related travel restrictions, particularly in parts of Europe. The Marine segment generated third quarter gross profit of $32 million, that's a decline of 40% year-over-year and 14% sequentially. The year-over-year comparison is negatively impacted by the benefits we experienced during the third quarter of last year, leading us to the January 1, very low sulfur IMO regulations, compounded with the pandemic related decline in core resale activity, including the cruise sector. As we look ahead to the fourth quarter, we anticipate that marine gross profit will be similar to the amount generated in the third quarter. Our land segment delivered gross profit of $84 million in the third quarter, that's down 12% year-over-year, but effectively flat sequentially. Gross profit in the land segment was slightly better-than-expected during the quarter with volumes returning to over 90% of prior year levels. The year-over-year gross profit decline principally related to the further reduction of government activity in Afghanistan and a reduction in retail and commercial and industrial activity. Third quarter land gross profit still included $19 million gross profit for Multi Service, which again, was sold on the last day of the third quarter. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, we expect land gross profit to decline principally related to the Multi Service sale, offset in part by an increase in activity in the U.K. as we expect seasonal strength in our heating oil distribution activities, driven in part by assumed higher usage as a result of the pandemic. Core operating expenses, which exclude bad debt expense, were $148 million in the third quarter, which was below the range that we provided on last quarter's call, as we remain focused on driving cost efficiencies. While our operating margins have clearly been negatively impacted by the pandemic, our expense reductions to date and our continued focus on our cost structure should help accelerate the return to pre-COVID operating margins as business activity slowly returns to normal. We expect core operating expenses to be in the range of $147 million to $152 million in the fourth quarter. Please note our people have always been and always will be our greatest asset. While COVID has certainly created challenges for our business, our global team has put forth a Herculean effort year-to-date under unprecedented circumstances, remotely managing the business with excellence day-to-day and exceptional working capital management, along with significant cost and CapEx reductions, which resulted in a record level of liquidity. We are also proud of the flawless execution on the divestiture of Multi Service amidst the pandemic, which resulted in an $80 million pretax gain. Our employees have performed admirably in successfully managing our business by focusing and executing on the things within our control to navigate through the negative impacts of the pandemic. Therefore, we plan to book an additional accrual for incentive compensation for our global team in the fourth quarter, which will allow us to provide them with at least a somewhat reasonable level of incentive compensation under present circumstances. This additional compensation expense is included in the $147 million to $152 million core operating expense estimate provided for the fourth quarter. With the world remaining challenged due to the significant impacts of COVID-19 on the commercial passenger aviation market and parts of the marine market, particularly the cruise sector, bad debt expense, unfortunately, remain elevated at $23.3 million in the third quarter. Despite our diligence and focus and the fact that our accounts receivable balance is just over 40% of 2019 levels with the risk profile of our overall portfolio, clearly improving, risk remains elevated when compared to historical norms. Underwriting has always been a significant core competency in our business, and this year is no different. We remain focused and diligent on managing our credit risk, including reducing credit lines wherever appropriate. Adjusted income from operations for the third quarter was $42 million, down significantly from the prior year, of course, but an increase of 21% sequentially. Third quarter interest expense was $9 million, which is down more than 50% year-over-year. Our total interest expense continues to benefit from lower average borrowings and significantly lower interest rates. As a matter of fact, at the end of the third quarter, we had no borrowings outstanding under our revolving credit facility. Our adjusted effective tax rate was 32% in the third quarter, up from 30% in the third quarter of 2019. At this time, we expect our fourth quarter tax rate to be similar to the third quarter. Our accounts receivable balance declined to approximately $1.25 billion at the end of the third quarter, down more than 50% or approximately $1.6 billion from year-end, driven principally by volume declines and lower fuel prices. Our team continues to do a great job managing working capital, as mentioned earlier, resulting in $246 million of operating cash flow, with $491 million of operating cash flow generated during the first 9 months of 2020. We continue to benefit from relatively low fuel prices and lower working capital needs, which have enabled us to generate significant amounts of cash flow. The proceeds received from the Multi Service sale, combined with our strong operating cash flow, enabled us to further reduce our debt balance by approximately $570 million. At the end of the third quarter, again, we were actually in a net cash position for the first time in nearly a decade. In closing, we experienced a modest improvement in the third quarter, generated a significant amount of operating cash flow and successfully completed the sale of Multi Service, leaving us with a record level of liquidity at the end of the quarter. We continue to manage costs carefully. But with significant available capital, we have begun focusing more of our energies on organic growth and strategic investments, in particular. To provide some more color on specific investment opportunities, I would like to highlight our World Connect business. This is a growing business in which we principally participate in the power and natural gas markets, but also solar, wind, carbon and renewables, supporting commercial, industrial and government customers globally. As Mike mentioned earlier, we formally issued our 2019 sustainability report earlier this week, which amongst other important elements, discusses our participation in these fast-growing markets. While we've been building our capabilities in this area over the past few years, this business activity still represents only a modest portion of our overall revenue and profitability. With available liquidity at record levels, we intend to make significant strategic investments in this business over the next 2 to 3 years, with the goal of turning this into a substantially larger business over this time period. We will also continue to build out our commercial and industrial diesel and gasoline activities, driving synergies and greater scale in both of these two important platforms, all without losing sight of any additional niche opportunities in the aviation and marine markets. And of course, we remain focused on other ways to drive additional value for our shareholders. Thank you very much for your time. Please be safe. I would now like to turn the call back over to Eric, our operator, for the Q&A session.