Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp (CCEC) 2021 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Capital Product Partners' Fourth Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call.

We have with us Mr. Jerry Kalogiratos, Chief Executive Officer of the company. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) I must advise you; this conference is being recorded today.

The statements in today's conference call that are not historical facts, including our expectations regarding cash generation, equity returns and future debt levels, our ability to pursue growth opportunities, our expectations or objectives regarding future distribution amounts, capital reserve amounts, distribution coverage, future earnings, capital allocation as well as our expectations regarding market fundamentals and the employment of our vessels, including redelivery dates and charter rates, may be forward-looking statements, as such as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1943 as amended.

Those forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the stated or forecasted results to be materially different from those anticipated. Unless required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise any of those forward-looking statements, whether because of future events, new information, a change in our views or expectations to conform to actual results or otherwise. We assume no responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements. We make no predictions or statements about the performance of our common units.

I would now like to hand over to your speaker today, Mr. Kalogiratos. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Ella, and thank you all for joining us today. As a reminder, we'll be referring to the supporting slides available on our website as we go through today's presentation.

We are pleased to have announced last week the increase of the Partnership's common unit quarterly distribution by 50%. The distribution will be paid on February 10 to common unitholders of record on February 3. Our Board has also set a new quarterly distribution guidance of $0.15 per common unit compared to $0.10 previously.

Net income for the fourth quarter of 2021 was $40 million or $18.6 million, excluding a $21.4 million gain from vessel sales compared with net income of $7.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2020.

Similarly, operating surplus for the quarter amounted to $37.9 million compared to $20.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2020. During the quarter, we also delivered the motor vessel Adonis to its new owners and acquired the remaining 4 LNG carriers, thus completing our 6 LNG carrier acquisition program.

I would like to remind you that underpinning the acquisition of the 3 additional LNG carriers to those announced in August 2021 was the issuance of EUR 150 million or approximately $174 million senior unsecured bond on the Athens Exchange in October 2021, with a fixed coupon of 2.65% and the 5-year tenure.

After entering into cross-currency swaps for 4 years, the effective coupon of the bond in U.S. dollars is approximately 3.7%.

Turning to Slide 3. Revenues for the quarter were $63.6 million, an increase of 81% compared to $35.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2020. The increase in revenue was primarily attributable to the net increase in the average number of vessels in our fleet by 38% following the acquisition of the 3 Panamax containers in February 2021, and the acquisition of the 6 LNGs during the second half of 2021, partly set off by the sale of our 2 9,000 TEU vessels in May and December 2021, respectively.

Total expense for the quarter were $35.7 million compared to $24.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. Voyage expenses for the quarter increased to $3.2 million compared to $1.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 -- excuse me, of 2020, primarily due to the increase in the average size of our fleet.

Total vessel operating expenses during the quarter amounted to $14.9 million compared to $10.3 million during the fourth quarter of 2020, again, as a result of the net increase in the average size of our fleet.

Total expenses for the fourth quarter also included a vessel depreciation and amortization of $14.8 million compared to $10.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. The increase was mainly attributable to the net increase in the average size of our fleet.

General and administrative expenses for the quarter amounted to $2.7 million compared to $1.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2020. The increase in general and administrative expenses was mainly attributable to fees and expenses incurred in connection to the acquisition of the 4 LNGs during the fourth quarter of 2021, and the bond issue on the Athens Exchange.

Interest expense and finance costs increased to $8.9 million from $3.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 due to the increase in the Partnership's total outstanding indebtedness, partly offset by the decrease in the LIBOR weighted average interest rate compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.

The Partnership recorded net income of $40 million for the quarter compared with net income of $7.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2020.

On Slide 4, you can see the details of our operating surplus calculations that determine the distributions to our unitholders compared to the previous quarter. Operating surplus is a non-GAAP financial measure, which is defined fully in our press release.

We have generated approximately $37.9 million in cash from operations for the quarter before accounting for the capital reserve. We allocated $31 million to the capital reserve, an increase of $16.5 million compared to the previous quarter due to the increased debt amortization resulting from the acquisition of 4 LNGs in the fourth quarter and the inclusion of the capital reserve of $8.5 million corresponding to an additional noncash reserve that our Board has decided to set aside in view of the bond that we issued in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The additional reserve represents the amount that we would need to accumulate per quarter in order to repay the bond in full on maturity. After adjusting for the capital reserve, the adjusted operating surplus amounted to $6.9 million.

On Slide 5, you can see the details of our balance sheet. As of the end of the fourth quarter, the Partner's capital amounted to $525 million, an increase of $103 million compared to $422 million as of year-end. The increase reflects net income for the full year 2021, $15.3 million representing the value of the 1.1 million common units issued as part of the consideration paid for the acquisition of the 2 LNG carriers and the amortization associated with the equity incentive plan, partly offset by distributions declared and paid during the period in the total amount of $7.6 million and the repurchase of the Partnership's common units for an aggregate amount of $4.5 million.

Total debt increased by $938 million to $1.3 billion compared to $380 million as of year-end 2020. The increase is attributable to the assumption of $876 million of debt in connection with the acquisition of the 6 LNGCs, the incurrence of another $36 million of debt in connection with the acquisition of the 3 Panamax container vessels in February 2021 and the issuance of EUR 150 million in senior unsecured bond on the Athens Exchange.

The increase was partly offset by the sale of 2 9,000 TEUs, and the debt repayment under the respective financing arrangements, the total amount of $96.2 million and scheduled principal payments of $49.3 million during the period.

Total cash as of the end of the quarter amounted to $31 million, including restricted cash of $10.6 million, which represents the minimum liquidity requirement under our financing arrangements.

Turning to Slide 6. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we took delivery of the remaining 4 LNG carriers, namely the Attalos, Asklipios, Adamastos and Aristidis I, successfully completing the acquisition program of 6 high-specification, latest-generation 2-stroke XDF Mark 3 FLEX LNG carriers with long-term employment in place, exceeding $1.2 billion in value.

Specifically, the 6 ships were acquired at an average price of just short of $204 million and are under long-term time charters with BP, Cheniere and Engie with a weighted average remaining charter duration of 5.7 years at an average rate of approximately $70,000 per day.

As the 4 LNGs were delivered towards the end of 2021, we expect to see the full impact on the Partnership's financials in the first quarter of 2022, with total operating days for the 6 vessels expected to amount to 540 days versus 321 days in the fourth quarter of 2021.

On Slide 7, you can see our debt repayment schedule through 2028. Effectively, we don't have any significant debt maturities until the end of 2026. The only significant near-term maturity is that of the HCOB syndicate facility, which matures at the end of 2023, with a balloon payment of $73.5 million.

I would like to highlight that presently the charter-free market value of the collateral fleet is about 10x the value of the balloon payment. As a result, we not only expect refinancing to be very straightforward, but also a potential lever for additional liquidity.

Now moving to Slide 8. The Partnership's remaining charter duration amounts to approximately 4.9 years on the back of the 6-vessel acquisition, while charter covenant remains high throughout the next 4 years, thus providing our unitholders with increased cash flow visibility.

On Slide 9, you can see our contracted revenue on aggregate and on per year basis as well as the contracted revenue contribution from each of our charters. Importantly, with the addition of the 6 LNG carriers, we have secured significant contracted revenue of close to $290 million for 2022 and 2023, while contract revenue remains high until 2025 when certain of our container vessels roll off their charters if certain options are not exercised.

We're also pleased that our charter portfolio consists of 7 high-quality counterparties, having diversified our customers base with the addition of 3 investment-grade charters, namely BP, Cheniere, and Engie. BP represents our largest customer and accounts for about 40% of our contracted revenues.

Turning to Slide 10 and the LNG market update. The fourth quarter started with a common winter pattern of a very tight freight market with global LNG exports setting an all-time record during December, led primarily by U.S. exports. However, the inversion of the commodity price spread between Europe and the Far East led to a weaker spot market for LNG carriers towards the end of the quarter as the flow of cargoes to Europe instead of the Far East adversely affected tonne-mile demand.

Overall, demand fundamentals for LNG shipping remain robust as liquefaction capacity is expected to grow by 8% and 7% in 2023 and 2024, respectively, with most of the additional new capacity being added in the U.S. In particular, about 75 metric tons per annum, or MTPA of additional liquefaction capacity is expected to go online in the U.S. by the end of 2024 compared to 70 MTPA today.

The LNG fleet orderbook stands at 27% of the current fleet with 30 new orders placed during the quarter, utilizing almost all available shipyard LNG carrier slots up to mid-2025.

As a result of the increased demand and the strong fundamentals of the LNG market, competition for belts from other segments such as the container market, as well as inflationary pressures in raw materials and equipment, CPLs are continuing to increase newbuilding prices with severed quotes currently in excess of $220 million per vessel for higher specification LNG carriers.

The increased LNG commodity prices and charters preference for larger cargo sizes, as the LNG export market continues to expand, favors increasingly later generation to stroke LNG carriers, such as the vessels owned by CPLP. The rate differential in view of the increased cargo intake, lower effective boil-off and lower consumption in the world of a $25 LNG price per MMBtu has increased to $40,000 per day compared to a TFDE vessel and $70,000 per day compared to a steamship for a U.S. to Euro round trip.

At the same time, as we see increased focus on greenhouse emissions in shipping in general and for LNG carriers, in particular, including methane emissions, the preference for the latest generation vessels will become even more pronounced and as a result, lead to an even greater earnings differential between latest-generation LNG carriers and older vessels.

On Slide 11, we review the container market. Momentum remained very strong during the fourth quarter and into early 2022, with freight and charter rates surged into record highs. The Clarksons Containership Charter Rate Index stood at 362 points in December, up 280% since the beginning of 2021. Also underscoring the strength of the market, the 15-year-old standard 8,500 TEU vessel was fixed recently for 5 years at $64,000 per day.

Record charter rates have been driven by a range of factors, including strong demand, exceptional freight rates, severe logistical disruption and the trend towards longer periods that has restricted tonnage availability, especially in the larger sizes.

Looking ahead, the outlook remains positive for 2022. The low new build deliveries at approximately 1 million TEU for this year, and vessels that have been fixed on medium- to long-term period charters last year are expected to keep tonnage availability limited also in 2022. As such, demand growth is expected to outstrip supply growth for a second consecutive year. Overall demand growth is now expected at 3.8% for 2022, with supply growth forecast standing at 3.6%.

In addition, the appearance of the highly contagious Omicron variant has exerted further pressure on logistical chains worldwide, thus further restricting vessel supply.

Nevertheless, the medium- to long-term demand outlook remains more challenging due to the potential tapering of stimulus measures and easy monetary policy, resulting in increasingly more normalized consumer spending. If this coincides with an easing of the logistical bottlenecks, which would release more capacity in the container market, we can potentially see a slowdown in terms of freight and charter rates might be further adversely affected by increasing newbuild deliveries from 2023 onwards.

On the orderbook front, after the massive shares of orders during the first 3 quarters of 2021, we have observed a noticeable slowdown in contracting during the fourth quarter. During the quarter, it is estimated that 56 container vessels were ordered, which compares to an average of 171 vessels during the first 3 quarters of the year. Overall, the container vessel orderbook stood at 23% in mid-January, up just 0.4% from the third quarter of last year.

Now moving to Slide 12. We are very pleased that our Board has announced an increased quarterly distribution by 50% -- by 50% to $0.15 per quarter for the fourth quarter of 2021 and together set a new increased distribution guidance of $0.15 per quarter as a result of the addition of the 6 LNG carriers to the Partnership's fleet and the expected associated increase in earnings and cash flow going forward.

Overall, we tend to continue to return capital to our unitholders as we have done every quarter since our IPO in April 2007. Over the last 15 years, the Partnership has paid nonstop distributions for 58 consecutive quarters, corresponding to a total of approximately $960 million, including $819 million in cash distributions and $140 million in distributions in kind.

Going forward, we expect to continue increasing our common unit distribution as we increase our distributable cash flow with new additions to our fleet.

In addition, having the 6 LNG carrier acquisition program behind us, that strained our liquidity during the third and fourth quarter of last year, we can now resume our unit buyback program, which we put in place early last year. As mentioned earlier, since the launching of the unit buyback program in February 2021, we have repurchased common units in the amount of $4.5 million.

Now turning to Slide 13 and in terms of future growth opportunities. There are a number of additional acquisitions that we are targeting in the short to medium term. In the short term, our primary focus will be the vessels for which we have a right of first offer? Rights, we obtained as part of the agreement for the acquisition of the 6 LNG carriers. This includes 3 13,000 TEU container vessels with delivery from the third quarter of 2022 until May 2023, and which have a 10-year firm time charter in place, as well as 3 additional LNG carriers with delivery in 2023.

The Asterix I is the first LNG care to be delivered in January 2023 and has secured time charter employment for a minimum of 5 years at a highly attractive rate. In addition to the above vessels, Capital Maritime has entered over the last few months into additional new bidding contracts for 3 more LNG carriers with delivery set for 2024. As -- these 3 additional LNG vessels find deployment and subject to our ability to acquire these vessels, CPLP can potentially become one of the very few companies that control the fleet of 12 brand-new latest-generation LNG carriers with a unique portfolio of charters.

As explained earlier, we anticipate that 2-stroke latest generation LNG areas like the vessels we already own, and these potential drop-down candidates will benefit greatly from the LNG fundamentals ahead.

The total market value of the 6 LNG carriers and the 3 13,000 TEU containers approximately $1.7 billion, thus giving us a strong growth pipeline for 2022 and beyond. And as we continue to grow the Partnership's asset base and the distributable cash flow, we will also seek to increase the amount we pay out to unitholders in the form of common unit distributions and unit buybacks, thus executing our saving strategy of continuing to grow the Partnership's asset base and at the same time, returning capital to our unitholders.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

(Operator Instructions) And your first question is from Liam Burke of B. Riley.

Jerry, how are you?

Liam, I'm well. How are you?

Liam Burke, B. Riley. Jerry, how are you doing?

Liam, I'm very well. How are you? Can you hear me well?

I can hear you just fine.

Okay.

With this predictable cash flow and the fleet you have in place, you should be generating excess cash above your normal debt repayment and your unit payouts. You talked about, I mean, repurchasing some units opportunistically. Do you balance that against possibly accelerating your debt reduction?

I think given the long-term employment we have in place and the associated cash flows as well as the fact of that some of our existing debt amortizes faster the first few years, especially those that are associated with the -- the loan facilities that are associated with the BP ships, given the structure of the charter. I think we are quite well placed in terms of debt repayment.

In addition, if you look at our overall LTV despite the -- despite us incurring quite a bit of additional debt in order to acquire the 6 LNGs. Our gross leverage is still on the back of current charter-free values at approximately 46%, which is quite reasonable.

So in view of the accelerated debt repayments that we have in place in any case for the next 2, 3 years as well as overall leverage and long-term employment and cash flows that we have in place, I don't think we will be funneling the additional cash towards debt repayments.

Okay. Great. And your drop-down opportunities, you have a mix of LNG carriers and container vessels. There is some caution in the '23 to '25 timeframe of new container vessels coming online obviously in the larger class. But if I look at what you have potential container carrier drop-down opportunities, those have nice long-term contracts associated with it. Are you biased one way or the other towards the LNG or container vessels in terms of what you'd prioritize on a drop-down?

A couple of things. Firstly, I agree with you, especially we very love the container prices compared to historical averages. One has to make sure that the employment that is in place in any potential acquisition, especially when it comes to a conservative business model like ours, you write down those vessels very close to what it is historically an acceptable residual.

So having the 10-year charter in place plus options, of course, for these LNG carriers. And of course, this will also depend on the negotiated sale price will give us a lot of comfort with regard to that. So we are not really taking a punt on the current container market.

Now -- secondly, with regard to, let's say, the focus in terms of drop-downs, it's obviously what would qualify really for us are the 3 13,000 TEU container ships and the LNG that has been fixed. The rest, I think, we'll have to wait until there is employment in place. Otherwise, it is simply too speculative.

We estimate that in very broad terms that these vessels will require equity of anywhere between $140 million to $160 million and could generate an EBITDA of approximately $60 million. So the question is, as you say, what can and what will you do out of those?

Subject to reaching a potential agreement on the acquisition of the ships, for the financing, we have numerous levers at our disposal. Firstly, as you pointed out earlier on, our free cash flow generation is expected to increase materially going forward as we have the full impact of the 6 LNG carriers and that would be from the first quarter of 2022.

And secondly, as I pointed out in my prepared remarks, there is some additional liquidity that we can source by refinancing, et cetera, of our credit facilities, which have ample of room (inaudible) of the relatively small debt balances outstanding.

And thirdly, I think we will continue to look for attractive external capital. Sources could be the preferred equity market, the fixed income market that we successfully tapped last year. And these sources could complement our internally generated cash flows and potentially try to execute on all these 4 ships. But I think that will very much depend on what access we have in terms of external capital.

Again, like last time, the priority is to avoid any issuance of common services. This is in view of the -- value dislocation, this is something that we will not entertain. In the last acquisition of the 6 LNG carriers despite the huge program, we only issued $50 million of equity. And I think it shows that this is the very last tool that we want to be using given the value dislocation.

So I think it will very much depend on whether there will be external sources of capital. But if we can, ideally, we would like to continue growing on both sides. That is both the containers and the LNG front. The -- I should add here that one of the main criteria going forward is that we are committing to buying only modern eco vessels that are compliant with the latest regulations. So EDI Phase III compliant, that is very important. So we will not be looking at older vessels.

We believe that the residual risk of older vessels is not properly priced in -- and in part distorted by the very lofty container market. But the hidden CapEx for many of the older vessels and the potential for even more punitive regulations after 2027 is quite significant. So we are committing to acquiring only modern latest regulations compliant vessels, eco vessels and potentially, if we find good opportunities, divesting from older assets.

Your next question is from the line of Randy Giveans of Jefferies.

Jerry, how is it going?

I'm very well. How are you?

Doing well. Doing well. Two questions. First, on your fleet. So you have 100% charter coverage for the next 2 years outside of 2 vessels. So let's discuss those. First, for the Cape Agamemnon, what's the current employment of that vessel? And when can or maybe will you look to sell that?

So the Cape Agamemnon has earned on average around $22,000 in 2021. Its earnings are similar year-to-date. We continue to consider this vessel as a noncore asset, but we are very opportunistic about it. We had discussions to sell the vessel in the summer. Since then, values have become softer and more importantly, liquidity in the market, especially for Cape-size vessels has somehow receded. But we are monitoring this market and if we find a good opportunity, we'll sell. Now if a great opportunity arises, and for 6, 12 months charter, we might take it. But it doesn't change the view of that this is not a noncore asset.

Okay. And then let's look at the Akadimos. I believe that was on charter through September of this year. Is there any kind of option for the charterer to extend that vessel or that containership charter? And if not, I would assume you're already getting offers, right, for new longer-term charters on that vessel. So let's see updates around that?

So on the Akadimos, the charterers hold an option to extend the charter which at its latest point, if the option is exercised, it can take us to April 2023. However, I should say that this is one of the most efficient vessels out there with very high reefer capacity. So less than 10 ships of the size are expected to open up between now and it's earlier to delivery. So we should be in a good place. And none of them have the reefer intake that the Akadimos has. Also this being very fuel efficient and with the momentum on reducing the carbon footprint of logistical gains, this vessel should be very well sought after.

In my prepared remarks, I mentioned that an 8,500 TEU. So a much less efficient vessel with the lower reefer intake was fixed for 5 years around $65,000, and that was for delivery in 1, 2 quarters from now. So I assume that we should be able to fix forward if the market holds something along these levels, potentially higher. Of course, like last time, if an offer comes to sell the vessel that we cannot refuse that we will entertain as well.

So I think we are very well placed. We have a fantastic asset for this market. It's, as you say, an active market, and we'll try to maximize returns be it through the -- through a charter, which is what we are aiming for or a sale, if this is great value.

Yes. No, that's all fair. Good deal. I'll take some other ones offline, but one more on capital allocation. Just curious how you may be decided, or the Board decided on the distribution increase to $0.15 per quarter instead of maybe a higher number? And then with that, should we expect additional increases in the near term? Or is this basically an annual step up? And then lastly, how do you view unit purchases relative to increasing distributions at these levels?

So let me start with the last question. When we're thinking -- returning capital to unitholders, I think it's -- we're thinking of both, and we see them in a way as an aggregate of money spent. So in terms of the unit buybacks, we did about $4.5 million last year. We stopped very early in Q4 because we had to make sure we manage our liquidity. Now that the liquidity is building up again, we can start spending again.

Overall, last year, we spent somewhere between 1/4 of our free cash flow to -- in returning capital to unitholders, either through buybacks or quarterly distributions. I think going forward, we are going to target a similar range anywhere between 15% to 25%. And -- and as, let's say, our distributable cash flow increases with new additions, we will be revisiting the distribution as the additions come in and in view of the wider growth plans and liquidity needs.

So I think for the moment, this is it. But if, let's say, we deliver on more growth down the line. This is not far off. I mean, we talked about potential acquisitions in Q3, Q4 this year, we will again reexamine the distribution as well as the unit buybacks in view of the impact of the new additions.

So I think that's more or less how we're thinking about it. We have been also very clear with regards to the strategy. This is we want -- and we will continue to return capital to unitholders, but this will be a combination with growing our asset base and distributable cash flow. I think we have done quite well so far, and we have delivered both significant value in terms of NAV and total return for unitholders. And we will continue along these lines.

Yes, it's great. We increased the price target recently, and you're almost there. So keep up the great work.

Great. Thank you, Randy.

Thank you. If there are no further questions, I hand the call back to Mr. Kalogiratos for any closing remarks.

Thank you all for joining us today.

That concludes the presentation. Thank you for participating. You may disconnect.