Delek Logistics Partners LP (DKL) 2015 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Kim, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Delek Logistics Partners fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

(Operator Instructions)

Thank you. Keith Johnson, you may begin your conference, sir.

Thank you, Kim. Good morning. I'd like to thank everyone for joining us on this webcast to discuss Delek Logistics Partners' fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 results. Joining me on today's call will be Uzi Yemin, our General Partner's Chairman and CEO; Assi Ginzburg, CFO; Danny Norris, CAO; and other members of our management team.

As a reminder, this conference call may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined under federal securities laws. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words believes, anticipates, plans, expects, and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

You are cautioned that these statements may be affected by important factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and in our latest earnings release. As a result, actual operations or results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Today's call is being recorded, and will be available for replay beginning today and ending May 26, 2016, by dialing 855-859-2056 with the confirmation ID number 28236906. An online replay may also be accessed for the next 90 days at the Partnership's website.

Last night, we distributed a press release that provides a summary of our fourth quarter and full year 2015 results. This press release is available on our corporate website and through various news outlets.

On today's call, Assi will begin with a few financial comments, and Danny will review our financial performance, then Uzi will offer a few closing strategic remarks. With that, I'll turn the call over to Assi.

Thank you, Keith.

Our DCF was approximately $18.9 million, and EBITDA was $23.6 million for the fourth quarter 2015. The DCF coverage ratio was 1.17 times for the fourth quarter of 2015, which includes the effect of a reduction of approximately $1 million related to a declining inventory value in West Texas during the quarter. In the fourth quarter 2014, DCF was $21.8 million and EBITDA was $26.1 million.

For 2015, our DCF was $81.3 million, compared to $80.3 million in 2014. And EBITDA increased to $96.5 million from $95.4 million in 2015. For the year, we finished with a very strong DCF coverage ratio of 1.37 times.

Based on our performance, we are pleased to announce an increase in our quarterly distribution to $0.59 per limited partner unit for the quarter ended December 31, 2015, which is a 3.5% increase from our third quarter 2015 distribution per unit. This is our 12th consecutive increase, and is 15.7% higher than our fourth quarter 2014 distribution of $0.51 per unit.

During the fourth quarter 2015, DKL continued to maintain a very flexible financial position, with $347 million of capacity on our $700 million credit facility, and a low leverage ratio of 3.5 times, which is well within the 4.75 times currently allowable under our credit facility.

Now I will turn the call over to Danny to discuss financial results.

Thank you, Assi.

For the fourth quarter of 2015, Delek Logistics reported net income attributable to all partners of $15.3 million or $0.55 per diluted common limited partner unit, compared to net income attributable to all partners of $20.5 million or $0.80 per diluted common limited partner unit in the prior-year period.

Our performance during the quarter benefited from a higher contribution margin from the Pipelines and Transportation segment, which was offset by a lower margin in the West Texas wholesale business. As a result, our contribution margin decreased to $26.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 from $29.3 million in the prior-year period.

Now, I will spend a few minutes discussing our two reporting segments. Fourth quarter 2015 contribution margin in our Pipelines and Transportation segment improved to $17.5 million, compared to $14.1 million in the fourth quarter of last year. The improvement was primarily attributable to increased performance from the Paline pipeline, and fees associated with the El Dorado rail offloading racks and the Tyler crude oil storage tank purchased in March of 2015.

Contribution margin in our Wholesale Marketing and Terminalling segment was $8.7 million in the fourth quarter of this year, compared to $15.2 million in the prior-year period. On a year-over-year basis, results benefited from improved performance in our East Texas assets due to higher volumes from Delek US's Tyler, Texas, refinery. That increase was offset by a $7.8 million decline in the West Texas gross margin.

Our West Texas wholesale gross margin was $1.05 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2015, which was reduced by approximately $1 million or $0.90 per barrel of inventory related charges, including LCM as a result of declining market prices in the quarter. This compares to $6.36 per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2014, when the local market sales price in West Texas did not decline as quickly as the purchase price of Gulf Coast light products, thereby increasing the margin per barrel.

Throughput was approximately 12,490 barrels per day, compared to 15,440 barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2014, which was driven by a competitive environment and lower demand during the period.

The margin per barrel in the fourth quarter of 2015 included approximately $900,000 or $0.79 per barrel from RINs generated in our ongoing ethanol blending activities. This compares to a gross margin that included $1.2 million or $0.82 per barrel from RINs in the fourth quarter of last year.

Capital expenditures were approximately $4.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, with approximately $18.6 million spent for the year. Total capital expenditures for 2016 are expected to be $18.2 million, which includes $13.4 million of maintenance and $4.7 million of discretionary related projects.

In 2015, we have invested approximately $41 million in our joint venture pipeline projects and the estimated total investment for the RIO and Caddo pipelines is expected to be approximately $96 million.

With that, I will turn the call over to Uzi for his closing comments.

Thank you, Danny, and good morning.

During 2015 as the MLP industry faced significant challenges, DKL was able to maintain stable performance as both EBITDA and DCF were in line with 2014. This was accomplished through a business model that contains a high percentage of stable fee-based contracts. It also supported our ability to increase the distribution declared for 2015 to $2.24 per unit, compared to $1.90 per unit for 2014.

As we move into 2016, we're focused on using our financial flexibility, mix of stable fee-based business and a strong sponsor to support continued growth. These efforts include the completion of our joint venture pipeline project in the second half of 2016. We're also evaluating options to grow through our relationship with our sponsor, including the feasibility of a retail asset dropdown.

Finally, we continue to explore third-party acquisitions, or acquisition opportunities created by a challenging MLP environment. Through our growth initiatives and financial position, we believe that we can continue to support our target to increase the annual distribution per limited partner unit by 15% for 2016.

With that, Kim, could you please open the call for questions?

(Operator Instructions)

Your first question comes from Gabe Moreen from Merrill Lynch. Your line is open.

Good morning, guys.

Good morning.

Quick question for me, just in terms of the guidance on distribution growth for 2016. Uzi, you just mentioned the potential retail dropdown. Does that include third-party M&A and/or dropdowns in it?

Are you asking in terms of the dropdown or the 15%? I'm not sure I follow the question. Could you (multiple speakers) --?

Yes, the 15% targeted growth. Is that going to be supported by -- in other words, does that include a third-party dropdown like retail, or is it just based on where you see the base business and the expansion projects?

Based on what we see the base business. It's not contingent on acquisitions or dropdowns, if that's the question.

Yes, that was the question. Thanks, Uzi. And then if you can talk about how you see normalized EBITDA at the retail business, and is that something where you'd do the dropdown if you can't find third-party deals? So I guess I'm just wondering, priorities in terms of the dropdown versus third-party M&A?

Well, obviously in the past, there were $0.035 to $0.04 on the wholesale side. That was the rule of thumb. We will need to do a little more work, but we start to do some work. Retail is selling a little less than 500 million gallons a year. So that is the number more or less. Obviously, our retail is growing nicely. In the past at the DKL level, the sponsor mentioned that when retailers get to a good point, then they may consider dropping it down.

We just opened six new stores, or the sponsor opened six new stores, and the EBITDA for each one of these -- I'm sorry, the gallons for each one of these stores as they ramped up is around 4 million to 5 million gallons. So as we open, or as the sponsor opens, new stores, more and more gallons are coming in. But you can use a benchmark of 500 million gallons as we stand right now.

Okay, so on the wholesale side. Got it. And then last one from me.

Just in terms of the outlook for the West Texas business, can you just talk about the potential for improvement there? Do you just see the volatility improve -- continuing, so long as the drilling environment remains depressed, et cetera?

Well, of course, it's not a secret that the West Texas business is not doing great. We went from great margins to now $2. We still feel comfortable around the $2. The fourth quarter was a $2 margin, if you exclude the inventory, and the first quarter is decent so far. With that being said, if the drilling activity will continue to go down, then this business won't enjoy the booming that it had couple of years ago.

With that being said, what we are pleased with is that, that's the only, if you will, unstable business we have. All the rest is fee-based. So we were able to more than compensate the decline in that area with other initiatives in the business.

Understood.

I would just add, the fact that we've all seen RIN prices came up starting in December into January and February, the margin that we saw in Q4 and most of 2015, which is a low margin, did not have in it the impact of $0.70 RIN. And as you know, we do blend the ethanol in the West Texas business.

So that's something that, as year go by, we should see improvements compared to last year. Of course, it will be offset by the potential, I will say, less demand in the area, but for us the margin is very important. And we think that next year, 2016 margins should be better than 2015.

Understood. Thanks, Uzi; thanks, Assi.

Thank you, Gabe.

(Operator Instructions)

There are no further questions at this time. I turn the call back over to the presenters.

Well, again, we'd like to thank you for listening to us this morning. We'd like to thank each one of our employees for contributing a record year in terms of distribution.

We feel comfortable that even in this environment we will continue to grow the business. And I'd like to thank my friends around the table and again our employees for making this Company what it is.

Have a great day. We'll talk to you in the future.

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.