Natural Resource Partners LP (NRP) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Danica, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Natural Resource Partners L.P. third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。我叫丹妮卡，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加 Natural Resource Partners L.P. 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to Tiffany Sammis, Manager of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係經理蒂芙尼·薩米斯 (Tiffany Sammis)。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Natural Resource Partners third quarter 2024 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.

謝謝。早上好，歡迎參加自然資源合作夥伴 2024 年第三季電話會議。今天的電話會議正在網路直播，我們的網站上將提供重播。今天加入我的是總裁兼營運長克雷格‧努涅斯 (Craig Nunez)；克里斯‧佐拉斯，財務長；和執行副總裁凱文·克雷格。

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.

我們今天的一些評論可能包括反映 NRP 對未來事件的看法的前瞻性陳述。這些事項涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致我們的實際結果與我們的前瞻性陳述有重大差異。NRP 的 10-K 表格和其他證券交易委員會文件中討論了這些風險。我們不承擔以任何理由公開修改或更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

Our comments today also include non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our third 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.

我們今天的評論還包括非公認會計準則財務指標。我們的第三季新聞稿中包含了與最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準的更多詳細資訊和調節，您可以在我們的網站上找到新聞稿。我想提醒大家的是，我們無意討論任何特定煤炭承租人的營運或前景或詳細的市場基本面。

Now, I would like to turn the call over to Craig Nunez, our President and Chief Operating Officer.

現在，我想將電話轉給我們的總裁兼營運長 Craig Nunez。

Thank you, Tiffany, and good morning, everyone. NRP generated $55 million of free cash flow in the third quarter and $263 million of free cash flow over the last 12 months. While we realized lower prices for metallurgical and thermal coal during the quarter and significantly lower prices for soda ash, we continue to generate robust free cash flow and make noteworthy progress toward our goal of eliminating all financial obligations.

謝謝蒂芙尼，大家早安。NRP 在第三季度產生了 5,500 萬美元的自由現金流，在過去 12 個月中產生了 2.63 億美元的自由現金流。雖然我們意識到本季冶金煤和動力煤的價格下降，純鹼價格大幅下降，但我們繼續產生強勁的自由現金流，並在消除所有財務義務的目標方面取得了顯著進展。

Notably, we paid off the remaining $32 million of preferred securities during the quarter and are now free of all preferred and warrant liabilities. As of today, our total remaining financial obligations, which consists solely of debt stand at $181 million, a decrease of 44% from one year ago.

值得注意的是，我們在本季還清了剩餘的 3,200 萬美元優先證券，現在沒有所有優先股和認股權證負債。截至今天，我們的剩餘財務債務總額（僅由債務組成）為 1.81 億美元，比一年前減少了 44%。

While we believe the current market softness for our key commodities will persist for the foreseeable future, resulting in a material drop in our expected free cash flow as compared to the last 12 months, we remain on track with our deleveraging plan. We will continue to pay down debt with internally generated cash in the coming months and look forward to the day when common unitholders will have no competing claims on the partnership's free cash flow.

雖然我們認為，在可預見的未來，我們的主要大宗商品目前的市場疲軟將持續下去，導致我們的預期自由現金流與過去12 個月相比大幅下降，但我們仍將繼續實施去槓桿化計劃。我們將在未來幾個月繼續用內部產生的現金償還債務，並期待有一天普通單位持有人將不再對合夥企業的自由現金流提出競爭性索取權。

We remain steadfast in our belief that this is the best strategy to maximize intrinsic value per unit. Additionally, in October, we closed a five-year bank credit facility that extends our revolver's maturity date over two years to October 2029. This extension provides us with greater financial flexibility and further derisks our capital structure.

我們仍然堅信，這是最大化單位內在價值的最佳策略。此外，10 月份，我們關閉了一項為期五年的銀行信貸安排，將左輪手槍的到期日延長兩年至 2029 年 10 月。此次延期為我們提供了更大的財務靈活性，並進一步降低了我們的資本結構風險。

We have an exceptional group of banks that have become more than lenders. They are trusted business partners. Our mineral rights segment generated $54 million of free cash flow during the third quarter. Soft global steel demand continues to pressure metallurgical coal prices and low-priced North American natural gas and high coal inventory levels at electric generating facilities continue to depress thermal coal prices.

我們擁有一群傑出的銀行，他們已不僅僅是貸款機構。他們是值得信賴的商業夥伴。我們的礦權部門在第三季產生了 5,400 萬美元的自由現金流。全球鋼鐵需求疲軟持續對冶金煤價格構成壓力，而北美天然氣價格低廉以及發電設施煤炭庫存水準高則繼續壓低動力煤價格。

We do not expect material market improvement in the near term. Longer term, we believe secular demand trends for steel, industry labor shortages, higher cost of production and limited investment in new coal supply will provide support for metallurgical prices at attractive levels when compared to historical norms.

我們預期短期內市場不會有實質改善。從長遠來看，我們認為，與歷史正常水平相比，鋼鐵的長期需求趨勢、行業勞動力短缺、生產成本上升以及新煤炭供應投資有限將為冶金價格提供支持，使其處於有吸引力的水平。

Long-term thermal prices should benefit from input cost inflation, labor shortages and limited new investment. But we expect the positive impact on thermal prices from those factors to be more than offset by the continued long-term secular decline in North American thermal demand.

長期熱電價格應受惠於投入成本上漲、勞動力短缺和新投資有限。但我們預計這些因素對熱電價格的正面影響將被北美熱電需求的持續長期下降所抵消。

Turning to soda ash. We received a $6 million cash distribution from Sisecam, Wyoming, in the third quarter of 2024, which is $17 million less than the distribution received for the third quarter of last year. This decline reflects significantly lower soda ash prices resulting from the massive influx of new soda ash production capacity over the last 18 months and softening demand for flat glass used in construction and automobiles.

轉向純鹼。2024 年第三季度，我們從懷俄明州西塞卡姆收到了 600 萬美元的現金分配，比去年第三季度收到的分配少了 1700 萬美元。這一下降反映了過去 18 個月新增純鹼產能大量湧入以及建築和汽車用平板玻璃需求疲軟導致純鹼價格顯著下降。

Soda ash prices are at their lowest levels in decades. And while our long-term outlook remains quite positive, we believe it will take several years for the market to reach an equilibrium that supports the higher price levels realized for most of the last decade.

純鹼價格處於數十年來的最低水平。雖然我們的長期前景仍然相當樂觀，但我們相信市場需要幾年時間才能達到平衡，以支撐過去十年大部分時間實現的較高價格水平。

As a result, we expect distributions from Sisecam, Wyoming, to remain below historical norms for the foreseeable future. While our near-term soda ash outlook may appear more pessimistic than that of others, we prefer to plan conservatively and be pleasantly surprised if the market outperforms our expectations.

因此，我們預計懷俄明州西塞卡姆的分配在可預見的未來仍將低於歷史正常水平。雖然我們的近期純鹼前景可能比其他人更悲觀，但我們更願意保守計劃，如果市場表現超出我們的預期，我們會感到驚喜。

Long term, our soda ash facility remains one of the world's lowest cost producers of a commodity that has favorable fundamentals linked to growth in renewable energy, the urbanization of society and the electrification of the global auto fleet. These characteristics provide one of the most durable competitive moats that we've seen in a commodity producer.

從長遠來看，我們的純鹼工廠仍然是世界上成本最低的商品生產商之一，該商品具有與再生能源成長、社會城市化和全球汽車電氣化相關的有利基本面。這些特徵提供了我們在大宗商品生產商中看到的最持久的競爭護城河之一。

Regarding our carbon-neutral initiatives, or CNI for short, we continue to explore opportunities to lease our mineral and surface assets for underground CO2 sequestration, forest CO2 sequestration, lithium production and the generation of electricity using geothermal, wind and solar energy. We have observed a notable slowdown in the leasing of acreage for underground CO2 sequestration.

關於我們的碳中和計畫（簡稱 CNI），我們繼續探索租賃礦物和地表資產的機會，用於地下二氧化碳封存、森林二氧化碳封存、鋰生產以及利用地熱、風能和太陽能發電。我們觀察到地下二氧化碳封存面積的租賃顯著放緩。

Project developers are reluctant to invest capital in light of the uncertain regulatory and political environment. On a positive note, we are seeing increased leasing activity by lithium, solar and geothermal developers. While upfront lease bonuses from individual lithium, solar and geothermal leases are not material to the overall partnership, we do see these as positive steps in the expansion of our CNI portfolio.

鑑於監管和政治環境的不確定性，專案開發商不願投資。從積極的方面來看，我們看到鋰、太陽能和地熱開發商的租賃活動增加。雖然單一鋰、太陽能和地熱租賃的預付租賃紅利對整體合作夥伴關係並不重要，但我們確實認為這些是擴展我們的 CNI 產品組合的積極步驟。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Chris to cover our financial results.

有了這個，我將把它交給克里斯來報道我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Craig. In the third quarter of 2024, NRP generated $39 million of net income, $54 million of operating cash flow and $55 million of free cash flow. Our mineral rights segment generated $41 million of net income and $54 million of both operating cash flow and free cash flow during the third quarter of 2024.

謝謝你，克雷格。2024 年第三季度，NRP 產生了 3,900 萬美元的淨利、5,400 萬美元的營運現金流和 5,500 萬美元的自由現金流。2024 年第三季度，我們的礦權部門產生了 4,100 萬美元的淨利潤以及 5,400 萬美元的營運現金流和自由現金流。

When compared to the prior year quarter, our mineral rights segment's net income decreased $20 million and both operating cash flow and free cash flow decreased $7 million. These decreases were primarily due to soft coal markets, resulting in lower metallurgical and thermal coal sales prices.

與去年同期相比，我們的礦權部門淨利減少了 2,000 萬美元，營運現金流和自由現金流都減少了 700 萬美元。這些下降主要是由於煙煤市場導致冶金煤和動力煤銷售價格下降。

Regarding our third quarter 2024, met thermal coal royalty mix, metallurgical coal made up approximately 75% of our coal royalty revenues and 55% of coal royalty sales volumes. Shifting to our soda ash business segment.

關於我們 2024 年第三季的動力煤特許權使用費組合，冶金煤約占我們煤炭特許權使用費收入的 75% 和煤炭特許權使用費銷售的 55%。轉向我們的純鹼業務部門。

Net income in the third quarter of 2024 was $8 million, a decrease of $4 million compared to the prior year quarter. This decrease was due to lower sales prices driven by an oversupplied market and weakened demand for construction flat glass.

2024 年第三季淨利為 800 萬美元，比去年同期減少 400 萬美元。這一下降是由於市場供應過剩和建築平板玻璃需求減弱導致銷售價格下降。

Free cash flow from this segment was $6 million in the third quarter of 2024, a decrease of $17 million as compared to the prior year quarter. Soda ash pricing has declined from the record highs seen last year and until demand for flat glass rebounds and the market is able to absorb the additional supply from China, we expect prices to remain muted and our distributions received from Sisecam, Wyoming to reflect the business performance.

2024 年第三季度，該部門的自由現金流為 600 萬美元，比去年同期減少 1,700 萬美元。純鹼價格已從去年的歷史高點下降，在平板玻璃需求反彈且市場能夠吸收來自中國的額外供應之前，我們預計價格將保持低迷，我們從懷俄明州西塞卡姆收到的分配將反映業務狀況。

Moving to our corporate and financing segment. In the third quarter of 2024, we achieved another milestone towards our goal of eliminating our financial obligations by redeeming the final $32 million of outstanding preferred units. I'm pleased to note that we were able to redeem all of the originally issued $250 million preferred units at par with cash.

轉向我們的企業和融資部門。2024 年第三季度，我們透過贖回最後 3,200 萬美元的未償還優先股，實現了消除財務義務的目標的另一個里程碑。我很高興地註意到，我們能夠以現金等價贖回所有最初發行的 2.5 億美元優先單位。

Having the preferred units redeemed saves us $30 million in annual cash flow compared to when all of the originally issued preferred units were outstanding. We're also pleased to have settled the final tranche of outstanding warrants last quarter. In aggregate, we settled the originally issued 4 million warrants with $131 million of cash and by issuing just under 288,000 common units.

與所有最初發行的優先股均未償還時相比，贖回優先股可節省 3,000 萬美元的年度現金流。我們也很高興在上個季度結算了最後一批未償認股權證。總的來說，我們用 1.31 億美元現金和發行近 288,000 個普通單位結算了最初發行的 400 萬張認股權證。

For your reference, if all the originally issued warrants were still outstanding today, the settlement amount would be approximately $265 million or 2.8 million common units. As a result of accomplishing these milestones, our remaining financial obligations consist only of debt and sit at just under $200 million at the end of the third quarter.

僅供參考，如果所有最初發行的認股權證今天仍未到期，則和解金額約為 2.65 億美元或 280 萬個普通單位。在實現這些里程碑後，我們剩餘的財務義務僅包括債務，截至第三季末的金額略低於 2 億美元。

As of today, our debt balance is $181 million as we continue to make progress paying down our credit facility with internally generated free cash flow. And just last month, we further derisked the partnership by amending our $200 million credit facility, which lengthened the runway of liquidity available to us by over two years to October 2029 and gives us greater financial flexibility.

截至今天，我們的債務餘額為 1.81 億美元，因為我們在利用內部產生的自由現金流償還信貸額度方面不斷取得進展。就在上個月，我們修改了2 億美元的信貸額度，進一步降低了合作夥伴關係的風險，這將我們可用的流動資金期限延長了兩年多，到2029 年10 月為止，並為我們提供了更大的財務靈活性。

For the segment's third quarter 2024 financial results, net income, operating cash flow and free cash flow each decreased $1 million compared to the prior year quarter, primarily as a result of higher interest expense and cash paid for interest due to the increased borrowings outstanding on the credit facility in 2024 that were used to permanently retire the preferred units and warrants.

對於該部門 2024 年第三季的財務業績，淨利潤、營運現金流量和自由現金流量與去年同期相比各減少 100 萬美元，主要是由於未償還借款增加導致利息費用和支付利息的現金增加。 2024 年的信貸安排用於永久退休優先單位和認股權證。

And lastly, regarding our quarterly distributions, in August of 2024, we declared and paid a first quarter distribution of $0.75 per common unit and a $1 million cash distribution to our preferred unitholders. And today, we announced our third quarter distribution of $0.75 per common unit to be paid later this month.

最後，關於我們的季度分配，2024 年 8 月，我們宣布並向我們的優先單位持有人支付每普通單位 0.75 美元的第一季分配和 100 萬美元的現金分配。今天，我們宣布第三季的分配金額為每普通單位 0.75 美元，將於本月稍後支付。

And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Danica, our operator, for questions.

然後，我會將電話轉回給我們的接線生 Danica，詢問問題。

(Operator Instructions) Mark Zand, Wexford.

（操作員說明）Mark Zand，Wexford。

It's good to hear you, and congratulations. I missed the very beginning of the call. So I'm unclear on what exactly you need to do, if anything, in order to basically be unconstrained in your ability to pay dividends.

很高興聽到你的聲音，恭喜你。我錯過了通話的開頭。因此，我不清楚您到底需要做什麼（如果有的話），才能基本上不受限制地支付股息。

I heard part about wanting to pay down debt. But with the redemption of the preferred and the extinguishment of the warrants, is it just -- just explain to me what your thoughts are going forward in terms of distributions?

我聽說有人想要償還債務。但是，隨著優先股的贖回和認股權證的消滅，是否只是——向我解釋一下您在分配方面的想法？

Our goal is still to get to the point where we have eliminated or practically eliminated all of our liabilities, which currently stand at $181 million of debt before we consider doing other things with the free cash that we have generated. And as we've talked to you about in the past, we're not making forecast of the specific date that we believe that, that will happen.

我們的目標仍然是，在我們考慮用我們產生的自由現金做其他事情之前，我們已經消除或實際上消除了所有負債，目前債務為 1.81 億美元。正如我們過去與您討論過的那樣，我們不會預測我們認為會發生的具體日期。

But it is -- you can look at our run rate of cash flow, free cash and you can look at the outstanding balance, and you can see that we appear to be coming up on the cusp of reaching that point.

但事實是——你可以看看我們的現金流、自由現金的運行率，你可以看看未償餘額，你可以看到我們似乎即將達到這一點。

So is your goal really to get debt down to zero?

那麼您的目標真的是將債務降至零嗎？

Well, yes, that is our goal. But the reality of it is that does it have to be exactly zero? Could it be $10 million? Sure. It could be [$2 million]?

嗯，是的，這就是我們的目標。但現實情況是它必須恰好為零嗎？可能是1000萬美元嗎？當然。可能是[200萬美元]？

Yes, close to zero.

是的，接近零。

Yes. It is.

是的。這是。

And then do you have a sense on what your payout policy would be after that?

那麼您是否知道此後您的支付政策會是什麼？

No, we don't have -- we're not going to tell you here in advance -- a year in advance potentially. We're not going to tell you now what -- or decide now what our distribution policy will be. But I do think that we will approach it the same way we've approached distributions for the last 10 years, and that is, do we have a more intelligent use for the cash than paying it out as distributions to owners.

不，我們沒有——我們不會提前告訴你——有可能提前一年。我們現在不會告訴你什麼——或者現在決定我們的分銷政策是什麼。但我確實認為，我們會像過去 10 年進行分配一樣對待它，也就是說，我們是否可以更明智地使用現金，而不是將其作為分配支付給所有者。

And up to this point in time, we believe we have had a more intelligent use for the cash, be it redeeming 12% preferreds or 10% debt, etcetera. When we get to the point where our debt balances are zero or practically zero, and we don't have as many opportunities to do more intelligent things.

到目前為止，我們相信我們對現金有了更明智的使用，無論是贖回 12% 的優先股還是 10% 的債務等等。當我們的債務餘額為零或幾乎為零時，我們就沒有那麼多機會做更明智的事情。

The decision to make a distribution becomes much easier. I would just say that we do not have a bias against distributions at all. The bias is that we need to have an intelligent use for the money internally to increase intrinsic value of the business or else we send it out.

做出分配的決定變得更加容易。我只想說我們對發行版根本沒有偏見。偏見是，我們需要在內部明智地使用這筆錢，以增加企業的內在價值，否則我們就把錢送出去。

Okay. I mean, do you have any sense that you would do that there'd be some line of business that you would invest in, something that you would use the cash for other than a distribution? And if so, what might it possibly be?

好的。我的意思是，您是否認為您會投資某些業務領域，或將現金用於分配以外的其他業務？如果是這樣，它可能是什麼？

We do not have any ideas about that at the moment and do not have any plans at the moment. Right now, we're trying to finish out the strategy that we've had in place for a long time. And as we get near the -- a little bit closer to the end of that process, we will be looking at the next step, and we'll be explaining to the public quite clearly what we plan to do at that time.

我們目前對此沒有任何想法，也沒有任何計劃。現在，我們正在努力完成我們長期以來所製定的策略。當我們接近這個過程的結尾時，我們將考慮下一步，我們將非常清楚地向公眾解釋我們當時計劃做什麼。

How many shares of stock are outstanding now, I guess, after the redemption of the warrants and so on?

我猜，在贖回認股權證等之後，現在有多少股流通在外？

Roughly $13.3 million.

約1330萬美元。

Okay. That makes sense. Can you -- and I don't know if anybody else has got any questions, but let me just ask one final one and we can see. Can you just give -- you said that you expect the weak conditions in the met coal market to persist for an extended period of time. Could you just elaborate on what your thoughts are on the market?

好的。這是有道理的。我不知道其他人是否有任何問題，但讓我問最後一個問題，我們可以看看。您能否透露一下—您說您預計冶金煤炭市場的疲軟狀況將持續較長一段時間。能詳細說明一下您對市場的看法嗎？

Yes. We have excess capacity, and we have sluggish demand in all three of our key commodities, that's metallurgical coal, soda ash and thermal coal. And at the moment, I can't see any specific drivers that are going to change this environment here in the near to intermediate future.

是的。我們的產能過剩，而且我們對冶金煤、純鹼和動力煤這三種主要商品的需求都低迷。目前，我看不到任何特定的驅動因素會在不久的將來改變這種環境。

Now I'm always surprised about that because I never do see the factor -- the drivers that are going to turn the market for these commodities, but they eventually do turn. But just right now, I cannot point to any of that.

現在我總是對此感到驚訝，因為我從來沒有看到這個因素——將改變這些商品市場的驅動因素，但它們最終確實發生了轉變。但現在我還不能指出這一點。

The good news that I think would be important to note here for us is that despite the fact that this is a very negative time in terms of the collective sentiment of all three of our -- and the collective outlook for all three of our key commodities. It's actually a pretty robust time for the business outlook for our common equity simply because of the fact that we are coming to the end of eliminating our obligations at which time there will be a lot of free cash that's freed up for common equity.

我認為對我們來說重要的是要注意的好消息是，儘管事實上，就我們所有三個國家的集體情緒以及我們所有三個主要商品的集體前景而言，這是一個非常消極的時期。對於我們普通股的業務前景來說，這實際上是一個相當強勁的時期，因為我們即將結束消除我們的義務，屆時將有大量自由現金被釋放用於普通股。

So it's a tale of two cities. It's a bad time for the business outlook. Actually, collectively for all three of our commodities together, I would say that with the exception of COVID, this is the worst collective business outlook we've had in my almost 10-year tenure here at NRP. But it's certainly the best outlook from the standpoint of an equity holder that we've had in the almost 10 years that I've been at NRP.

所以這是兩個城市的故事。對於商業前景來說，現在是一個糟糕的時期。實際上，就我們所有三種商品而言，我想說，除了新冠疫情之外，這是我在 NRP 近 10 年任期中經歷過的最糟糕的集體商業前景。但從股東的角度來看，這無疑是我在 NRP 工作近 10 年來所看到的最好的前景。

Well, you've gotten everything fixed. It's taken a while, but it's done. So congratulations.

好吧，你已經把一切都搞定了。雖然花了一段時間，但已經完成了。所以恭喜你。

Well, thank you for that. But also thanks to all our stakeholders and to you and everyone who's supported us along the way.

嗯，謝謝你。但也要感謝我們所有的利害關係人、你們以及一路以來支持我們的所有人。

[John Mason, Aegis Company].

[約翰梅森，宙斯盾公司]。

I just wanted to ask really quickly, how strict is the plan to eliminate all debt, including both the facility and the senior notes before you initiate return of capital? I know you just mentioned it doesn't have to be zero.

我只是想快速問一下，在啟動資本返還之前消除所有債務（包括貸款和優先票據）的計劃有多嚴格？我知道你剛才提到它不必為零。

I'm just trying to understand the order of priority and the capital allocation flexibility, given how attractive the yields on the common is now, especially relative to the senior notes, like could you pay off the facility and just begin distributions then and let the senior notes roll off at maturity. I think in like December of '26 or I mean -- if it is really strict on -- we want to get to that 10 or basically zero number first, I totally understand. I just wanted to get a sense?

我只是想了解優先順序和資本配置靈活性，考慮到普通股的收益率現在有多有吸引力，特別是相對於高級票據而言，就像你可以還清貸款然後開始分配然後讓高級票據在到期時滾存。我想在 26 年 12 月，或者我的意思是——如果真的很嚴格的話——我們希望首先達到 10 或基本上為零的數字，我完全理解。我只是想了解一下？

No, it's not that strict. It is, as you described, actually. We're going to use a common sense approach, and we're going to pay off the highest cost debt first. And then when we -- yes, so it's a common sense approach. It's not strict to the penny.

不，沒有那麼嚴格。正如您所描述的，實際上是這樣。我們將使用常識方法，首先還清成本最高的債務。然後當我們——是的，這是一種常識性的方法。對一分錢來說並不嚴格。

Neil Patel, Sawgrass Beach.

尼爾·帕特爾，索格拉斯海灘。

Craig and Chris, very impressed with all the work you and the team have done over the past few years in terms of deleveraging and sticking to that discipline. So curious about as now you have the preferreds and the warrants out of the way and are now deleveraging debt at a rapid speed, if there's any thought put into repurchasing common units, especially when the current yield as I'm calculating, it could be around 15% or more.

克雷格和克里斯，你們和團隊過去幾年在去槓桿化和遵守這一紀律方面所做的所有工作給我們留下了深刻的印象。很好奇，現在你已經有了優先權和認股權證，並且正在快速去槓桿化債務，如果有任何想法考慮回購普通單位，特別是當我計算的當前收益率時，它可能是大約15%或更多。

So curious. I know there's some language that's changed within the most recent credit agreement. I'm not sure if that's related, but it mentioned equity interest. So curious about your philosophy on that, just given where the price is. And I know you've all bought back warrants price was earlier in the year?

很好奇。我知道最近的信貸協議中的一些措辭發生了變化。我不確定這是否相關，但它提到了股權。非常好奇你對此的哲學，只是考慮到價格在哪裡。我知道你們都買回了今年稍早的認股權證價格？

This is Craig. I'll take a first stab at that. In answer to your question, have we thought of and do we consider and would we consider in the future repurchases of units if they traded at material discounts to our estimates of intrinsic value? The answer is yes.

這是克雷格。我將首先嘗試這一點。在回答你的問題時，如果單位的交易價格比我們對內在價值的估計有實質折扣，我們是否考慮過，我們是否考慮過，我們是否會在未來回購單位時考慮？答案是肯定的。

I do want to clarify, you made a comment about a 15% yield. I want to clarify that what I believe you're referring to there is our free cash flow yield. It is not our actual current yield of our common equity at this point in time. Just wanted to clarify that.

我確實想澄清一下，您對 15% 的收益率發表了評論。我想澄清一下，我相信您指的是我們的自由現金流收益率。這不是我們目前普通股的實質報酬率。只是想澄清這一點。

And then third thing, you mentioned the credit agreement. Yes, you did pick up on that. There were two main reasons to put the new credit agreement in place that Chris and his team did. The first was to extend the maturity to get us a longer period of time to a longer maturity.

第三件事，你提到了信貸協議。是的，你確實注意到了這一點。克里斯和他的團隊制定新的信貸協議有兩個主要原因。第一個是延長期限，讓我們有更長的時間來達到更長的成熟度。

The second was to loosen up some of the handcuffs that had been put in place when we were a less creditworthy borrower. And the loosening of the handcuffs frees up -- makes it easier for us going forward to do things such as repurchase units.

第二個是放鬆我們作為信用較差的借款人時所戴的一些手銬。手銬的鬆開讓我們更容易回購等事情。

At this time, I will now turn the call back over to Craig Nunez for closing remarks.

此時，我將把電話轉回克雷格·努涅斯 (Craig Nunez) 進行總結發言。

Thank you very much, Danica. And thank you, everyone, for participating in our call today and thank you for your continued support of NRP. Have a good day.

非常感謝你，丹妮卡。感謝大家今天參加我們的電話會議，並感謝你們對 NRP 的持續支持。祝你有美好的一天。