Global Partners - Q1 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, everyone, welcome to the Global Partners Q1 2023 financial results conference call. Today's call is being recorded. There will be an opportunity for questions at the end of the call. If anyone should require operator assistance during the call, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. With us from Global Partners are President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Eric Slifka, Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Gregory Hanson, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mark Romaine, and Chief Legal Officer, Mr. Sean Geary. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Geary for opening remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

Sean Geary (Chief Legal Officer)

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today's call will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements include projections, expectations, and estimates concerning the future financial and operational performance of Global Partners, which are based on assumptions regarding market conditions, demand for liquid energy products and convenience store products, the regulatory and permitting environment, the forward product pricing pair, and other factors which could influence our financial results. We believe these assumptions are reasonable given currently available information. Our assumptions and future performance are subject to a wide range of business risks, uncertainties and factors which are described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and which could cause actual results to differ materially from the partnership's historical experience and present expectations or projections. Global Partners undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements.

Any material comments concerning future results or operations will be communicated through news releases, publicly announced conference calls, or other means that would constitute public disclosure for the purposes of Regulation FD. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Eric Slifka.

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

Thank you, Sean. Good morning, everyone. Let me begin by thanking the entire Global team for propelling us to a solid start in fiscal 2023. Our performance reflects the great work being done across our liquid energy terminal network and convenient markets every day to deliver quality products and superior service to our customers and guests. Q1 was another strong quarter for our GDSO segment, which posted a 6.1% higher product margin. This increase helped more than offset the effects of warmer than normal temperatures on distillates and other weather-related, weather-sensitive products. Our results speak to the diversification of our business model, which serves us extremely well in what is frequently a dynamic weather environment. On our year-end call, I spoke with you about three acquisitions we completed in 2022.

These transactions have strengthened the earnings power of our GDSO portfolio, adding more than 60 company-operated convenience markets and related fuel operations, along with fuel supply arrangements at more than 55 additional sites. In March, we signed a joint venture agreement to invest alongside ExxonMobil to acquire 64 convenience and fueling facilities in the Greater Houston area. The agreement is expected to close in the Q2 of 2023. We are excited about the opportunity to expand our footprint into the fast-growing Texas market and look forward to operating these sites on behalf of the joint venture. On the corporate governance front, during the Q1, we were extremely pleased to welcome Clare McGrory to our board of directors. As CFO and COO at Atairos, a $6 billion strategic investment firm, Clare has been instrumental in guiding growth-oriented businesses across a wide range of industries.

She also brings more than 13 years of energy experience to our board, having served as CFO, EVP, and Treasurer for Sunoco LP. We look forward to benefiting from Clare's strategic experience, industry perspectives, and leadership background. Turning to our distribution, in April, the board agreed upon a quarterly cash distribution of $0.6550 or $2.62 on an annualized basis on all our outstanding common units for the period from January 1 to March 31st. The distribution will be paid on May 15th to unit holders of record as of the close of business on May 9th, 2023. Let me conclude my remarks by updating you on the status of our agreement with Gulf Oil Limited Partnership to acquire 5 of Gulf's refined product terminals in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

We are continuing to work through the regulatory review process and will share any material developments as appropriate. Now, let me turn the call over to Greg for the financial review. Greg?

Gregory Hanson (CFO)

Thank you, Eric. Good morning, everyone. Looking at our Q1 of 2023 results, Adjusted EBITDA was $76 million compared with $74.9 million, and Net Income was $29 million compared with $30.5 million for the same period in 2022. DCF was $46.3 million compared with $49.9 million in the same period last year. Please note that Adjusted EBITDA and DCF include a Net Gain on sale and disposition of assets of $2.1 million and $4.9 million for the Q1 of 2023 and 2022, respectively. TTM distribution coverage as of March 31st, 2023, including the Q4 of 2022 one-time special distribution was 3.3 times or 3.2 times after factoring in distributions to our preferred unit holders.

Excluding the Net Gain on the sale of assets, which included the gain from our sale of our Revere terminal in June of last year, TTM distribution coverage was 2.7 times or 2.6 times after factoring in distributions to our preferred unit holders. Turning to our segment details, GDSO product margin was up $10.5 million in the quarter to $183.5 million. The gasoline distribution contribution to product margin was up $5.9 million to $120.8 million, primarily due to higher fuel margins and an increase in volume sold due to our 2022 acquisitions. Fuel margins increased $0.01 per gallon to $0.32 per gallon in the Q1 of 2023, from $0.31 per gallon in the Q1 of 2022.

Station operations product margin, which includes convenience stores and prepared food sales, sundries, and rental income increased $4.6 million to $62.7 million from the Q1 of 2022. This reflected an increase in activity at our convenience stores, in part due to our 2022 acquisitions. At the end of the Q1 , our GDSO portfolio consisted of 1,656 sites, comprised of 343 company-operated sites, 297 commission agents, 188 leasing dealers, and 828 contract dealers. Looking at the wholesale segment, Q1 2023 product margin increased $6 million to $53.1 million.

Gasoline and gasoline blend stock product margin contributed $20.4 million, up $22.7 million from the same period in 2022, primarily reflecting more favorable market conditions year-over-year. Product margin from distillates and other oils decreased $16.7 million to $32.7 million, primarily due to less favorable market conditions in distillates and residual oil, offset by improved margins in crude oil. Warmer weather negatively impacted our weather-sensitive products as temperatures were 16% warmer than normal during the Q1 of 2023 and 13% warmer than the Q1 of 2022. In the Q1 of last year, we experienced extreme commodity price volatility as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which benefited the distillate product margin in that period.

The improvement in crude oil primarily reflects a decrease in expenses related to the expiry of a pipeline commitment in the Q4 of 2022. Our commercial segment product margin was flat at $8.1 million in the Q1 of 2023 and 2022. Looking at expenses, operating expenses increased $9.1 million to $108.3 million, largely associated with our GDSO operations, including our 2022 acquisitions, in part due to higher salary and rent expenses and an increase in maintenance and repair expenses. SG&A expenses increased $6 million in the Q1 of 2023 to $62.3 million, reflecting increases in wages and benefits and various other expenses, partially offset by a decrease in accrued discretionary incentive compensation.

Interest expense was $22.1 million in the Q1 of 2023 versus $21.5 million in the same period of 2022, as increased interest rates were partially offset by lower borrowings under our credit facility. Capex in the Q1 was $15.2 million, consisting of $9.6 million of maintenance Capex and $5.6 million of expansion Capex, primarily related to investments in our gasoline station business. For full year 2023, we continue to expect maintenance capital expenditures in the range of $50 million-$60 million and expansion capital expenditures excluding acquisitions in the range of $55 million-$65 million, relating primarily to investments in our gasoline station business. These current estimates depend in part on timing of completion of projects, availability of equipment and workforce, weather and unanticipated events or opportunities requiring additional maintenance or investments.

Our balance sheet remains strong at March 31, with leverage, which is defined in our credit agreement as funded debt to EBITDA of approximately 1.75 times at the end of the quarter. We continue to have ample excess capacity in our credit facility. As of March 31, 2023, total borrowings outstanding under the credit agreement were $346.3 million. This consisted of $247.3 million under our $950 million working capital revolving credit facility and $99 million under our $600 million revolving credit facility. Adding to our balance sheet strength, this past week, we entered into an amendment to our credit agreement with our bank group. The amendment extends the maturity date from May 2024 to May 2026.

The total committed amount of the facilities under the credit agreement remains at $1.55 billion. Looking ahead on our investor relations calendar, on May 23rd and May 24th, we will be participating in EIC's 20th annual Energy Infrastructure CEO & Investor Conference. In June, we will be at the Bank of America Energy Credit Conference. For those of you who are participating in this conference, we look forward to seeing you shortly. Let me turn back the call to Eric for closing comments. Eric?

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

Thank you, Greg. We remain focused on driving returns for our stakeholders through a combination of organic growth, operational efficiency, and M&A. We're off to a solid start in 2023 and are well positioned to deliver on our strategic objectives. Greg, Mark, and I will be happy to take your questions. Operator?

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Selman Akyol with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Thank you. Good morning, congrats on another nice quarter. Let me just start off. On the Gulf Oil, is this taking longer than you originally anticipated, or do you have any comments there at all on that? When do you think this might actually get done?

Gregory Hanson (CFO)

Sure. I'll start off, Selman. Good to hear from you. I mean, it is not taking any longer than we anticipated. I mean, I think if you talk to a lot of companies out there, the FTC is taking longer to review a lot of things. We anticipated going into this acquisition that, you know, it potentially could be a long acquisition process with the FTC, but we continue to endeavor to work with them and, you know, hopeful to get this thing closed as soon as we get the approval from them.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Okay. Turning to your announcement with Exxon, if you could maybe help us understand that a little bit more. I doubt you'll answer me if I ask sort of for pricing or what the investment is, but what I guess I'm really trying to understand is, they're gonna supply the fuel, you're going to manage the stations. Can you just talk a little bit about how this arrangement is gonna be?

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

Selman, it's Eric. You know, it's really a partnership. If you think about, you know, Exxon is good at certain things and Global is good at certain things. I think this is a partnership that will allow us to focus on what our expertise is, and that is operating sites. That is pricing sites. That is managing sites. In terms of supply, look, you know, they're a refining behemoth and they're gonna, you know, their job is gonna be to supply the locations, right? We think it's a fit because for us it puts us in a market that we haven't been in, you know, with ExxonMobil.

You know, obviously we think ExxonMobil is gonna be a fantastic partner for the company. As we've shown in the past, you know, once we end up with assets in markets, we've been able to expand our footprint, right? The goal here is, operate these assets, get comfortable with the business in Texas, and then look to grow it.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Got it.

Gregory Hanson (CFO)

Yeah, I'd just add-

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

I'm sorry. Go ahead, please.

Gregory Hanson (CFO)

Sure. I'm just gonna add on the financial side, I mean, it's very much it's almost an equal partnership. We have a 49.9% interest. They have the majority of the interest, but the investment is very much similar. On the, you know, the return parameters, we haven't put out any numbers on the actual investment. You know, I would guide you to that, you know, it is in line with our target investment of sort of mid-teens on lever IRR on a deal like this and very similar to other acquisitions we've made in terms of multiples.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Okay. I do appreciate that. As you think about future expansion in this market, should we look for more of sort of this, you know, JV way of growing, or do you think you would go out and actually, you know, more typically go out and buy own, lease, you know, manage for other folks, that kind of thing?

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

Yeah. We're actively looking to, you know, grow the business there, and whether it ends up being a partnership or operated by us, I mean, it, you know, it'll be one or the other.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Okay. There's nothing to preclude you from doing something outside of it?

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

You know, obviously they're our partner down there. You know, for us, the focus would be to grow with them. Should that not happen, we're prepared to move forward on our own.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Okay. Just pivoting over, just kind of curious, any improvement on sort of utilization from EVs where you've installed chargers? Are you seeing anything on that front? Anything you can talk about there?

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

Yeah. I think, you know, utilization, you know, has ticked up and, you know, if before it was in the low single digits, you know, I'd say that's, you know, ticked up anywhere from 6%-8%, you know. My view just generally is as more vehicles, electric vehicles come into use, those who have what I'll call is electric charging stations, you know, are gonna garner, you know, a bigger part of that market. I still think it's difficult at that utilization rate to make money. That being said, with government support, you know, there's some potential for actual returns out of the business.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

From that standpoint, as you kind of look forward, do you see adding more charging stations and...

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

Yeah. I mean.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

... potentially accessing government funds and all that stuff?

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

It's about scale. You know, I mean, you gotta do it in a big enough way to move the needle, right? You know, you're proposing sites to the government and they're releasing funds, and then you're building it. You know, any sort of real impact P&L-wise is gonna take a little bit. You know, we have our own riders looking to get and be approved by the government for these funds. I mean, we're on it. We're after it. You know, it's just gonna take a while to scale it up.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Got it.

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

I think it's still... Yeah, I think we're still a little reticent to go after it on our own, right? Because I'm not sure the returns there, but with government funds, it, you know, we think there's a return there.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Just commentary in and around the acquisition market, if you'd be so kind.

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

You know, it's been very busy. Continues to be busy. We're looking at everything, you know, not just at the states that we're in, but, you know, we haven't, we haven't won every potential deal that's out there, but we do like to see them. You know, frankly, missing some deals tells me that we're showing good, financial discipline. The deals that we think really fit and we can create value with, they're the ones that we're gonna hopefully be successful at in the bids.

Selman Akyol (Managing Director of Equity Research)

Got it. Thank you so much.

Sean Geary (Chief Legal Officer)

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. Mr. Slifka, I'd now like to turn the floor back over to you for closing comments.

Eric Slifka (President and CEO)

Sure. Thank you for joining us this morning. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress. Enjoy the weekend, everybody.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.