Icahn Enterprises - Q2 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning, and welcome to the Icahn Enterprises L.P. Q2 2023 earnings call with Jesse Lynn, General Counsel, David Willetts, President and CEO, and Ted Papapostolou, Chief Financial Officer. I would now like to hand the conference over to Jesse Lynn, who will read the opening statement.

Jesse Lynn (General Counsel)

Thank you, operator. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements we make in this presentation, including statements regarding our future performance and plans for our businesses and potential acquisitions. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, seeks, estimates, will, or words of similar meaning, and include, but are not limited to, statements about the expected future business and financial performance of Icahn Enterprises L.P. and its subsidiaries. Actual events, results, and outcomes may differ materially from our expectations due to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that are discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including economic, competitive, legal, and other factors. Accordingly, there is no assurance that our expectations will be realized.

We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by law. This presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the back of this presentation. I'll now turn it over to David Willetts, our Chief Executive Officer.

David Willetts (CEO)

Thank you, Jesse. Good morning, welcome to the Q2 2023 Icahn Enterprises Earnings Conference Call. Joining me on today's call is Ted Papapostolou, our Chief Financial Officer. I'll provide a brief overview of Q2 results, then Ted and I will be available for questions. All net income and EBITDA amounts we'll discuss are attributable to Icahn Enterprises unless we otherwise specify. For Q2 2023, we had a net loss of $269 million and an adjusted EBITDA of $34 million, compared to a net loss of $128 million and an adjusted EBITDA of $126 million for Q2 2022. The loss was attributable to the performance of the investment segment and additional losses related to the bankruptcy of Auto Plus, which is nearing completion.

On a positive note, we see continued EBITDA improvements in our automotive segment and food packaging segments. Our indicative net asset value as of the quarter end decreased to $5 billion, as compared to $5.6 billion as the end of December 31, 2022. Indicative net asset value includes, among other things, changes in the fair value of certain subsidiaries, which are not included in our GAAP earnings reported above. For Q2 2023, our investment funds had a negative return of $2,215 million or 5.4%. We are encouraged by the results to date in July, which served to underscore the volatility inherent in the market. CVR Energy posted solid results for the 2023 Q2, though commodity pricing led to moderate declines versus prior quarter and prior, prior year quarter.

Given the company's cash position, the CVR Energy Board declared a $0.50 regular dividend and a special $1 dividend for the quarter. CVR Partners achieved solid results for the 2023 Q2, led by strong production, offset by lower fertilizer pricing during the quarter. Our automotive segment posted strong year-over-year performance on net income and adjusted EBITDA. Automotive Services continues to show progress on its improvement plan, and its results are fully in line with our expectations. After consideration, the IEP board declared a $1 quarterly distribution payable in cash or additional units. With that, let me turn it over to Ted for a detailed discussion of all of our segments.

Ted Papapostolou (CFO)

Thank you, David. I will begin by reviewing our consolidated results, then highlight the performance of our operating segments and comment on the strength of our balance sheet. For Q2 2023, we had a net loss of $269 million, which was a decline of $141 million from the prior year quarter. Q2 2023 includes a one-time $116 million loss related to the loan receivable from Auto Plus in connection with the bankruptcy, which will be included in our holding company segment. I will now provide more detail regarding the performance of our individual segments. The investment funds had a negative return of 5.4% for the quarter, which was driven primarily by the negative performance of a broad market hedge and the negative performance of two single name long positions.

For the quarter, long and other positions had a net negative performance attribution of 2.6%, and short positions had a negative performance attribution of 2.8%. The investment funds had a net short notional exposure of 18% at the end of the quarter, compared to a net short notional exposure of 47% at year-end. Our investment in the fund was approximately $3.8 billion as of quarter end. Now to our energy segment. In Q2 2023, our energy segment reported net sales of $2.2 billion, compared to $3.1 billion in the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $173 million for Q2 2023, compared to $273 million in Q2 2022. CVI declared a $0.50 per share cash dividend and a $1.00 per share special dividend.

Q2 2023 refining margin per throughput barrel was $18.21, compared to $26.10 in the prior year quarter. This decrease was primarily due to declining crack spreads. The cost of RINs continued to have a negative impact on our refining business, with $90 million of related expense for the quarter. Q2 2023, average realized gate prices for UAN decreased by 43% to $316 per ton, and ammonia decreased by 40% to $707 per ton when compared to the prior year quarter. Now to our Automotive segment. Q2 2023 adjusted EBITDA was $32 million, a $19 million improvement as compared to Q2 '22.

Q2 2023 net sales and other revenues for the Auto segment were $425 million, a decrease of $196 million from the prior year quarter. The decrease in revenue is primarily due to the deconsolidation of Auto Plus, which occurred in Q1 of 2023. Automotive services revenues were down $1 million, auto parts revenues were down $195 million as compared to the prior year quarter. During the quarter, a wholly owned subsidiary of IEP within the Auto segment acquired $10 million of assets, mainly comprised of aftermarket parts inventory from the Auto Plus auction. This inventory will be managed and sold by the Icahn Automotive team. Now to our Real Estate segment. Q2 2023 net sales and other revenues increased by $3 million compared to the prior year quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA was $5 million for Q2 2023, compared to $4 million for Q2 2022. The main drivers of the increase in EBITDA were due to the performance of the country club, which experienced membership growth, and our resort in Aruba had higher occupancy. During the quarter, a triggering event for potential impairment occurred at one of our properties. We assessed the carrying value of this long-lived asset for recoverability and concluded the asset was not impaired. The management team is highly focused on achieving its long-term occupancy goals. Now to our other segments. Q2 2023 net sales and other revenues for all other operating segments were relatively flat compared to the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $27 million for Q2 2023, compared to $18 million for Q2 2022.

Viskase's adjusted EBITDA improved by $6 million or 50% for Q2 2023 as compared to the prior year quarter. The company continues to improve manufacturing efficiencies and has reduced distribution costs compared to the prior year period. Home Fashion's adjusted EBITDA was flat at $2 million as compared to the prior year quarter. They continue to be negatively impacted by products within its retail business, particularly in e-commerce. Management has done a good job of offsetting the decline in volume with cost-cutting initiatives. SG&A improved by $1 million as compared to the prior year's quarter. The Pharma segment's adjusted EBITDA for Q2 2023 improved by $3 million as compared to the prior year quarter, mainly due to PANCREAZE's margin improvement and Qsymia's script growth. Now to our liquidity.

We maintain liquidity at the holding company and each of our operating subsidiaries to take advantage of attractive opportunities. We ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents, our investment in the investment funds, and revolver availability totaling approximately $6.6 billion. Our subsidiaries have approximately $914 million in cash and $316 million of undrawn credit facilities to enable them to take advantage of attractive opportunities. In summary, we continue to focus on building asset value and maintaining liquidity to enable us to capitalize on opportunities within and outside our existing operating segments.

David Willetts (CEO)

Thank you. Operator, can you please open up the call for questions?

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. One moment while we compile the Q&A roster. Again, that is star one one to get in the queue. All right, our first question comes from the line of Daniel Fannon with Jefferies. Please proceed.

Daniel Fannon (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Thanks. Good morning. Just a question on first, just on the dividend, $1 versus $2. I guess, just curious about how you came the reason behind or the coming up with $1. As you think about, you know, what the cash flows from the underlying businesses are to support that, can you talk about the obligations as you think as both the debt as well as the dividend, and then where you see the sources of cash flow to support the current dividend as you set today?

David Willetts (CEO)

Morning, Dan. Thanks for that. I mean, I think you, you've asked several questions there, so let, let me, let me unpack that. As we've always done historically, we look at a number of different factors, right? That mean, obviously, business performance, you know, economic macros, obligations under the indentures, you know, cash flows from the underlying companies. We look at, look at the entire situation. Obviously, the world has changed, at least for us, given, you know, a number of the, you know, news articles, that were in, Q1, Q2. So we've, we've taken all of that, and with the board, have looked at and determined that for this quarter, it made sense to adjust the dividend to a $1 distribution per unit, right?

As we look forward, as we do every quarter, we take those same factors, and we reassess what the dividend or distribution should be. To your specific questions with regards to sources. I mean, there, there are several different sources, but, I mean, ultimately, what you take a look at is this is a lumpy, long-term business, right? We have, you know, large wins from time to time, and we have volatility in the market. We are not a company that necessarily has steady, predictable cash flow, chunking in and out every quarter. Given, given that unpredictability and lumpiness, we take a look at all the factors I mentioned to determine, how we actually set a dividend or a distribution.

When it comes to sources, obviously, we have sizable amounts of cash on hand today. We have a large number of securities in our, our hedge funds, and we have your operating companies, all of which can be sources of profit or sources of capital to return to shareholders or unitholders as we look forward. Anything else to add, Ted?

Ted Papapostolou (CFO)

No, you, you hit it spot on, Dave.

Daniel Fannon (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Just to follow up on that, does that imply that we should see more variability in the dividends on a quarterly or annual basis than we've seen historically?

David Willetts (CEO)

I wouldn't read into it one way or the other, right? I think when you take a look at a quarterly reevaluation every quarter, we've had the benefit in, in, you know, over the past number of years of having a fairly predictable, constant, distribution. That said, I think we've always cautioned that we reevaluate that quarterly, and it's subject to change. There are no guarantees, but we have certainly served to provide a very healthy return to our unitholders over time, with very attractive dividend yields. Even when you take a look at the dividend yield, that would be implied based on, you know, share prices and per unit, it remains a healthy and attractive dividend yield.

I, you know, I can't predict the future, but I think take everything I've said, as we're not changing our practice going forward. We're gonna continue to do exactly what we've done, which is assess things critically, quarterly.

Daniel Fannon (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Understood. Then on the investment fund, can you be more specific on what you have done in terms of the investment strategy that's different? Because it sounded very similar to what we've heard in the past, where the hedges are, you know, kind of broad and macro, and obviously, the longs didn't contribute to positive returns either this quarter. Just so we understand going forward, how the investment strategy is, is potentially still utilizing hedging, and ultimately, if it's, if it's really that different than what you've been doing on a longer-term basis.

David Willetts (CEO)

Yeah, I, I think I, I appreciate the question because it, it's an important question. When you look at what we do, which is activism, our, our view on activism hasn't changed. We have I'd have to count them, but probably 8 to 10 companies that we have invested in, where we have a degree of board representation. Those companies are in different stages of maturity in terms of what we're doing. You can look at any number of the ones that are out there. When you take a look at what happened in the Q2, sometimes, you know, the companies move in predictable ways, sometimes they do not. In Q2, we had a confluence of events that across multiple positions, we had reductions in many of the positions, right?

When I look at the, the, the actual plan and the actual capability of management and what they're looking to do over the next, not just, you know, months, but quarters and years, we remain actually very encouraged by our positions. We, we do adjust them from time to time, but I'd say with our long positions, I'm very proud of a number of the positions that we have, right? You can point to each one of them and, and see a, I think, a clear progression over time. But it is over time. Turnarounds, which is effectively what we're doing with activism, oftentimes are bumpy in and of themselves. We're, we're very comfortable in our in our long positions, right? We do reassess it. Not everyone is a winner, but we're comfortable in where we're headed.

Nothing has really changed in terms of our longs. We continue to execute the play that we've executed. When I take a look at, at the short positions, I think that's where you do see a change, not necessarily in strategy, but the philosophy has been, we, we want to make sure we, we, you know, attempt to balance risk with, you know, between our long and our short positions. I think as Carl put out in the earnings release, I, and we have said several times, we need to adjust those because it was overly bearish. Specifically, what has changed, it's not the degree of interest in hedging our positions to have a rational, balanced portfolio, but we said the level needs to change.

Just to, just to quote some numbers, and I'd refer you to the, the documents that will be filed in the Q this afternoon, I think it's at 4:00 P.M. You'll see that the overall size of the short position has, has materially changed if you go back to December, you know, Q4, right? Just your directional numbers, I think you will have the specific ones. I believe last year, at the end, it was a net negative 47%, right? You get to the end of Q1, it's negative 38. At the end of Q2, it's negative 18%. You see a market reduction in the shorts through that time. Obviously, some of that was because, you know, longs performed differently in Q1, Q2, but the primary mover of that was the shorts.

I, I'd say the strategy hasn't changed in what we're doing with longs. I think the strategy of shorting still makes sense, but as we've acknowledged, that needed to change in terms of your overall balance. We are, you know, constantly reviewing the shorts. You know, we're, we're obviously taking a very hard look at what is the right position to have, not just on a macro basis, but, you know, within different sectors, and we reevaluate it.

Daniel Fannon (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Just to clarify.

David Willetts (CEO)

That's. Sorry, Dan. That's, I, I'm remiss because I've been talking about our invested companies, and our shorts, but I think the operating companies also, you'll bear some mention, right? Obviously, CVI, we continue to believe strongly in CVI. Our operating companies have been the subject of a turnaround, right? If you look at Pep Boys, if you look at Viskase, on other metrics for some of the other companies, they're all generating, you know, cash flow, increasing amounts of cash flow. Our strategy on the owned companies has been continue to accelerate and improve the pace of performance across each one of them. It's evident in, in many different metrics, some more than others. Some it's more cash, some it's more income. Sorry, that was a little long-winded, but I, I felt that question deserved a longer, more robust answer.

Daniel Fannon (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Understood. Then just to clarify on the, the shorts, or is it more of the market or broader hedges have come down and the shorts are more reflective of offsetting longs to be more hedged within the context of the investment portfolio directly?

David Willetts (CEO)

Both are true, right? The broad market hedges have come down materially. We still have a, a level of them because we think it makes sense, because not everything is hedgeable on a name-by-name basis. We have very specific name-by-name hedges or sector hedges, to attempt to offset any risk that we see with the specific loans in that sector or that specific loan itself.

Daniel Fannon (Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst)

Understood. Okay. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question, please. All right, it comes from the line of Bruce Monrad with Northeast Investors Trust. Please proceed.

Bruce H. Monrad (Chairman, Trustee, and Lead Portfolio Manager)

Hi, guys. Can you hear me okay?

David Willetts (CEO)

We can. Good morning, Bruce.

Bruce H. Monrad (Chairman, Trustee, and Lead Portfolio Manager)

Good, good morning, a question on food packaging, if that's okay? Obviously, you know, outstanding numbers out of this case. Is that, you, are the production? It seems like Tim has nailed it on the production, or is there also help on the revenue side, pricing, or, you know, what, what, what's behind it all?

David Willetts (CEO)

The answer is yes. What I'd say is Tim and the team, I think, have done a very, very good job on multiple levers. Not every, every initiative is where we would want it to be, but I think when you take a look at how that team has skillfully managed to offset headwinds or surprises, you can basically see that performance is up, right? The bumper sticker is, they have been very good at thoughtfully looking at their gross margin % and increasing them. That's not just price, that's also working with the customers to make sure they're selling, you know, the right SKUs or the right items, you know, jettisoning low value to the customer, you know, negative or low value to this case, products.

Gross margin management has been obviously a very, very strong performance factor. The plants, we have a new team on the plants. I mean, this isn't, you know, as of today, but it's over the course of this year, and they're getting their arms around the production issues. I think we have a very coherent, clear plan to continue to get yields and rates and efficiencies where they need to be. They're not entirely where I think Tim wants them to be, but they're making steady and measured progress on, you know, a series of fairly complex, you know, process and technical issues. When you take a look at volume, generally speaking, there are puts and takes, depending on which region you look at or which commodity, which substrate you look at.

The team has done very well at balancing, I think, the, the entire book of business and running it like a professional operation. I'm also pleased with the cash flow. They continue to generate cash flow, work through inventory, and work to pay down the liabilities. I, I think broadly speaking, the, the team has done a fantastic job.

Bruce H. Monrad (Chairman, Trustee, and Lead Portfolio Manager)

Well, that's good. That's great. These are obviously your top two you know, toughest comparisons of the year. You know, this is, this is great. On the November call, you, you, you, you talked about a cocktail when things, were good. I'll tell you that I'll be having a cocktail tonight, and, if you want, hop on a plane and come on up and join me. Thank you. Well done.

David Willetts (CEO)

Very good. Thanks, Bruce.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. One moment for our next question, please. All right, it comes from the line of Andrew Berg with Post Advisory Group. Please proceed.

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

Thanks. If I can follow up a little bit on Dan's questions to start. Excuse me. With respect to the hedges, and I guess we'll see it in the queue later, is there any reason to believe you guys would have materially changed the short view with respect to, the, the commercial real estate? Is it safe to assume you guys still maintain that negative position, negative view?

David Willetts (CEO)

You're referring to the CMBX position?

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

Correct.

David Willetts (CEO)

Yeah. We, we obviously still have a CMBX position. It, it's, if you know, if you know anything about CMBX, it is a very intricate series of securities, and they don't move in a traditional fashion. What I would say, what I would say is, yes, we're still in it. Obviously, there's good news, and there's bad news. It's very specific to the particular tranche of CMBX we're in, and, you know, several anchor malls within each one. You know, every day is bringing grim news for some malls across the country, whereas others are able to refinance and, and continue on with your very happy position.

It's, it's a very active position that we monitor and manage, but, you know, it's all, it's all contingent upon the health of the underlying malls and their ability to refinance.

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

Okay. With respect to the dividend, given that you get dividends coming up out of CVI, you get dividends coming up out of some of the other subsidiaries, it would strike me that the actual cash amount of dividends that you guys would pay on an annual basis is probably somewhere less than $100 million now. Safe to assume Carl has not changed his view on taking his dividends in stock versus cash? If that's correct, then the right way to think about it is, you know, maybe net $100 million or so of cash dividends going out the door versus your liquidity, which I think you said was $1.5 million in cash at the holding company, almost $1.6 million at the end of the quarter. Is that the right way?

David Willetts (CEO)

Roughly $1.5 billion.

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

Yeah.

David Willetts (CEO)

I guess two answers to that question. I think, I think the first answer is until all the shareholders elect, we rarely never know, you know, who is taking what in cash and who is taking what in securities. The, the, you know, the history, the history would suggest some of the numbers that you've quoted. When we take a look at going forward, you know, I think for this quarter, Carl has indicated, although he hasn't made a final determination, that he is likely to take some mix of cash and, and securities, but his final election, you know, hasn't, hasn't been determined, right? Obviously, beyond this quarter, there's no communication as to what his indications are, right? Historically, from time to time, Carl has taken distributions.

This is also in line, I think, with past practice.

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

Okay. From an operational basis, segments with respect to automotive. On the services side, revenues were basically flat. Are you able to address what the EBITDA was coming out of the services business and how that may have moved in the quarter?

David Willetts (CEO)

Ted, we don't disclose that specifically.

Speaker 7

We don't disclose that, yeah, we. Currently, the automotive segment is pretty much, you know, 'cause Auto Plus was deconsolidated during Q1, so Q2 is probably the first time where you can see, you know, IAG's, the majority of it is the service business in Q2.

David Willetts (CEO)

Well.

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

Right, the.

David Willetts (CEO)

To specifically address your question, right? Here, here's how I think about the services business, right? The, the services business has gone through a few changes, and this will be a little wordy, but the context is important. When I take a look at 2020, 2021, and early 2022, there was a reduction in terms of the store count as loss-performing stores were, you know, shut down and jettisoned, and the footprint was reconfigured, right? Revenue coming down is not necessarily alarming in and of itself. What we have seen is the revenue, although very slightly down this quarter for services, it's really, your pricing has, pricing and margin management has been significantly up. It's been a large driver of the year-to-date performance.

Volume has been, you know, a slight negative, although we're actually, feel pretty encouraged that it's up, you know, 2% to 3% on a same-store basis, you know, as of late June and July. I think revenue-wise, I, I'm, I'm actually pretty pleased with where Pep Boys is, the service company. As I look towards, you know, the next several quarters, they have, they started in late 2022, dipping their feet back in the water of opening greenfields. I know the CEO is currently in Indianapolis, celebrating the opening of, I think it's two locations there, and they've, they've sort of been on a little bit of a roadshow. As I look to the future, I think some of the volume issues are going to be ameliorated by the increased greenfields. Now, that said, going forward, we need to have more.

It's just the company wasn't necessarily in a position to really commit to that. I've also taken a look at, you know, store, or rather, Scott has taken the CEO, has taken a look at store hours, looked at refining the marketing, really dialing the marketing spend in. We're actually pretty encouraged by what we're seeing in terms of, you know, same store sales volume potential. That's sort of along with it. You asked about EBITDA. EBITDA, roughly speaking, was up in, in Q1 versus prior year. In Q2, it's flat versus prior year, which is great. That's in line with plan. The team has been focused on, a whole host of execution actions, and we're actually very pleased at what they've done with cash generation.

Cash was our first and foremost, your priority, to get the company generating cash. The, the difference year-over-year couldn't be starker. I'm less worried about major EBITDA, at least in the first half, Andrew, than I was about cash. Now, they're rock solid in terms of what they're generating. Very pleased. That's gonna continue. As I looked at Q3 and Q4, that's where I think, you know, I, I anticipate being able to provide, you know, better and clearer news in terms of EBITDA growing, right? Short version, EBITDA has been basically flat to slightly up, depending on whether you're looking at Q1, Q2. Cash generation is up, you know, very substantially. Revenue, although slightly down, that, that, that doesn't account for New Greenfields, and that shows an offset from, you know, a number of, you know, stores that were closed.

wordy, but hope. Does that help?

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

Yeah, no, that definitely helps, and it's nice to hear that you guys are making some progress there, especially from the cash generation side, and we'll look forward to hopefully seeing that EBITDA growth in the next couple of quarters.

David Willetts (CEO)

Yep, absolutely.

Andrew Berg (Managing Director)

That's all I had. I appreciate all the color today, guys. Thank you.

David Willetts (CEO)

Perfect, Andrew.

Ted Papapostolou (CFO)

Thanks, Andrew.

Operator (participant)

Thank you, and with that, I will end the Q&A queue. I will pass it back to David Willetts for final comments.

David Willetts (CEO)

All right. We appreciate everyone's time today. Thank You for dialing in or joining us on the webcast. We look forward to talking to you in roughly another three months, you know, for Q3 results. Everyone, have a good day. Take care.

Operator (participant)

Thank you, everyone, for participating in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect.