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spk05: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the MMLP fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. I would now like to turn the call over to Sharon Taylor, CFO.
spk08: Please go ahead.
spk07: Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone.
spk01: With me today are Bob Bondurant, CEO, Randy Tauscher, COO, David Cannon, Controller, and Danny Cavan, Director of FP&A. Before we get started, I'll remind you that management may be making forward-looking statements as defined by the SEC. Such statements are based on our current judgments regarding the factors that could impact the future performance of Martin, but actual outcomes could be materially different. You should review the risk factors and other information discussed in our SEC filings and form your own opinions about Martin's future performance. We will discuss non-GAAP financial measures on today's call. Please refer to the table in our earnings press release posted in the investor relations section of our website to find information regarding those non-GAAP financial measures, including a reconciliation of historical non-GAAP financial measures referenced in today's call to their corresponding GAAP measures. And now I will turn the call over to Bob.
spk00: Thanks, Sharon. Before I get started with my normal discussion of our operating performance, I would like to discuss our thoughts around the recent decision to exit the butane optimization business. We experienced an EBITDA loss in the fourth quarter of $10.7 million in this line of business. While we took a non-cash write-down of butane inventory to market prices at the end of the third quarter, on a cash basis, We carried approximately 1.65 million barrels into the fourth quarter selling season at an investment cost greater than market. We bought this inventory throughout the late spring and summer, but we did not hedge our inventory as the forward pricing curve was significantly backward dated. As we approached the fourth quarter selling season, butane pricing did not improve and we experienced losses from the actual volume sold out of inventory. resulting in the $10.7 million EBITDA loss experienced in the fourth quarter. As a result of the significant negative financial performance in the fourth quarter of our butane optimization business, we concluded any future positive cash flow opportunity associated with this business line was no longer worth the commodity risk associated with carrying inventory from the summer purchasing season to the winter selling season. As a result of the decision to exit this particular business line, we will sell the remaining butane inventory and storage with the majority of inventories sold in Q1 and the remaining volume being sold in April and May. The cash realized from our butane inventory liquidation will be used to pay down our revolving line of credit. We believe proceeds from this inventory liquidation should approximate $45 to $50 million. Going forward, our intent is to operate as a fee-based butane logistics business, primarily utilizing our North Louisiana underground storage assets, which have both truck and rail capability. This logistics business will also utilize our truck transportation assets for fee-based product movements. As a result of this new business model, we will no longer carry any butane inventory going forward. This will eliminate commodity risk, reduce cash flow and earnings volatility, and will also substantially lower our working capital requirements. I would now like to move to the discussion of our fourth quarter operating performance. For the fourth quarter, we had adjusted EBITDA of $17.8 million compared to $39.7 million a year ago. The difference between the two quarters is attributable to the butane optimization business. In the fourth quarter a year ago, butane optimization made $11 million in EBITDA, and this year it had an EBITDA loss of $10.7 million, a negative swing of $21.7 million. Excluding the results of the butane optimization business for both fourth quarters, we had adjusted EBITDA of $28.5 million in the fourth quarter compared to $28.7 million a year ago. For the year... Martin Midstream had adjusted EBITDA of $114.9 million compared to $114.5 million a year ago. This year we had negative EBITDA of $7.2 million in the butane optimization business compared to positive EBITDA of $22.3 million a year ago, a negative swing of $29.5 million. Excluding the results of the butane optimization business for both years, We had adjusted EBITDA of 122.1 million compared to 92.2 million a year ago, an increase in cash flow of approximately 30 million for the year. For the fourth quarter, our largest cash flow generator was our transportation business, which had adjusted EBITDA of 14.7 million compared to 8.8 million a year ago. Our land transportation improved over last year as we had 11.3 million of adjusted EBITDA compared to $7.6 million a year ago. We had a 28% increase in our load count in the fourth quarter of this year compared to last year, primarily driven by a corresponding increase in our driver count. Also, our revenue per mile improved over the prior year, which helped absorb the inflationary cost increases we have been experiencing. Our marine transportation business also saw improvement compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.4 million compared to $1.2 million a year ago. Our average M&A rate was approximately 30% greater in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago, and our utilization improved 10% compared to a year ago. For the year, our transportation segment had adjusted EBITDA of $54.9 million compared to $24.1 million a year ago, an increase of $30.8 million. We saw significant improvement in our land transportation business as it had adjusted EBITDA of $45.5 million compared to $23.9 million a year ago. Our load count increased 25% compared to a year ago, primarily driven by the increase in our driver count in response to growing customer needs and our expansion in Central Florida. We also were able to manage overall inflationary cost increases by improving our revenue per mile compared to last year. For the year in our marine transportation business, we saw an increase of $9.2 million in adjusted EBITDA from $0.2 million a year ago to $9.4 million in 2022. We had an overall 20% increase in both inland barge utilization and day rates in 2022 compared to 2021 as we continue to experience a very tight tank barge market for refined products. Our second strongest cash flow generator in the fourth quarter was our terminal and storage business, which had adjusted EBITDA of $10.5 million compared to $11 million a year ago. On the positive side, our shore-based terminals had an increase in cash flow of $0.5 million compared to a year ago, as we amended the throughput contract with our general partner, which improved throughput pricing. We believe the new contract pricing will enable our shore-based terminals to have approximately $1 million of adjusted EBITDA per quarter going forward. Offsetting the shore-based cash flow improvement were both specialty terminals and our packaged lubricants and grease business. Specialty terminals cash flow was down approximately $0.8 million compared to a year ago, primarily due to inflationary operating cost increases. A significant amount of our specialty terminal contracts have CPI adjustments, so our revenue should increase in the near term to catch up with the inflationary costs we have been experiencing. Our packaged lubricant and grease adjusted EBITDA was down 0.6 million, primarily due to margin compression compared to a year ago. For the year, our terminal storage segment had adjusted EBITDA 47.3 million compared to 43.5 million a year ago, an increase of $3.8 million. Our packaged lubricant and grease business improved $4.7 million to $21.4 million in 2022, as we were able to expand our margins compared to 2021. Our shore-based business saw an increased cash flow of $0.5 million, primarily due to the new contract pricing with our general partner, which became effective October 1, 2022. For the year, our specialty terminals had a decrease in cash flow of 1.2 million, primarily due to overall inflationary cost increases. Again, a significant majority of our customer contracts in our specialty terminal business have CPI adjustments, which will benefit us in 2023. Now I would like to discuss our sulfur services segment. We had adjusted EBITDA of 5.7 million in the fourth quarter, compared to 11.4 million a year ago, a decrease of $5.7 million. Our fertilizer business had adjusted EBITDA of $2.7 million in the fourth quarter compared to $7.8 million a year ago, a decrease of $5.2 million. The decline in cash flow can primarily be attributed to the timing of our customers' purchases as total volume sold in the fourth quarter was down 35%. A year ago in the fourth quarter, Our customers held a view that prices would be rising throughout the spring, so they sped up some of their normal Q1 purchases into Q4. This year, our customers delayed normal Q4 purchases into Q1 of 2023, as they now hold a belief that there is downside pressure in pricing. However, based on the strong forecast for corn acres to be planted this spring, we believe an increase in demand for our fertilizer products will begin in the spring of this year. Our pure sulfur side of this segment had adjusted EBITDA of $3.1 million compared to $3.5 million a year ago, a decline of $0.4 million. This decline is fully explained by the sale of our Stockton-Pril sulfur processing facility, which closed in October of 2022. For the year, our entire sulfur services segment had adjusted EBITDA of $30.7 million compared to $34.3 million a year ago, a decrease of $3.5 million. Our fertilizer business had adjusted EBITDA of $21.6 million in 2022, compared to $24 million a year ago, a decrease of $2.4 million. The decrease in annual cash flow in our fertilizer business can again be explained by the delayed buying activity of our customer base in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to 2021. For the year, our pure sulfur side of the business had adjusted EBITDA of $9.1 million compared to $10.2 million a year ago, a decrease of $1.1 million. Both years were negatively impacted by unique events. In 2022, we had a write-down in the value of our sulfur inventory of $3.3 million in the third quarter, negatively affecting sulfur cash flow for the year. In 2021, our pure sulfur business was negatively impacted by decreased refinery utilization and this corresponding decline in sulfur production from winter storm Yuri in Q1 of 2021 and Hurricane Ida, which impacted the Beaumont and Lake Charles area refineries in Q3 of 2021. Going forward, under normal refinery operating conditions, The annual adjusted EBITDA for the pure sulfur side of the business should approximate $12 million. Now I would finally like to discuss the performance of our NGL segment. For the fourth quarter, we had adjusted EBITDA of negative $9.1 million compared to $12.8 million a year ago, a negative EBITDA swing of $21.9 million. This significant decline in cash flow can be fully explained by the previously discussed butane optimization business. Without the butane optimization business included in the fourth quarter results, our NGL segment had adjusted EBITDA of 1.7 million in the fourth quarter compared to adjusted EBITDA of 1.8 million a year ago. For the full year, our NGL segment had adjusted EBITDA of negative 1.3 million compared to $28.4 million in 2021, a negative swing of $29.7 million. Again, the significant decline in cash flow can be explained by the performance of the butane optimization business. Without the butane optimization business included in the annual results, our MGL segment had adjusted EBITDA of $5.9 million compared to adjusted EBITDA of $6.1 million in 2021. This concludes my discussion of our performance by business segment for both the fourth quarter and the year. Now I would like to turn the call back over to Sharon to discuss our balance sheet, capital resources, and our 2023 guidance.
spk01: Thank you, Bob. As always, I'll begin with our balance sheet metrics and liquidity, discuss capital expenditures in the fourth quarter, review the note offering and revolver amendment completed in February, and conclude with a discussion of 2023 financial guidance. At December 31st, 2022, the total of our long-term debt outstanding was $516 million, a reduction of $31 million from the last quarter. Outstanding debt consisted of $171 million drawn on our $275 million revolving credit facility, $54 million of secured one and a half lien notes due 2024, and $292 million of secured Secondly notes due 2025. Total available liquidity was approximately $84 million under our revolving credit facility on December 31, 2022. The partnership's bank-compliant adjusted leverage ratio at the end of the quarter was 4.27 times which includes a $29.7 million debt carve-out attributed to our seasonal NGL inventory build when the inventory has been either forward sold or hedged. During the fourth quarter, we incurred $5.4 million in maintenance capital expenditures for a total of $24.3 million for the year. Of that number, $5.2 million was attributable to turnaround costs at our fertilizer plants and maintenance at the Smackover refinery. Gross capex was $1.4 million for the quarter and $6.9 million for the year. The full year total includes approximately $218,000 in expenditures related to the DSM joint venture. turning to the new capital structure that was closed and funded in February of 2023. We've been communicating about our debt refinance for some time now and had hoped to initiate a transaction in late third quarter, early fourth quarter of 2022. Internally, we worked on a few different avenues, but were focused on a high yield offering, the timing of which did not materialize for us until January. On January 30th, we announced a proposed senior secured second lien note offering of $400 million, along with a cash tender for our outstanding one and a half and two lien notes. At that time, we also announced an amendment to our revolving credit facility that would be effective with the closing of the note offering. On January 31st, we announced the pricing of the offered $400 million in senior secured notes, which closed and funded on February 8th. The issued notes priced at 11.5% interest with an original issue discount of 3% and will mature in 2028. The revolving credit facility amendment includes a lower commitment from $275 million to $200 million and a further step down to $175 million on June 30, 2023, to coincide with cash proceeds received from liquidating the remaining inventory related to the butane optimization business, and one further reduction to $150 million on June 30, 2024. The facility does not include a working capital sublimit carve-out for purposes of leverage calculation, since that is no longer a concern with the exit of the butane optimization business. Covenants for the new facility include maximum total leverage of 4.75 times, stepping down to 4.5 times on March 31, 2025, maximum first lien leverage of 1.5 times, and minimum interest rate coverage of 2 times. The revolver will mature in February of 2027. Next, I'll review our 2023 guidance. which is included as an attachment to our earnings press release and can be found on our website. We expect full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA of approximately $115 million after giving effect to the exit of the butane optimization business, which we forecast to have negative adjusted EBITDA of $9.9 million. You will note when reviewing guidance that we have returned to providing guidance by segment by business line instead of the annual range we have published the last few years. As management contemplated the exit from the butane optimization business, we determined that our operating segments and the businesses that roll up into them needed to be realigned. So beginning in 2023, Martin Underground Storage will now be reported as part of the Terminaling and Storage segment. Further, we have chosen to rename the Natural Gas Liquids segment as the Specialty Products segment. The lubricants and grease businesses will now roll up into the Specialty Products segment instead of Terminaling and Storage. Reviewing each segment briefly. For 2023, we anticipate transportation services to generate adjusted EBITDA of $46 million. Compared to 2022, we expect the marine group to benefit from higher day rates and increased utilization, and we are forecasting the land group to have another strong year when compared to 2019 through 2021, but have some contraction from 2022's elevated results. The terminaling and storage forecasted EBITDA is $33.3 million. The remaining operations in this segment are fee-based with contract escalators that will improve results year over year. The shore-based terminals will increase approximately $3 million due to a contract renegotiation that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2022. And lastly, the segment will benefit from projected earnings related to Martin Underground Storage that previously were reported in the natural gas liquid segment. The sulfur services segment adjusted EBITDA is projected to be $30.2 million, with the sulfur and fertilizer businesses expected to return to more historical margins and volumes. Those earnings will be offset slightly due to the sale of the Stockton, California sulfur priller in October of 2022. Last, the specialty product segment is forecasted to have $23.1 million in EBITDA after giving effect to the exit of the butane optimization business, which we project to have negative adjusted EBITDA of $9.9 million. Within the segment, the lubricants and grease businesses are projected to have strong results with some margin compression from last year, and the natural gasoline and propane businesses remain steady year over year. For 2023, we are forecasting growth capital expenditures of approximately 17.5 million, with 12.7 million for the oleum tower at Plainview, which is part of the capital spend related to the DSM joint venture. Maintenance capital is anticipated to be approximately 26.6 million for the year. Some of our larger expenditures include 4.7 million in our marine group related to regulatory inspections on our equipment, $4.2 million in turnaround costs at our fertilizer plants, $1.7 million for a 10-year inspection due on a sulfur tank, and $1.5 million in bulkhead repairs at the Galveston terminal. Finally, for full year 2023, we anticipate distributable cash flow of $23.5 million and free cash flow of $6 million. Additionally, we expect to generate cash for debt repayment of approximately $45 to $50 million from the liquidation of the butane optimization inventory. This concludes our prepared remarks.
spk07: I'll turn the call over to the operator for Q&A.
spk08: The floor is now open for your questions.
spk05: To ask a question at this time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point you'd like to withdraw from the queue, please press star 1 again. You'll be provided the opportunity to ask one question and one further follow-up question.
spk08: We'll now take a moment to render our roster.
spk05: Our first question comes from the line of Salman Akal from Stiefel. Please proceed.
spk04: Thank you. Good morning, all. Quick question. Just where does the revolver stand today? How much is on it?
spk01: The revolver today has approximately $121 million borrowed.
spk04: And so from there you expect it to get reduced by an additional $40 to $50 million from the proceeds of the remaining butane?
spk01: It's somewhere probably between $35 and $40 at this time because we have received the cash from the sales from January.
spk08: Got it. Okay. All right.
spk04: And so then should I be thinking about it then as sort of like a 480 million or so debt outstanding against your 115? Yes. When you think about leverage. Okay. Thank you. And then just flipping over to your JV since we're limited in questions. I think when I looked at the original press release, you talked about 1Q24 timing. Is that still good? And then it talked about an investment of $20 million, which I guess now you're investing $12.5 million. Has anything changed in timing investment-wise? Anything we should be thinking about? And then lastly, any idea where you're going to be reporting this at?
spk02: Good morning. No, nothing has changed from a timing perspective. Our target is still the first quarter of 2024. Nothing has changed from the investment capital amount. And to the extent you have more questions, feel free to ask more questions.
spk08: Okay.
spk04: All right. Appreciate that. So then you're going to invest $12.5 million, and then you still have approximately another $7.5 million to go sometime in 2024. And then the EBITDA run rate is still of $5 million to $6 million. That's still a good estimate out there?
spk02: It is. We anticipate – $13 million or so being spent prior to facility startup, and then upon facility startup, we would have the rest of the cash going out at that point to the JV. That would be the last $7 million-ish.
spk04: Got it. Appreciate that. And then you alluded to, I guess, things look pretty good for Marine. Can you talk about, are you seeing any lengthening in contracting there at all?
spk02: Well, the marine business has come a long way over the last year. Our rates are $2,000 a day higher than they were a year ago. And they're higher in January than they were in December. So the rates are still continuing to go up as opposed to the anterior term contract. We do have, you know, three, six months ago, everything except for maybe one one toe would have been in the spot market. Today we have three to four toes that are in more term business, but we're not even talking year-round. We're talking three, six, or nine months of term as opposed to a year or longer on the term. So I still consider most of our toes being in the spot business or will be back to the spot within a short amount of time.
spk04: Got it. And then I think industry-wise, they're looking for a heavier refinery turnaround season. Can you maybe just talk a little bit about that and what you expect in sulfur?
spk02: Yeah, that's correct. And it's going to come at us pretty quickly here as we get to the end of the first quarter and early in the second quarter. When you think about the Beaumont area, At least four of the refineries we work with there and provide services to for trucking and sulfur do have turnarounds planned to varying lengths and varying degrees over the March, April, maybe early May timeframe. And that will certainly impact the amount of sulfur we have coming into the site and the trucking business. But we have all that addressed in our guidance.
spk04: Got it. And then I heard you, and I've seen certainly articles on higher acres being planted for corn this year, which certainly is good for you guys in need for fertilizer. Have you seen that started to turn up in either conversations you're having or any orders that you're seeing? Is there any sort of confirmation of a stronger market this year?
spk02: The answer to that is no, we haven't seen it yet. Going back to the third quarter, we had, as you will recall, very slow sales. We expected the fourth quarter to pick up significantly, and the fourth quarter was on the low end of the range that we would consider normal for the fourth quarter. And through the first half of February, we're in the same place. So the sales have not picked up significantly, even though USDA is projecting 92 million acres of corn planted, which is a big number. So, you know, as the ammonia price has continued to come down, and internationally we're seeing sulfur prices decline just a little bit. They're edging down. We think the farmers have made the decision to delay their purchases until they need it. And so we do expect that business to pick up, and we expect that to pick up soon, but we haven't seen it yet.
spk04: Got it. And then just the last one for me. On the caverns and releasing, how's that going? I mean, have you got contracts signed? Is there any update you can kind of just give on how that's going?
spk02: Yeah, we just very recently have started to approach potential customers, and we still have some to approach. And that will all be happening within the month of February and the first couple days of March.
spk03: we really can't comment on that further until we have those meetings understood all right thank you very much our next question comes from the line of patrick fitzgerald from baird please proceed hey thanks a lot for taking the questions and congrats on the uh refinancing um so If you wouldn't mind, I'm a little bit confused on how your revolver balance is so low after, given the sources and uses of your bond deal. And, you know, they were issued at a discount. And then there was some... Is that taking into account all of the redemption of all the notes?
spk01: Yes. Yes.
spk03: Because you were expected to have 161, I believe, on the revolver at close of the deal.
spk01: That is correct. But we closed the deal on February 8th. The majority of our butane cash proceeds for the monthly sales are received between the 10th and the 15th of the month following. So the deal closed, and then two days later, we received approximately $30 million in proceeds from the butane inventory sales.
spk00: Okay. Wouldn't the numbers be performing as of September 30th? Is that true? Yes. So we also collected money in the fourth quarter from butane business as well.
spk03: Okay. Yeah, that's true. Okay, so if you expected $40 to $45 of unwinding it and you just got, did you say $30? So, you know, $10 to $15 more and then you're expected to lose $10 million of adjusted EBITDA in the first half. So, you know, from here it's kind of neutral or is that the wrong understanding of that?
spk01: Well, I think, first of all, the 40 to 45, to Bob's point, on the debt side, that was proformant from a September 30th number. And our 45 to 50 million left is from December 31st forward. So there's a slight disconnect there. And then the other – there was another piece of your question, Patrick. I'm sorry.
spk03: Just, you know, how much more cash is going to be released – by the time you exit the butane business?
spk00: Should be about $80 million left on the revolver at the end of the butane unwind, so the total debt would be the $400 plus the $80, or $480 million.
spk08: Yes. Okay, wow. That's great.
spk03: So, and then, is that business, That business is just gone. No one will pay you a fee to do it anymore? How does that work?
spk02: I know you're familiar with that business. The bets we were taking is we were buying in the summer months and turning around and selling in the winter months. We just are not going to take on the management of that risk from this point going forward. As Bob mentioned in his comments, we're going to turn that into a fee-based business. We have an underground storage in Arcadia, Louisiana that has invested in rail assets there in 2014. We have truck capabilities there. There are certain refineries that we think will value having storage there. And so our intent is to turn that into a service fee-based as opposed to the way we were doing it. And, yeah, if there's somebody out there and we're looking for this person that might be willing to take on the position we took on, we would entertain that.
spk08: We don't know if that's going to happen or not. Gotcha. Okay. Thanks.
spk03: In terms of your visibility, and thank you for providing the projections. It's very, very helpful. But in terms of your visibility in the transportation segment, you kind of have that business declining, you know, each quarter for the remainder of the year, at least in land. So, you know, what's kind of underpinning your assumptions for that segment? And, you know, because I believe that's more of a spot market business, you know, how much risk is there to those forecasts?
spk02: Yeah, so when you think about the land transportation business and go back to the middle of 21 to the end of 22, the environment we were in was our rates were rising quicker than our OPEX was rising. And we know that's not going to happen forever. The feedback we have received from our customers, now the refineries we expect to continue to run strong, The feedback we've got from the chemical producers is as we get through the year, they may be selling less, pulling back a little bit than what they historically have. So those two factors, we have chosen to bring the EBITDA contributed from the land transportation down as we work through the year.
spk08: Okay. Thanks.
spk03: Now with the butane gone, that was always kind of, you know, didn't really know what to expect each year. So which business do you feel like is the hardest to forecast of yours right now with butane gone?
spk02: I think fertilizers, the largest margin-based business, we have left. Over the years, we have seen between 14 and 24 million-ish in that business annualized. I think going forward, that would be the one we anticipate the most volatility in.
spk08: All right. Thanks a lot, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you, Patrick.
spk05: As a reminder, the floor is now open for your questions. To ask a question this time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. It appears there are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to Bob Bondurant for closing remarks.
spk00: Thank you, Mandeep. Thanks to everyone on the call today for your interest in Martin Midstream. We've had a quick start to 2023 as we refinance our debt, pushing the closest maturity out to 2027, and decided to exit the butane optimization business in order to remove a great deal of volatility from our earnings, and significantly reduce future working capital. In a short time frame, we have substantially lowered the risk profile of our company, and we intend to do more by using the cash proceeds from the liquidation of the butane inventory to reduce outstanding debt and further improve our balance sheet in the near future. Thanks again for your time this morning.
spk05: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
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