Global Partners LP

Hey, everyone, and welcome to the Global Partners second quarter, 2025 financial results conference call. Today's call is being recorded. All lines have been placed in a listen only mode with us from Global Partners, our president and chief executive officer, Mr. Eric Slipka, chief financial officer, Mr. Gregory Hansen, chief operating officer, Mr. Mark Romaine, and chief legal officer and secretary, Mr. Sean Geary. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Geary for opening remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today's call will include forward-looking statements within the meanings of federal securities laws, including projections or expectations concerning the future, financial and operational performance of Global Partners. No assurances can be given that these projections will be attained or that these expectations will be met. Our assumptions and future performance are subject to a wide range of business risks, uncertainties and factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially, as described in our findings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Global Partners undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements. Now, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to our president and chief executive officer, Eric Slipka.

Thank you, Sean, and good morning, everyone. Global delivered strong second-quarter results in line with our expectations. These results reflect the strength of our integrated business and the value of staying focused on disciplined execution. Through the first half of 2025, we grew earnings and cash flow year over year, with net income increasing 8%, adjusted EBITDA increasing 7%, and adjusted DCF increasing 9% from the same period last year. That kind of performance speaks to the power of our diversified platform and our ability to execute in a dynamic market. We see continued strength across our retail, terminal and wholesale liquid energy segments. Our recent terminal acquisitions have expanded our reach, strengthened our presence in key markets, and established an even stronger platform for long-term unit-holder value and future M&A opportunities. To that end, last month, the board approved a quarterly cash distribution of 75 cents per unit, our 15th consecutive increase. The distribution is payable on August 14th, the unit holders of record, as of the close of business on August 8th. Before I turn the call over to Greg, I want to take a moment to reflect on the passing of my uncle, Richard Slivka, our longtime chairman of the board, who left us peacefully in May at the age of 85. Richard was part of Global for more than 60 years. His steady leadership and deep integrity helped shape the company we are today. Richie cared deeply about people, always guided by a strong sense of purpose and a commitment to doing what was right for the long term. Those who knew him will remember his generosity, thoughtfulness and quiet strength. His presence is deeply missed and his legacy continues to live on in the values he instilled across our organization and community. Following Richie's passing, we welcome Tom Dzielka to our board of directors. Tom brings a wealth of experience from his long legal career at Nutter McClellan and Fish, where he has served as a partner since 1985. With that, I'll turn the call over to Greg for the financial review. Greg?

Thank you, Eric. Good morning, everyone. Turning to our results, it's important to note the difficult comparison of our second quarter of 2025 results with the second quarter of 2024. As you might recall, in the first quarter of 2024, certain products in our wholesale segment were negatively impacted by the timing of mark to mark evaluations that were then realized in the second quarter of 2024, leading to outsized wholesale segment results in that quarter. As a result, we believe that our year to date results through June provide a more accurate gauge of our performance. As Eric mentioned, for the first six months of 2025 compared to 2024, we saw strong growth in our performance with adjusted EBITDA of 189.4 million versus 177.3 million in 2024 and adjusted DCF of 98.8 million compared with 90.4 million. Now turning to our quarterly results, as I review the numbers, please note that all comparisons will be with the second quarter of 2024 unless otherwise noted. Net income for the second quarter was 25.2 million versus 46.1 million in Q2 last year. EBITDA was 95.7 million for the second quarter compared with 118.8 million and adjusted EBITDA was 98.2 million versus 121.1 million. Distributable cash flow was 52 million for the second quarter compared with 73.1 million and adjusted DCF was 52.3 million compared with 74.2 million last year. For the second quarter this year, net income, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, DCF and adjusted DCF included a loss on early extinguishment of debt of 2.8 million, related to the redemption of our senior notes due to 2027 in the quarter. Adjusting for this loss on early extinguishment of debt or adjusted EBITDA for QQ25 was 101 million. Trailing 12 month distribution coverage as of June 30 at 2025 is 1.81 times or 1.75 times after factoring in distributions to our preferred unit holders. Turning to our segment details, GDSO product margin decreased 13.6 million to 207.9 million in the quarter, primarily as a result of lower site count year over year and the impact of adverse weather conditions in the Northeast, which saw a record 13 weekends of consecutive rain. Product margin from gasoline distribution decreased 9.4 million to 137.9 million, projecting lower fuel volumes due in part to the decreased site count year over year and the weather impact. On a cents per gallon basis, fuel margins of 36 cents per gallon remained flat with the second quarter of 2024. Station operations product margin, which includes convenience store and prepared food sales, sundries and rental income, was similarly impacted by the weather and lower site count. It decreased 4.2 million to 70 million in the second quarter of 2025. At quarter end, we had a portfolio of 1,553 sites, 42 fewer than prior year as we continued our strategic investment activities to enhance and optimize our overall portfolio of sites. In addition, we operated or supplied 66 sites under our spring partners retail joint venture. Looking at the wholesale segment, second quarter product margin was 91.7 million. Product margin from gasoline and gasoline blend stocks decreased 11.6 million to 58.8 million, primarily due to less favorable market conditions, largely in gasoline, but also in gasoline blend stocks. That decline was partially offset by terminal acquisitions from Gulf Oil and Exxon Mobil in the second and fourth quarters of last year respectively. Product margin from distillers and other oils increased 11.4 million to 32.9 million, primarily due to more favorable market conditions. The commercial segment product margin decreased 0.1 million to 6.1 million, in part due to less favorable market conditions and bunkering. Looking at expenses, operating expenses increased 5.7 million to 135.7 million in the second quarter, primarily related to our terminal operations and the additions of the Gulf and Exxon Mobil terminals. SG&A increased 2.4 million in Q2 25 to 74.7 million, reflecting in part increases in wages and benefits and various other SG&A expenses. Interest expense was 34.5 million in the second quarter of 25, down 1 million from last year, in part due to lower average balances on our revolving credit facility. CAPEX in the second quarter was 15 million, consisting of 9.9 million of maintenance CAPEX and 5.1 million of expansion CAPEX that primarily related to investments in our gasoline stations and terminals. For the full year, we continue to anticipate maintenance capital expenditures of approximately 60 to 70 million dollars. Expansion capital expenditures, excluding acquisitions, are anticipated to be approximately 65 to 75 million in 2025, relating primarily to investments in our gasoline station and terminal business. At 70 million, the midpoint of our expansion CAPEX range is down 10 million from the range stated in our year-end 2024 call. Our current CAPEX estimates depend in part on the timing of completion of projects, availability of equipment and workforce, weather and unanticipated events or opportunities requiring additional maintenance or investments. Turning to the balance sheet, at June 30th, leverage as defined in our credit agreement as funded debt to EVITA was 3.5 times. We had 198.5 million outstanding on the working capital revolving credit facility and 88.2 million outstanding on the revolving credit facility. During the quarter, we completed an upsized private offering of 450 million senior unsecured notes with a 7.1 interest rate and a 2,033 maturity. We used the proceeds to retire 400 million 7% senior notes due to 2027 through a combination of a cash tender offer and a subsequent redemption. The remaining funds were used to pay down borrowings under our credit facility. This transaction strengthens our balance sheet, extends our debt maturity profile, enhances our financial flexibility moving forward. Before I hand the call back to Eric for closing remarks, I'll just mention that we'll be participating in Citi's 2025 Natural Resources Conference next week. If you're attending, we look forward to seeing you there. Now, let me turn the call back to Eric for closing comments. Eric?

Thanks, Greg. As we move into the second half of the year, our focus remains on operational excellence, disciplined capital allocation and delivering consistent returns for our unit holders. Now, Greg, Mark and I would be happy to take your questions. Operator, please open the line for Q&A.

At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad now and you will be placed in the queue in the order received. Once again, in order to ask a question at this time, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad now. Your first question comes from Selman Acule with Stiefel. Your line is open.

Thank you. Good morning. Eric, those were truly kind words on your uncle, and they were heartfelt and sorry for your loss.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Selman. I do appreciate that.

I guess you guys talked about the weather, and I'm just wondering, is there any way you can quantify what impact you thought that had on the quarter?

Hey, Selman, it's Greg. Yeah, it's hard. Candidly, we look at it a thousand different ways to try and figure it out. You know, we look at same-site volumes, we look at same-site store merchandising, and it really impacted May and into the first couple of weeks of June. I don't have a number for you, but it was material. It rained every Saturday for those 13 weeks. That hasn't rained that much on weekends in the Northeast since 1970. That's the last time it was 12 weeks was the previous record of 13 weeks. So we really saw it in our May results, and it impacted not just the merchandising and PacFab sales and things like that, but also the fuel site. But I don't have an exact number to give to you.

Understood. And you also referenced sort of 42 fewer sites, so I'm just curious, how close are you to being done on the rationalization, or is there much more to go?

Yeah, I'd quantify it's not much more to go. I think we're very happy where we are on a site count. We do an annual review every year and looking at our sites, we look at the sustainability of those sites over the next 10 years, if they fit our operating model, if they should be a company-operated or they should be a dealer or a commission agent. We looked at the class of trade too. I think where we sit right now, we're very satisfied with our portfolio overall. There's probably a handful of sites that we'd look to potentially either confer or divest. And then we will do another review process as we annually do towards the fourth quarter and look at the process. But it's a continuing process, especially as we buy sites or do raise and rebuilds or NTIs. It's just a constant sort of churn in the portfolio. But that was probably a bigger chunk last year, the 40 sites we did. But I think overall we're pretty comfortable with the portfolio as it stands today.

Got it. And you guys had strength in your CPG. And so I'm curious, is that tied back to the terminals you've been acquiring and we're seeing that kind of get layered in there?

No, it's really independent from our terminals. Our supply advantages and our vertical integration, that really shows up on our wholesale segment. Those cents per gallon and the GDSO segment are pretty pure cents per gallon numbers. I think overall it wasn't that volatile of a quarter from a pricing standpoint. If you look at the R above curve, you had a big sell-off in early April. So you had some pretty strong margin in early April after the Independence Day or Liberation Day when prices crashed pretty quickly and you had decent margins in April. And then May was sort of a grinded out month until June. You saw the big spike when the bombing of Iran happened and then it quickly came off. So towards the end of June there were some opportunities for decent margins. But overall I'd probably say it's a more normalized quarter overall.

Got it. And then can you guys just sort of comment on the acquisition outlook and what you're seeing out there? And you know, bid ask spread still pretty wide or coming in. Anything you can offer color there?

Yeah, I mean, I think you hit it right on the nose there. Bid offers are wide on the terminal side. I'd say on the retail side it remains active. But you know, I think there are some opportunities out there and we'll just see if there's a way to try and move forward.

All right, I'll leave it at that. Thank you

kindly.

At this time, I'd like to turn the call back to Mr. Slicka for closing comments.

Thank you for joining us this morning and we look forward to keeping you updated on our progress. Thanks everyone.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending and have a wonderful rest of your day.