Navios Maritime Partners LP

Thank you for joining us for Navios Maritime Partners 4th Quarter and Full Year 2020 Earnings Conference Call. With us today from the company are Chairman and CEO, Mrs. Angeliki Frangou, Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Stratios Desypris, and Executive Vice President of Business Development, Mr. Georgios Akhniotis. As a reminder, this conference call is in webcast. To access the webcast, please go to the Investor section of Navios Partners website at www.navios-mlp.com You'll see the webcast link in the middle of the page and a copy of the presentation referencing today's earnings conference call will also be found there. Now we review the safe harbor statement. This conference call could contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about Navia's partners. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Maritime Partners management and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Such risks are more fully discussed in Maritime Partners filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information set forth herein should be understood in light of such risks. Navios Partners does not assume any obligation to update the information contained in this conference call. The agenda for today's call is as follows. First, Ms. Frangou will offer opening remarks. Next, Mr. Desypris will give an overview of Navios Partners' financial results. Then, Mr. Akhniotis will provide an operational update and an industry overview. And lastly, we'll open the call to take questions. Now, I turn the call over to Navios Partners Chairman and CEO, Mrs. Angeliki Frangou. Angeliki?

Thank you, Doris, and good morning to all of you joining us on today's call. I am pleased with the results for the full year and fourth quarter of 2020. For the full year of 2020, Navios Partners reported revenue of $226.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of $99.8 million. For the fourth quarter, Navios Partners reported revenue of $69.2 million and adjusted EBITDA of $35.5 million. Our merger with Navios Maritime Containers was approved and is expected to close on March 31, 2021. This will be a transformative transaction for Navios Partners and will carry the significant benefits of diversification. As you can see on slide 4, pro forma for the merger, NMM will have 85 vessels. Approximately half of the fleet will be dry bulk vessels and the other half will be container ships when measured by the number of vessels. The benefits of diversification are reflected in recent market activity. The container segment becomes strengthening in the third quarter of 2020 while the dry bulk markets become turning in 2021. The transaction will scale through a larger diversified asset base with an increased earning capacity. The enlarged entity will benefit from a simplified capital and an organizational structure, thereby reducing costs. The entity will have an enhanced credit profile through increased cash flow supporting deleveraging as well as growth. Moreover, the large asset base will provide the entity a significant buffer of collateral value. The financial potency of this combination can be measured through the pro forma combined results of 2020. Had the merger been effective for 2020, The pro forma revenue would have been 354 million dollars. Even this metric somewhat understates the opportunity as the underlying rate market for year to date 2021 is materially higher than it was on the average for 2020. And NMM already has more than that contracted for 2021. Please turn to slide 5. Performer for the merger, our company will be one of the 10 largest publicly listed dry cargo fleets. We are a premier dry cargo shipping platform with about 900 million of contracted revenue. For 2021, contracted revenue is expected to generate 12.6 million in excess of total fleet expenses. On a combined basis, about one-third of our available days are open or indexed limit, providing market exposure to capture market upside. Lastly, we have a strong balance sheet with low leverage. A combined net debt to book capitalization is 43.5%, About 90% of our debt is covered by the scrap value of our vessels alone, building us a significant buffer of collateral value. Slide 6 goes through recent developments. The approved merger with Navier's Container is expected to close on March 31st. Post-merger, NMM will have approximately 19.7 million units outstanding. For the first quarter, we generated $35.5 million in adjusted EBITDA, $12.8 million is adjusted net income, and $1.12 is adjusted earnings per unit. We continue to renew our fleet and improve our age profile. We agreed to acquire six tribal vessels with an average age of about two years and sold four vessels with an average of about 13 years. As to our balance sheet update, we are in advanced discussions to finalize a 115 million loan to refinance an upcoming maturity in the third quarter of 2021. The new loan will have an interest of 3% above LIBOR and amortization profile of about 5 years and maturity in the second quarter of 2025. We have finalized an additional 58 million loan which will be used to finance the acquisition of two vessels and refinance an existing facility. The terms of the loan include an interest rate of 3% above LIBOR An appreciation profile of about 9 years and maturity in the first quarter of 2026. Slide 7 sets forth key strengths of the combined entity. NMM has an enhanced ability to generate free cash flow. At 2021, contracted revenue exceeds their total fleet expenses by $12.6 million, with more than one-third of our available days open and index-linked There is an ample opportunity to provide further free cash flow. NMM has a strong balance sheet with low leverage, 43.5% in combined net debt to book of dollarization. NMM has diversification and scale, with an 85 treasury fleet, We rank in the top 10 among the publicly listed RIGARGO fleets. About 66% of our available days are fixed at an average charter rate of $18,612 net per day and 34% of our fleet available days are open or indexed linked. The diversification allows us to balance our chartering strategy across different Business segments optimizing their profit potential with cash flow certainty. NMM is well positioned to benefit from the different sector fundamentals. We have 89.4% of our available container days fixed to capitalize on market strength, with 53.5% of our available dry bulk vessel days exposed to market rates for 2021. On slide 8, we lay out world GDP growth since 1970. As you can see from the top graph on this page, the IMF expects global GDP to grow by 5.5% in 2021. This will be the highest GDP growth rate in the past 50 years. Importantly, the percentage increase perhaps understates the impact. The nominal GDP today is exponentially higher than compared to the nominal GDP of 50 years ago. For example, global GDP in 2019 equals 88% Thank you for watching. Slide 9 details our operating cash flow potential for 2021. 66% of our available days are fixed at an average rate of $18,612 net per day. The remaining 34% of our available days that are open or on index-linked charters provide us with more upside. Our contracted revenue alone exceeds our total freight expenses by $12.6 million. Using the current market average time charter rate of $23,549 per day, we believe NMM is well positioned for a strong 2021. Slide 10 shows our combined liquidity out of December 31, 2020. We had total cash of $38.3 million and total borrowings of $719 million. Our net debt to capitalization is 43.5% and our debt maturities are staggered through 2030. At this point, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Stratos Desypris, Navios Partners CFO, who will take you through the results of the fourth quarter and full year of 2020.

Thank you, Angeliki, and good morning all. I will briefly review our unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31st, 2020. The financial information is included in the present list and is summarized in a slide presentation on the company's website. Before I start discussing our financial highlights, I would like to draw your attention to certain one-off items that are listed in slide 11. For simplicity, the discussion of the financial results below exclude the effect of the one-off items listed in this slide. Included in these adjustments is a 42.6 million impairment on our investment in obvious containers, bringing its book values to approximately 25 million. Notwithstanding this accounting impairment, economically our investment has significantly increased in value. Based on yesterday's closing price, of Navios Containers Units, our investment amounts to over 110 million. As Angeliki mentioned earlier, today the Navios Containers Unit holders approve the merger with Navios Partners. The merger is expected to close on March 31st, 2021. The full results of operation of Navios Containers will be included in Navios Partners Commencing April 1st, 2021. Moving to the financial results as shown in slide 11. Q4 revenue increased by 7.9 million to 69.2 million compared to 61.3 million for Q4 2019. The increase was mainly due to the 39.3% increase in available days in Q4 2020. The increase was mitigated by a 17.4% decrease in the time charter equivalent rate achieved in the fourth quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2020 increased to 35.5 million compared to 33.7 million for Q4 of 2019 mainly due to the increase in revenues discussed above. Adopted net income for the quarter amounted to 12.8 million. Fleet utilization for the fourth quarter of 2020 was almost 100%. Moving to the 12-months operations, time-threatened revenue for the year increased to 226.8 million compared to 219.4 million in 2019. The increase was mainly due to the 32.3% increase in available days in 2020. The increase was mitigated by 20.9% decrease in the time charter equivalent rate achieved in 2020. Adjusted EBITDA for 2020 amounted to approximately 100 million, compared to 120 million in 2019. The decrease is primarily due to a 25.5 million increase in vessel operating expenses, mainly due to the increased A 3 million increase in general and administrative expenses, mainly due to the increased fleet, and a 1.4 million decrease in equity in net earnings of affiliate companies. The above decrease was partially mitigated by the 7.4 million increased revenues, discussed above, a 1.3 million decrease in time chart and voyage expenses, and a 1.1 million increase in net other income. Adjusted net income for 2020 amounted to 12.8 million. Turning to slide 12, I will briefly discuss some key balance sheet data, as of December 31st, 2020. Cash and cash equivalents was 30.7 million. Long-term borrowings, including the current portion, need of deferred fees, amounted to 486.9 million. Our cost of debt has been significantly reduced as a result of the refinancing of the term loan fee, as well as the decrease in LIBOR rates. This resulted in a reduction of interest expense for 2020 by approximately 15 million compared to 2019. Net debt to book capitalization was 4% at the end of the year. Slide 13 shows the details of our combined fleet, giving effect to the merger with Navius containers. Our fleet is in the top 10 publicly listed dry cargo fleet globally, as measured by number of vessels. We have a large modern diverse fleet of 85 vessels with a total capacity of 7.8 million deadweight tons. Our fleet consists of 49 dry-bulk vessels and 36 container ships. In slide 14, you can see the latest updates of our fleet. We actively renew and expand our fleet. We agreed to acquire 6 dry-bulk vessels with an average age of approximately 2 years. We agreed to acquire 3 Japanese new-building cave-sized vessels, contracted under 15-year bare-boating structure. The structure provides for an effective purchase price of 51.5 million and an effective interest rate fixed for a 15-year period of 4.4%. Navios has de-escalating purchase options on the vessels starting in year 4 and for the charted duration. All vessels are expected to be delivered in the second half of 2022. We agreed to acquire two 2012 built Camsar Max vessels for approximately 39.3 million. Also, we agreed to acquire a new building Camsar Max vessel for 31.6 million. The vessel is expected to be delivered in the second half of 2022. We also agreed to sell for vessels having an average age of 13 years for a total sale price of 32.8 million. In slide 15 you can see our starting strategy for 2021. We are focusing in taking advantage of the different fundamentals across the sectors we operate to maximize profitability. We have currently fixed 66% of our 29,026 available days for 2021. We have capitalized on the strength of the container ship market and fixed almost 90% of our available container ship days for 2021, enjoying healthy rates. Additionally, we are positioning our dry bulk fleet for what we hope will be a strong balance of 2021, and we have market exposure on 53.5 of our days for this year. In slide 16, you can see our ESG initiatives. When talking about ESG, I think it is important to remind people that trans-oceanic shipping is the most environmentally friendly means of transportation as it is the most carbon efficient mode of transport. However, we do not take that for granted. We aspire to have zero emissions by 2050. In this process, we have been pioneering and are adapting certain environmental regulations up to two years in advance. I am also proud to be working with a socially conscious group whose core values include diversity, inclusion and safety. Finally, we have very strong corporate governance and code of ethics. We have majority independent directors and independent committees that oversee our management and operations. I now pass the call to Georgios Akhniotis, Executive Vice President of Business Development, to discuss the industry section.

Thank you, Stratos. Please turn to slide 18. With the help of a strong second half, 2020 ended the year with the BDI averaging 1,066. Today, the BDI stands at 2,271, with the year-to-day average more than double its level at the start of 2020, and the highest it has been in 11 years. Governments, having put in place emergency monetary and fiscal plans to support their economies, have kick-started faster than expected the recovery in the world economy. This has led the IMF to increase its 2021 GDP growth projection to 5.5%, the highest in 50 years, and 4.2% in 2022. Pent-up demand and restocking is expected to push demand growth well above net fleet growth, supporting the recent dramatic rise in rates. In just the last month, sub-K time charter rates have hit 10-year highs in what is normally a seasonal low period. This increase reflects searching trades driven by strong demand for both major and minor bulk commodities. 2021 dry bulk trade is projected to increase by 3.7% and further increase by 2.2% in 2022. Demand is forecast to outpace Netflix growth in both 2021 and 2022. The graph on the left shows that for 2021, dry bulk demand for the three major carpets of iron ore, coal and grain is forecast to increase by over 3% compared to 2020. If you look at the graph on the right, net fleet growth is forecast to be 2.6% this year and only 0.7% for 2022. Net fleet growth is expected to remain low over the next few years as the order book is the lowest on record. Turn to slide 20. Despite the pandemic, China set another yearly record for iron ore imports in 2020 at about 1.1%. which is an increase of 9.4% over 2019. Chinese steel production surpassed the 1 billion ton mark in 2020. Global iron ore demand is expected to increase by 2.7% this year and additional availability of iron ore shipments to China are expected to increase a steel mill to replenish stockpiles driving demand for cave-sized vessels. Focuses are also for growth in iron ore imports around the world as the effects of the pandemic received. Europe's imports are expected to grow by 15% in 2021, and Asia, excluding China, is expected to import 9% more iron ore in 2021 than in 2020. Please turn to slide 21. Asian coal imports, which account for over 80% of the world's civil trade, are expected to increase by 4.3% in 2021, following a decline of 6.8% in 2020. The 2020 decrease is mainly attributable to Indian and Chinese imports declining by 13.8% respectively. Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries increased coal imports by 13%. Worldwide grain trade has been growing by over 5% since 2008, mainly driven by Asian demand, which increased by 15% in 2020 and is expected to increase a further 2.9% in 2021. Overall, world grain trade increased by 7.7% in 2020 and is expected to increase by about 2% in 2021. An ever-increasing world population, food security issues driven by the pandemic, as well as increasing protein demand worldwide, continues to support the global grain trade. World grain production this year will reach a record according to the International Grains Council and the USDA. Please turn to slide 23. The current order book stands at a record low of 5.7% of the fleet. New building contracted was down 56% in 2020 compared to 2019. Through mid-March 2021, contracted is down by about 62% compared to the same period last year. Accordingly, 2021 net fleet growth is expected at 2.6% and only 0.7% for 2022. Turn to slide 25. Lethals over 20 years of age are about 7.6% of the total fleet, which compares favorably with the previously mentioned record lower the book. Scrapping totaled 16 million tons in 2020, almost doubles the 2019 total. Year-to-date scrapping has totaled 3.4 million tons, which is on pace to March 2020. Please turn to slide 26, focusing on the container industry. As previously mentioned, stimulus measures have caused recovery of consumption in the advanced economies at the same time that there is increasing industrial production and economic growth in China. This targeted stimulus has led to historic turnaround in global container trade. Oil rates rose dramatically from mid-year 2020, led by the China to the US West Coast and China to Europe freight rates, as depicted on the chart on the lower right. Containership demand growth of 5.7% in 2021 and 3.7% in 2022 is expected to exceed supply as pent-up demand, poor congestion, restocking, and increases in consumer demand for goods all support increasing containerized volumes. Please turn to slide 27. The recent rapid market recovery has caused extremely high demand for available tonnage, which is in short supply across all segments. In particular, the extremely tight availability of Panamaxes combined with poor congestion, increasing trade and lack of new buildings has propelled period time charter rates to hit 13-year highs of $37,000 per day for periods up to a year. SCFI box rates have climbed 222% from April 2020 to March 2021 Spread by the early restart of the Chinese economy and from continuing demand for consumables and pandemic-related supplies worldwide. In conclusion, positive demand fundamentals, mainly due to the restart of economic activity around the world, along with reduced fleet availability, should continue to support both the dry bulk and containerized shipping industries in their continuing effort to navigate through the easing pandemic storm. This concludes my presentation. I would now like to turn the call over to Angeliki for her final comments. Angeliki?

Thank you, George. This completes our formal presentation and we open the call to questions.

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you wish to ask a question at this time, simply press star then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. Again, that is star 1. We have a question from the line of Randy Gibbons of Jefferies.

Howdy, Angeliki and team. How are y'all doing?

Good morning. Good morning. Great work.

Excellent. All right, a couple questions. I guess first, for the vessel sales and purchases, it seems like you're obviously adding some dry bulk exposure while shedding some container shipped exposure. Is this a view on those respective markets, or is this purely a fleet renewal play? And then going forward, Which sub-sector would you maybe look to grow?

Actually, what we are doing is repositioning a fleet. We sold some vessels that were older and smaller to more commercially attractive vessels. Basically, I mean, we see a lot of value on both segments. We see that the different sets of fundamentals are important. purely from a point of the market I'll say that today you may have some more opportunities to pick up attractive dry bark vessels because you still have some recovery. Let's not forget that the container ship sector has been the container sector has recovered from second half of last year versus Drybalk is more this year that we are experiencing a much different potential.

Got it. Sure. That makes sense. And then now that obviously the Drybalk and containership markets are both extremely strong, your balance sheet is in great shape. The merger is a week away now, right? So congrats on that. What will it take to increase the distribution and how will you balance that with maybe unit repurchases? as you're still trading at a pretty massive discount to NAV.

The reality is we see ourselves as a growth platform that we're in the right part of the cycle, meaning we see great upside potential with our fleet, but also we would like to also use the excess cash flow in the leveraging. I think that will give us a long-term view on the ride. Shipping is always very, very profitable. It is a matter of leverage, and I want to remind that. And this is something in the back of our mind. So what you should expect from us is replacement of assets, renewal of fleet, which is part of our ongoing process, and strong cash generation with a deleveraging effect.

Sure. Okay. And then lastly, just quickly, can you provide any quarter-to-date rates for the first quarter, now that we're, you know, a week away from that being concluded for the dry bulk vessels?

Yeah, Andy, good morning from you also. I mean, we have put out some details also in our appraisal today, so you will see that we are almost 100% fixed on both sides, both in the dry bulk, but also the container side. On average, we are approximately just over $15,000 charted on the dry side and around $17,000 on the container ships. Just to remind you for your modeling purposes also, just to remind you that Navios containers, the full results will be included in our results from April 1st as the measure is expected to close on March 31st. So you will see the effect of the results in April 1st and going forward.

That's it. Thanks for that caller. Congrats again.

Thank you.

At this time, I'm showing no further questions. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Angeliki Frangou for any closing remarks.

Thank you. This completes our Q4 results. Thank you.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's conference call. You may now disconnect.