Delek Logistics Partners LP

NYSE:DKL

Earnings Call Transcript 2020-Q4

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the Delek Logistics Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. [Operator Instructions] Please note, today's event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Blake Fernandez. Please go ahead, sir.

[Blake Fernandez, SVP of IR and Market Intelligence]

Good morning. I would like to thank everyone for joining us on this webcast to discuss Delek Logistics Partners' fourth quarter 2020 financial results. Joining me on today's call will be Uzi Yemin, our General Partners Chairman and CEO; and Reuven Spiegel, CFO; as well as other members of our management team.

As a reminder, this conference call may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined under federal securities laws. In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP, we report certain non-GAAP financial results. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP results, which can be found in the press release which is posted on the Investor Relations section of our Web site. Our prepared remarks are being made assuming that the earnings release has been reviewed and we are covering less segment and market information than is incorporated into the 4Q press release.

On today's call, Reuven will begin with a financial overview, I will review the results, and Uzi will offer a few closing strategic remarks.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Reuven.

[Reuven Spiegel, CFO]

Thank you, Blake. Our fourth quarter performance on a year-over-year basis benefited from relatively stable baseline business operations, contribution from the recent asset dropdown, along with business initiative and asset optimization. Our distributable cash flow was approximately $56 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to $33 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Net income attributable to all partners increased approximately 88% over the prior year period. Our DCF coverage ratio was 1.41 for the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to 1.08 in the prior year period. EBIDA was $64 million, which represents a 48% increase over the prior year period.

Based on our performance and outlook, we increased our quarterly distribution to $0.91 per limited partner unit for the quarter ended December 31, 2020. This distribution was paid on February 9, 2021, and represents a 0.6% increase from the third quarter of 2020. This is our 31st consecutive quarterly increase, and is 2.8% higher than our fourth quarter 2019 distribution. At December 31, 2020, DKL had approximately $103 million of available capacity on our $850 million credit facility. Our total debt was approximately $1 billion, and the total leverage ratio is 3.75 times, which is within the 5.5 times currently allowable under our credit facility. Finally, as a reminder, during the third quarter we announced the elimination of the incentive distribution rights, which helped lower our cost of capital.

Now, I will turn the call over to Blake to discuss the results.

[Blake Fernandez, SVP of IR and Market Intelligence]

Thanks, Reuven. In our Pipelines and Transportation segment, the fourth quarter 2020 contribution margin was $44 million, compared to $25 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. This increase was primarily attributable to the recent asset dropdowns, including Big Spring Gathering and Trucking Assets. Additionally, operating expenses decreased $10 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, from $19 million in the prior year period. In our Wholesale Marketing and Terminalling segment, contribution margin was $18 million in the fourth quarter of this year, compared to $17 million in the prior year. Operating expenses came in $1 million higher than the same period in 2019.

During the fourth quarter of 2020, equity income from our crude oil joint ventures was approximately $6 million compared to $5 million in the prior year period. Capital expenditures were approximately $8.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2020, which consisted of $7 million of discretionary spending and $1.5 million of sustaining maintenance. For full-year 2021, our total gross capital expenditures forecast is $21 million which includes $6.9 million of discretionary and $13.9 million of maintenance capital.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Uzi for his closing comments.

[Uzi Yemin, Chairman and CEO]

Thanks, Blake, and good morning everybody. Our fourth quarter results wounded up as stellar year for our company as we delivered strong relative top performance despite macro headwinds for the industry. Net income EBITDA in the fourth quarter increased approximately 88% and 48% respectively versus last year. We delivered on our commitment of 5% distribution growth on a full-year basis, and we expect another five years increase in distribution in 2021. This is underpinned by our outlook for continued strong operational performance. We exceeded our yearend distribution coverage and leverage ratio targets earlier than expected creating tremendous flexibility as we progressed into 2021. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge that DKL went the entire year without one recordable incident which is a real testament to our employees.

With that, Operator, would you please open the call for questions?

[Operator]

Absolutely. [Operator Instructions] Today's first question comes from Spiro Dounis with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

[Spiro Dounis, Credit Suisse]

Hey, morning guys. First question, just want to hit West Texas margins if we could, and maybe tie that to RINs prices, last quarter in 3Q fairly strong, I think you guys have talked about a run up in RINs kind of driving some of that. And so, we are a little surprised in the fourth quarter when we look at West Texas marketing margins come down as much as they did against the backdrop of RIN prices increasing. So, curious if you are going to address some of that variability, and then, as we look forward, RINs prices continue to be pretty strong into the New Year. Curious what you think that means for marketing margins so far in the first quarter and into the year?

[Avigal Soreq, EVP and COO]

Hey, this is Avigal. I am going to respond to that question. So, specifically around the West [Coast] [Ph] sale, as you are seeing right from the bond standpoint, we are still exactly the same as Q3. RINs looking better, but with that said, we had some hedging losses that were applied to Q4 that lowered the associate overall gross margin that we've seen [indiscernible] compared to Q3. As we looking into Q1, the RIN still looking fairly strong. We are still looking on the associate hedging that will be contributing to Q1, but from a RIN standpoint, we are still seeing this improvement.

[Spiro Dounis, Credit Suisse]

Got it, okay. So, sounds like hedging was the big driver there. Good, okay. Next question, maybe just taking a step back, you guys are targeting 5% distribution growth again, which is great to see, not many companies are still growing in this market. Seems like you could easily achieve that just by working down some of your distribution coverage, but I suspect you actually want to grow EBITDA. So, can you just talk a little bit about some of the growth drivers that you are looking for this year in terms of how you are going to grow EBITDA to support that distribution? And then, more broadly and kind of tethered to this, obviously you are undergoing a bit of an internal review right now at the DK level, just curious to the extent you can maybe give us an indication of anything at that level that could either help or hinder your goal to grow the MLP this year?

[Uzi Yemin, Chairman and CEO]

Spiro, good morning; this is Uzi. We do have several organic projects that will come to fruition in the second quarter. We are not ready to disclose them. Not because we don't know them. They are very well identified as well as the allocation. The problem is that we want to stay competitive in these initiatives just a little more before we jump in and give that to the market. We feel very good about the 5% thing in light of this organic project vis-à-vis, DK or your question about DK or obviously, I'm not going to wear the DK hat here, I'm saying on behalf of DKL, but one thing I do want to say, even at the DK level, we have several ideas around several assets that may enhance the DKL situation.

Now obviously, we do have the Wink to Webster Pipeline that is started to operate and will be fully operated in fourth quarter of 2021 this year, so that if we decide to do a drop down or something like that, that's obviously going to make DK much stronger. At this point, as we said, we did park the Krotz Springs drop down. However, with margins improving Krotz Springs may become back to play we'll see, we need to be patient and see how it plays itself. But just in a nutshell, to answer your question. We don't believe that the 5% is something that will hurt both coverage or leverage ratio because of the organic growth project.

[Spiro Dounis, Credit Suisse]

Perfect. That's great color. Thanks, Uzi, and everybody.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And this concludes the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to the management team for any final remarks.

[Uzi Yemin, Chairman and CEO]

Yes, I'd like to thank my colleagues around the table, the Board of Directors. I'd like to thank our employees for this great year. DKL had a tremendous year with growth everywhere, EBITDA, net income, and obviously stock performance. We're very proud of what we achieved, but mainly we'd like to thank you investors for your confidence in us and the treatment you gave us. Thank you. Have a great day.

[Operator]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.