Global Partners Q3 2024 Earnings Report

Global Partners EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $1.17
• Consensus EPS: $1.57
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.40
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.60

Global Partners Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $4.42 billion
• Expected Revenue: $5.88 billion
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$1.45 billion
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Global Partners Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2024
• Date: 11/8/2024
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Friday, November 8, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Global Partners (NYSE:GLP) is a publicly traded master limited partnership engaged in the wholesale distribution and retail marketing of petroleum products. The company sources refined petroleum products from major refineries and suppliers and transports them through an integrated network of pipelines, terminals and storage facilities. Global Partners focuses on delivering fuel and related services to commercial, industrial and residential customers, positioning itself as a key midstream and downstream energy operator in its core markets.

Through its extensive terminal network in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, Global Partners supplies gasoline, diesel, home heating oil, kerosene, propane and biofuels to a broad customer base. The partnership also owns and operates a chain of branded gasoline stations and convenience stores, serving consumers under various regional banners. In addition, Global Partners’ marine division provides bunkering and marine fueling services in the Caribbean and along the East Coast, leveraging dedicated deepwater terminals and storage facilities.

Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Global Partners LP has grown its asset footprint over multiple decades to support a diverse set of customers, including municipalities, utilities, commercial fleets and end-use consumers. The partnership’s integrated model combines midstream logistics with retail marketing, enabling it to optimize supply, distribution and pricing across its operations. Global Partners continues to pursue strategic acquisitions and infrastructure investments to strengthen its presence in core markets and enhance service offerings.

Global Partners Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• During Q3, Global delivered Adjusted EBITDA of $114 million (up from $77.7 million), net income of $45.9 million (versus $26.8 million), and distributable cash flow of $71.1 million (from $42.2 million), demonstrating strong year-over-year growth.
• The partnership completed integration of 29 liquid energy terminals acquired from Motiva and Gulf Oil and closed on a 730-acre Rhode Island terminal with 959,000 barrels of capacity, expanding its storage network and strategic project pipeline.
• Global was selected by MassDOT to deploy $63 million of NEVI funding over five years for DC fast EV charging stations, accelerating its entry into electric vehicle infrastructure at retail locations.
• The Board declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.73 per unit (annualized $2.92), up 6.6% year-over-year, with a 1.97× coverage ratio, underscoring the partnership’s cash flow strength.
• Operating expenses rose by $21.2 million and interest expense increased by $14 million in Q3 due to acquisition integration costs and new senior notes, pressuring margins.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Global Partners Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. If anyone should require operator assistance during the call, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. With us from Global Partners are President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Eric Slifka, Chief Financial Officer Mr. Gregory Hanson, Chief Operating Officer Mr. Mark Romaine, and Chief Legal Officer and Secretary Mr. Sean Geary. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Geary for opening remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

[Sean Geary, Chief Legal Officer at Global Partners]

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today's call will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including projections and 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 filings 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 Slifka.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's earnings call. At Global Partners, our commitment to providing essential infrastructure and products that communities depend on is rooted in a long history of service, especially in times of recovery and rebuilding. Before we review our earnings results, I want to take a moment to commend the exceptional work of our team at our terminal in Tampa during Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Their dedication to quickly restoring operations ensured that fuel and critical resources were available to support the community's recovery. This is more than business. It's our role in empowering strength and resilience across the regions we proudly serve. Turning to our results, we delivered year-over-year gains across each of our key financial metrics, demonstrating our ability to execute on our strategy to acquire, invest in, and optimize assets that drive returns.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

In our Gasoline Distribution and Station Operations segment, our retail assets are exceeding expectations. In our Wholesale and Commercial segments, supply-market dynamics enabled us to capitalize on favorable conditions in the quarter. Our integrated business model provides the potential to enhance our market leadership and long-term growth. We are continuing to integrate the 29 liquid energy terminals acquired over the past 11 months from Motiva Enterprises and Gulf Oil. The terminals offer a platform for new strategic projects that align with our long-term goals, expanding product offerings, enhancing our operational efficiency, and market reach. We're excited about the opportunity to unlock the full value of these assets bring to our network. Last week, we completed the acquisition of a 730-acre liquid energy terminal in East Providence, Rhode Island, from the ExxonMobil Oil Corporation.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

The terminal, which serves as a strategic hub for storing products including gasoline, additives, distillates, renewable fuels, features 10 product tanks with a total shell capacity of 959,000 barrels and deep-water dock access. Additional non-fuel use acreage allows for the potential further diversification of our real estate portfolio. In our retail business, we are one of three companies selected to work alongside the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to deploy MassDOT's $63 million allocation of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, or NEVI, over the next five years. This is a unique opportunity for Global to accelerate our own plans to install DC fast EV charging stations at strategic retail locations across our network and to provide a safe, reliable, and enjoyable charging experience for the EV customers.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

We're finalizing the list of our first tranche of sites to be included for development, and we are proud to partner with MassDOT on this important initiative to increase the number of reliable DC fast charging locations in the Commonwealth. Turning to our distribution, in October, the board declared a quarterly cash distribution on our Common Units of $0.73 or $2.92 on an annualized basis. This distribution represents a 6.6% increase over the prior year and is payable on November 14th to unitholders of record as of the close of business on November 8th. Let me turn the call over to Greg for his financial review. Greg.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

Thanks, Eric. And good morning, everyone. As we review the numbers, please note that unless otherwise noted, all comparisons will be with the third quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $114 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared with $77.7 million, and net income was $45.9 million compared with $26.8 million in the previous year. Distributable cash flow was $71.1 million in the third quarter of 2024, compared with $42.2 million, and adjusted DCF was $72.6 million compared with $43.3 million. Our last 12-month distribution coverage as of September 30th was 1.97 times or 1.87 times after factoring in distributions to our preferred unitholders. Turning to our segment details, GDSO product margin increased $31.2 million in the quarter to $237.7 million. Product margin from gasoline distribution increased $32.1 million to $164.1 million, primarily reflecting higher fuel margins year over year.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

On a cents per gallon basis, fuel margins increased $0.09 to $0.40 in Q3 2024 from $0.31 in Q3 2023. Station Operations product margin, which includes convenience store and prepared food sales, sundries, and rental income, decreased $0.9 million to $73.6 million in the third quarter of 2024, in part due to the divestiture and conversions of certain company-operated sites. At quarter end, our portfolio of fueling stations and C-store sites total 1,589. In addition, we operate 64 sites under our Spring Partners retail joint venture. Looking at the Wholesale segment, third quarter 2024 product margin increased $33.9 million to $71.1 million. Product margin from gasoline and gasoline blendstocks increased $22.6 million to $43 million, primarily due to the acquisition of the Motiva terminals and to more favorable market conditions. Our product margin also benefited from the acquisition of the Gulf terminals in April.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

Product margin from distillates and other oils increased $11.3 million to $28.1 million, primarily due to more favorable market conditions in distillates and residual oil. Commercial segment product margin increased $1.1 million to $9.5 million, in part due to more favorable market conditions in bunkering. Turning to expenses, our operating expenses increased $21.2 million to $137.1 million in the third quarter, largely related to the terminal acquisitions from Motiva and Gulf. SG&A expense increased $7 million in Q3 2024 to $70.5 million, primarily due to increases in long-term incentive compensation, wages and benefits, and other expenses.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

Interest expense increased $14 million to $35.1 million in the third quarter of 2024, primarily due to interest expense related to the eight and a quarter senior notes issued this past January, which were used to facilitate the Motiva acquisition, and higher average balances on our credit facility as a result of the recent Gulf terminal acquisition. CapEx in the third quarter was $24.3 million, consisting of $11.2 million of maintenance CapEx and $13.1 million of expansion CapEx, primarily related to investments in our gasoline station and terminaling businesses. For the full year of 2024, we currently expect maintenance CapEx in the range of $50 million to $60 million.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

Based on our anticipated projects to the end of the year related to investments in our gasoline stations and terminals, we are revising our planned expansion CapEx for 2024 to a range of $40-50 million from our previous expectation of $60-70 million. These current estimates depend in part on the timing of project completion, availability of equipment and workforce, weather, and unanticipated events or opportunities requiring additional maintenance or investments. Our balance sheet remains strong at September 30th, with leverage as defined in our credit agreement, as funded debt to EBITDA at 3.27 times, and we have ample excess capacity in our credit facilities. As of September 30th, we have $219.2 million borrowings outstanding on our working capital revolver and $177 million outstanding on our revolving credit facility.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

Turning to our upcoming investor relations calendar, in the coming weeks, we will be participating in the TD Securities Energy Conference, the BofA Leveraged Finance Conference, and the Wells Fargo Midstream and Energy Utilities Symposium. Please contact our investor relations team if you'd like to schedule a meeting during the conference. Now, let me turn the call back to Eric for closing comments.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Thank you, Greg. I want to express my thanks to the entire Global team for your hard work and commitment to driving our success. We look forward to continuing this momentum and pursuing further opportunities for growth in the quarters ahead. With that, Mark, Greg, and I will be happy to take your questions. Operator, please open the line for Q&A.

[Operator]

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question comes from a line of Selman Akyol with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

[Operator]

Thank you. Good morning. Congrats on a nice quarter. Let me just start at the top. Any impact from the elections at all that you guys are anticipating?

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

I mean, we've got to see how everything plays itself out. I mean, we have a very durable business, a scaled business with long-term commitments in many parts of it. And so whatever may come our way, I think we're in a solid position to continue to execute.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Got it. And then you alluded to this in your comments in the most recent terminal acquisition, but 730 acres, awful large footprint. What do you plan on doing with all those acres?

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

I mean, there's an opportunity there, right? And I'm not saying that we're doing anything tomorrow with it, but I think the bottom line is we bought a great asset. It's got great access, a good deep-water dock. It's got good tankage and good racks. And then, oh, there's some land there too. And if there's other opportunities, we're going to do our darnedest to take advantage of those opportunities for real estate as well.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Got it. Maybe you could talk a little bit about the outlook for acquisitions, whether it's terminals or GDSO?

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Yeah. I mean, it's been busy, right? Continues to be busy. We're very selective. Valuations are still relatively high, but we've got to find the right deals that fit the company that we think we can make accretive to Global, and we're going to try to maintain that discipline and deliver on those returns.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Got it. And then just along those lines, thinking about your partnership down in Houston, I guess it's been fairly static since you've done it. Is there any update there? Is it anything to talk about in terms of, is it just a more competitive market than you thought? Just any comments in and around that?

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Yeah. I mean, we haven't had it that long. I would say that we continue to tweak and drive value and make sure that we're organized down there in the most efficient way. I think there's a positive outlook on that partnership, and we're really looking to see if we can do more in that market.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Got it. And then last one for me. You talked about EV chargers, and you're trying to finalize your first tranche, but I guess can you talk about maybe a number of EV chargers you could see across your system? Anything from a high level?

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Yeah. I mean, in terms of, it's not huge scale, but we're going to try to be financially disciplined around what we do to limit the risk. And so making sure that we're partnering with government to try and build out a network in places that are desirable for our customers is really important, but making sure that we do it in a disciplined way is really critical, right? It's still early innings in that business, and we want to make sure that we really keep a lid on any risks that we may have as we develop the network out.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Got it. And I lied. I did have one more. So on your CPG, you showed a very nice increase year over year. Anything to say in there how durable that is? Anything we should be thinking about just moving higher?

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

I mean, I'll give my two cents to Selman, Greg, and then Mark can weigh in too. I mean, I think we saw some good volatility over the summer. If you look at our wholesale RBOB prices, we're down $0.57 from 6/30 to 9/30 period. So it had some opportunity for us to glean some margin from the difference in the wholesale prices versus the street and the movement of those prices. I think what others have said and what we continue to believe too is that the market has changed from a consolidation standpoint. It continues to consolidate. Although it's highly fragmented still, it continues to consolidate, and you've got higher break-even costs that smaller scale operators need to have on the fuel margins, and that's the biggest lever for them to pull. So I think volatility is typically good for our fuel margins.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

So, less volatility. You could see it creeping down in tightness again. I do think structurally you're going to have higher fuel margins. I don't know what level those are going to be at, and we're not betting on them for our business. But I think we do have seen favorable margins over the last couple of years.

[Gregory Hanson, CFO at Global Partners]

Got it. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Slifka for closing comments.

[Eric Slifka, CEO at Global Partners]

Thank you for joining us this morning. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress, and I hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks, everyone.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.

Participants

Executives

• Sean Geary, Chief Legal Officer
• Gregory Hanson, CFO
• Eric Slifka, CEO

Analysts

• Analyst