Sunoco Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
February 14, 2024

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings and welcome to Sunoco LPS 4th Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Scott Grishow.

Operator

Thank you. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. On the call with me this morning are Joe Kim, Sunoco LP's President and Chief Executive Carl Fales, Chief Operations Officer Dylan Bramhall, Chief Financial Officer Austin Harkness, Chief Commercial Officer and other members of the management team. Today's call will contain forward looking statements that include expectations and assumptions regarding the future operations and financial performance. Actual results could differ materially, and the partnership undertakes no obligation to update these statements based on subsequent events. Please refer to our earnings release as well as our filings with the SEC for a list of these factors.

Speaker 1

During today's call, we will also discuss certain non GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and distributable cash flow as adjusted. Please refer to the Snooka LP website for reconciliation of each financial measure. 2023 was a record year for the partnership. The combination of a strong and stable base business coupled with A proven history of financial discipline has allowed us to yet again deliver on the expectations we lay out each year. I would like to start by looking at some of our Q4 and full year 2023 highlights.

Speaker 1

Adjusted EBITDA for the 4th quarter was $236,000,000 compared to $238,000,000 a year ago. The partnership sold over 2,200,000,000 gallons in the quarter, up 11% from the Q4 last year. Fuel margin for all gallons sold was $0.123 per gallon compared to $0.128 per gallon a year ago. Total 4th quarter operating expenses were $145,000,000 an increase of $7,000,000 from the same period last year. During the Q4, we spent $50,000,000 of growth capital and $33,000,000 in maintenance capital.

Speaker 1

4th quarter distributable cash flow as adjusted was $148,000,000 compared to $153,000,000 in the Q4 of 2022, yielding a current quarter coverage ratio of 1.6 times. On January 25, we declared an $0.842 per unit distribution, consistent with last quarter. The stability of our business and history of delivering results continues to support a secure and growing distribution for our unitholders. Turning to the balance sheet. At the end of the 4th quarter, we had approximately $400,000,000 outstanding on our revolving credit facility, leaving approximately $1,100,000,000 of liquidity.

Speaker 1

Leverage at the end of the quarter was 3.7 times, below our long term target of 4 times. As I mentioned earlier, 2023 was a record year for We met or exceeded expectations in our guidance metrics, further reinforcing our record of delivering on expectations. Full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA was $964,000,000 a 5% increase versus the prior year. Fuel volume was over 8,300,000,000 gallons, up 8% versus 20 22s volume and the largest reported in the partnership's history. Fuel margins continued to remain strong at $0.127 per gallon, flat to 2022 levels.

Speaker 1

Total operating expenses were $550,000,000 in line with our revised guidance range. Finally, our full year coverage ratio of 1.8 times and leverage ratio of 3.7 times support key elements of our capital allocation strategy to maintain a secure distribution and protect our balance sheet. I'd like to wrap up my comments by briefly reviewing the series of strategic transactions we announced in January. First, the acquisition of 2 European product terminals from Zenith Energy for €170,000,000 including working capital. We plan to close this transaction by the end of the Q1 and fund it with availability on our revolving credit facility.

Speaker 1

We expect the acquisition to be accretive to our unitholders in the 1st year. Next, the divestiture of our West Texas marketing assets to 711 for approximately $1,000,000,000 This transaction is expected to close in the Q2 of 2024 and will allow Sunoco to materially reduce leverage, positioning us favorably for future growth. And finally, the acquisition of NuStar Energy and an all equity transaction valued at $7,300,000,000 We expect this acquisition will close in mid-twenty 24. With that, I will turn the call over to Carl to walk through some additional thoughts on our 4th quarter performance and commentary on our recent announcements.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Scott. Good morning, everyone. We delivered another strong quarter capping off another record year. When you look at both the quarter and the year, our results were supported by continued margin strength, volume growth, consistent expense discipline and efficient operations. Starting with margins.

Speaker 2

This quarter continued many of the same themes of the past few years, mainly higher breakeven margins, continued volatility in fuel prices and efficient execution of our gross profit optimization strategies. These have all contributed to expanded margins the past few years and we don't see any of those factors changing as we look forward. With respect to volumes, we were up 11% in the 4th quarter versus Q4 of last year and up about 4% from the Q3 of this year. The continued growth in volume relative to prior years comes primarily from good execution on capital deployed. This quarter marks the highest volume quarter in our history and the 3rd consecutive quarter above 2,000,000,000 gallons.

Speaker 2

As I pointed out on our last call, when compared to overall U. S. Gasoline and diesel demand, It is clear we continue to outpace the sector, another sign that our growth is delivering tangible results. Turning to expenses. Consistent discipline in managing our expenses remains one of our core strengths and our 4th quarter results firmly demonstrate that as they were only slightly up from the Q3 and remained within our guidance for the full year even as we continue to grow.

Speaker 2

For 2024, we're off to a good start. Our base business remains strong. 2023 was evidence of this and we expect 2024 to be a continuation of the same as we expect the same factors that contributed to our overall performance last year to remain in place for this year and beyond. Let me give you some added perspective on a couple of our recent announcements Starting with the acquisition of the Zenith terminals in Europe. These are great assets.

Speaker 2

They have high quality long term customers and their strategic position in Europe guarantees a long useful life. Additionally, they provide us with increased Apply optionality when it comes to our East Coast and Caribbean operations. When you think about our vast network of East Coast locations, Roughly 50% of these are supplied by water. Adding the European terminals gives us additional opportunities to optimize our supply cost and deliver increased value to our customers. Our overall thoughts around this deal were similar to the deal we announced over a year ago in Puerto Rico.

Speaker 2

The opportunity to create value with the combination of a fuel distribution business with strong midstream assets that also provide a platform for growth. Next, the acquisition of NuStar. NuStar has a high quality asset portfolio that strengthens and diversifies our company. We laid out our strategic rationale for this acquisition in our investor presentation a few weeks ago. Sitting here a month later, We cannot be more excited about the opportunity to bring these 2 companies together.

Speaker 2

We have a very detailed integration planning process and have begun working with NuStar on getting that in motion. As we laid out a few weeks ago, this acquisition will open up new opportunities for the company in terms of geography, business lines and operations and we are looking forward to our expected closing in the second quarter. While these transactions provide a boost to our growth, they are really a continuation of our strategy of the past few years. This is who we are. We complete and integrate acquisitions that deliver attractive returns.

Speaker 2

We successfully deployed capital in projects that deliver EBITDA growth and we remain focused on optimizing our gross profit and remain disciplined on expenses. With that, I will turn it over to Joe for closing thoughts.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Carl. Good morning, everyone. We're a month and a half in bring it all together and put it into perspective. 1st and foremost, our current business is strong. We had an outstanding Q4 and overall 2023 was another record year for both EBITDA and DCF.

Speaker 3

Looking forward, we expect this year to be another record year. The 2024 EBITDA guidance that we provided in December remains very appropriate even after factoring in the announced sale of our West Texas marketing assets and the Zenith Europe acquisition. Bottom line, we're confident in our base business and our financial foundation remains solid. Thus, we're positioned to announce another distribution increase in April. Moving on to our recent announcement, Sun's strategic focus remains the same, improving stability, enhancing growth and maintaining a strong balance sheet, resulting in a larger and more importantly and more compelling investment going forward.

Speaker 3

Our actions speak for themselves. The upcoming addition of the 2 terminals in Europe is a good example of a tuck in acquisition at a mid single digit synergies multiple. It will provide supply optimization, increased stable income and future growth opportunities. The announced sale of our West Texas marketing assets demonstrates our ability to optimize our portfolio of income streams, position the balance sheet for material growth and provide an accretive transaction for unitholders on a standalone basis. And finally, The NuStar acquisition will be another big step forward.

Speaker 3

It diversifies our cash flows, boosts our credit profile, improves our trading liquidity and enhances our growth opportunities. Financially, it is highly attractive. We expect a greater than 10% accretion in year 3 and our balance sheet is expected to be back to our target leverage of 4 times within 12 to 18 months. With all these strategic moves set in motion, it is now time for us to execute. We have a proven history of creating value for our stakeholders and we have positioned ourselves to build on our record of delivering results.

Speaker 3

Operator, that concludes our prepared remarks. You may open the line for questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our first question comes from Spiro Dounis with Citi. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Hi, this is Chad on for Spiro. Just starting off, just wanted to touch on the synergies with the NuStar deal. Just kind of curious, could you give us a sense of what opportunities could push you above that $150,000,000 target Currently, are those opportunities more about like a timeline or a feasibility question there?

Speaker 2

Yes, Chad, this is Carl. And I think you caught in our when we talked about this 3 weeks ago that really we said at least $150,000,000 of synergies. So $150,000,000 is a solid number and we'll definitely take some work and we laid out the timeline on that, but our goal will be to figure out how to surpass that. And really, I think it's probably too early to be able to categorize Whether it's a more a timeline issue, I think there's going to be a combination of expense optimization that we can find as well as commercial ideas. And then I think the area that we probably need to do more work on and probably will have upside is on the growth side of us being able to understand where we can put some capital to bed at a really good return, maybe projects that NuStar already has in pipe that they've just not moved forward on.

Speaker 2

And I think that's the area where once we get Later in the process and we're able to dig in that there's probably some upside that we're excited about.

Speaker 4

Okay. Understood. That makes sense. And I guess just kind of looking at post the transaction, this will obviously be a larger company and it sounds like M and A remains a part of the growth So just kind of curious on how that plays into the appetite for larger M and A going forward? Or do you That kind of M and A component of growth to resemble the tuck in transactions that we've seen in the past with Sun?

Speaker 3

Chad, this is Joe. I think the answer is all of the above. The Europe acquisition, it's a lot smaller than NuStar, But we're really excited about all the possibilities and there's going to be opportunities for us both in the midstream side and the field distribution side at various different geographies To do tuck in acquisitions that I think historically we've done in a mid single digit synergized multiples. Those have been highly successful for us, so we're going to continue to do that. On the more on the organic side, The one thing I want to make sure that our street understands is that priority 1 is getting NuStar integrated and getting all the synergies out of it.

Speaker 3

So we have some maybe some short term resources that we have to properly deploy. But at the same time on the organic capital, those are separate resources and the plan that we outlined in December, we're continuing to move forward with our organic plans. As far as other M and A, It's a resource it's a short term resource question and we think we can get this done rapidly and we'll be in position to continue to do that. As far as large acquisitions, if there are double digit accretion opportunities for us where we improve our credit profile, we're going to jump all over that.

Speaker 4

Okay. Yes, that makes sense. That's helpful. Thanks for the time today.

Operator

Our next question comes from Robert Moskow with Mizuho Securities. Please

Speaker 5

So looking at NuStar's Midwest footprint, I think you've alluded to its potential the springboard for greater involvement on the fuel distribution side in that geography. And wondering whether there are specific opportunities or areas you could be interested in from a growth perspective and then whether you view organic or inorganic investment as the most appropriate method by which to establish a presence?

Speaker 2

Yes, Rob, this is Carl. It's probably a little too early for us to outline specific parts of that system and the other interesting thing about that system, right, it's an open stock system. So that provides a little more flexibility even than maybe some transit time pipeline systems. So I think there's probably going to be opportunities in multiple fashions, whether it's on the branded business where we're investing capital and either distributing our own brand or other brands that we're partnering with, or even just deploying working capital to build an unbranded business in those areas. I think kind of Similar to Joe's question on the M and A front, I think it's all the above.

Speaker 2

That's really the key to our strategy that we've done for the last or 6 years and we're looking at with NuStar is we have these things that we do well and as we grow, we just have a bigger platform that we can continue to do those. So I think we're going to look at all those different kind of pieces of our portfolio as potential growth options.

Speaker 5

Thanks. Appreciate that, Carl. And could you remind us of the contract profile on the European terminal assets and when you could use That capacity with greater scale for supply optimization on the East Coast?

Speaker 2

The East Coast contract profile?

Speaker 5

Sorry, the European terminal contract profile.

Speaker 2

Got it. Yes, really, those terminals are pretty well contracted now. So There is going to be some time component. Our general strategy with terminals that we've acquired is we don't necessarily favor ourselves. We want all third parties to come into those assets.

Speaker 2

And so we really have the option to fill any empty space. So I think there are some contracts that will roll off in the near future that we're going to look at probably filling in, but both assets are pretty well contracted today.

Speaker 5

All right. Thanks. Appreciate the time, everyone.

Operator

Our next question is from Selman Akyol with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 6

Hey, guys. This is Tyler on for Selman. I was wondering if in light of the NuStar acquisition news, if there was Any color on how you are viewing the IDRs now?

Speaker 3

Hey, Tyler, this is Joe. The simple answer is nothing's changed. Our goal is to create value for all our stakeholders and ET is definitely one of them. I think our history shows that we've created value for all our stakeholders and This NuStar transaction, I think, is a prime example where this is good for our general partners, good for Sun unitholders, it's good for NuStar unitholders is good for the people that hold our credit. So our path is exactly the same.

Speaker 6

Appreciate that, Joe. Also wanted to know, was there anything driving the recent volume strength or if It would be good to look at sort of that $2,000,000,000 is a good run rate going forward?

Speaker 2

Yes, I think, as you've seen over the last couple of years, we've been successful at growing our volume. I talked about that a little bit in my prepared remarks. And that's really like I pointed out, we've been successful at deploying capital. So when we updated our guidance for the Europe and the West Texas asset announcements In January, we reaffirmed our EBITDA guidance. And then I think with this earnings release, we also reaffirmed that EBITDA guidance of $975,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 Obviously, pre any NuStar impacts.

Speaker 2

And I do think the components of that, whether it's the volume or the margin or the capital, also need to be updated a little and I think we're going to wait until we get closer to the NuStar close and we'll update all those components guidance at the same time. Specifically on volume, I think our goal is to continue to grow our volume. I think the team has done a good job It's finding opportunities in deploying capital again both in those areas of branded and unbranded and I think that should continue and If anything, we should be able to accelerate some of that post NuStar. And we'll fold that into our guidance that we give Later in the year when we close on NuStar and clearly we'll fold that in is at the end of the year, right. We'll give guidance for 2025.

Speaker 6

Great color. Thanks for the time.

Operator

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Scott Grigel for closing comments.

Speaker 1

Well, thanks everyone for joining us on the call today. As always, we're available for follow-up questions. So please feel free to reach out

Powered by Quartr

Key Takeaways

  • Record 2023 performance: Full-year adjusted EBITDA was $964 million (up 5% yoy) on fuel volumes of 8.3 billion gallons (up 8%) with margins of $0.127/gal and a coverage ratio of 1.8×.
  • Q4 highlights: Adjusted EBITDA was $236 million, fuel volumes rose 11% to 2.2 billion gallons, distributable cash flow was $148 million (coverage ratio 1.6×), and the distribution remained at $0.842 per unit.
  • Strong balance sheet: At year-end liquidity was $1.1 billion with $400 million drawn on the revolver and leverage at 3.7×, below the 4.0× long-term target.
  • Strategic transactions announced: Agreed to acquire two European terminals for €170 million, sell West Texas marketing assets for ~$1 billion, and complete a $7.3 billion all-equity acquisition of NuStar Energy expected to be accretive and diversify cash flows.
  • 2024 outlook: Guidance remains for another record year, with an April distribution increase planned, driven by continued volume growth, margin optimization and disciplined expense management.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Sunoco Q4 2023
00:00 / 00:00