Alliance Resource Partners Q1 2026 Earnings Report

Alliance Resource Partners EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.07
• Consensus EPS: $0.35
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.28
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Alliance Resource Partners Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $516.02 million
• Expected Revenue: $518.24 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$2.22 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Alliance Resource Partners Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2026
• Date: 4/27/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Monday, April 27, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) (NASDAQ: ARLP) is a Tulsa, Oklahoma–based master limited partnership engaged in the production, marketing and transportation of bituminous coal. Through its subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates surface and underground coal mines, providing fuel primarily for electric power generation and various industrial applications. Alliance’s integrated business model covers the extraction of raw coal, processing at preparation plants and delivery to domestic and export customers.

The partnership operates multiple mining complexes across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. Alliance’s marketing organization arranges rail, barge and truck logistics to deliver both steam coal for utilities and specialty coals for steel mills and cokeries. By leveraging long-term transportation agreements and an extensive railcar fleet, Alliance seeks to ensure reliable coal supply chains in regions served across the central and eastern United States.

Founded in the early 1990s and headquartered in Tulsa, Alliance Resource Partners has grown through disciplined acquisitions and organic expansion of its mining footprint. Joseph W. Craft III serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, overseeing strategic initiatives and operational performance. Alliance maintains a board of directors drawn from mining, energy and financial backgrounds, positioning the partnership to navigate evolving market dynamics while continuing to supply baseload energy requirements.

Alliance Resource Partners Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted EBITDA was $155 million (above internal expectations) but net income fell to $9.1 million ($0.07/unit) versus $74 million a year ago, driven by lower coal sales revenue, higher depreciation, a $11.6 million drop in digital-asset fair value and a $37.8 million impairment after ceasing longwall production at Mettiki.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is maintaining 2026 guidance for coal sales volumes, prices and segment EBITDA/ton, expects planned longwall moves to be completed (better visibility in H2) and anticipates recovering ~200,000 tons of weather‑delayed shipments over the year.
• Positive Sentiment: Oil and gas royalties delivered a record quarter—1.0M BOE (up 16.1%), $41.3 million in revenue (up 14.6%) and segment adjusted EBITDA of $34.6 million—leading management to raise 2026 BOE volume guidance by ~5% and expect stronger realized BOE pricing if current strip holds.
• Neutral Sentiment: Balance sheet remains healthy with $507.7 million of debt, net leverage ~0.69x, and total liquidity of $431.2 million (including 618 BTC valued at $42.2M); distributable cash flow was $77.8 million and distribution coverage was 1.0x for the quarter.

Presentation

[Operator]

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Cary Marshall, Chief Financial Officer of Alliance Resource Partners. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome, everyone. Earlier today, Alliance Resource Partners released its first quarter 2026 financial and operating results. We will review the quarter, discuss our perspective on current market conditions and outlook for 2026, and then open the call to answer your questions. Before beginning, a reminder that some of our remarks today may include forward-looking statements which are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions contained in our filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are also reflected in this morning's press release. While these forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us, if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those we projected or expected.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

In providing these remarks, the partnership has no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, unless required by law to do so. Finally, we will also be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions and reconciliations of the differences between these non-GAAP financial measures and the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are contained at the end of ARLP's press release, which has been posted on our website and furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K. With that, I will begin with a review of our first quarter 2026 results and discuss our updated outlook for 2026 before turning the call over to Joe Craft, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, for his comments.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Overall, the quarterly results came in higher than expected due to record BOE volumes and higher commodity prices that increased oil and gas royalties revenues. Tons produced from our coal operations were on target. However, temporary weather-related disruptions caused approximately 200,000 tons of scheduled shipments to be delayed. For the first quarter of 2026, which we refer to as the 2026 quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $155 million, which was higher than expected, but 3.1% lower compared to the first quarter of 2025, which we refer to as the 2025 quarter, and down 18.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, which we refer to as the sequential quarter.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Net income attributable to ARLP in the 2026 quarter was $9.1 million or $0.07 per unit, as compared to $74 million or $0.57 per unit in the 2025 quarter. Net income in the 2026 quarter reflected lower coal sales revenue, higher depreciation, an $11.6 million decrease in the fair value of our digital assets, and a $37.8 million non-cash asset impairment charge at our Mettiki Mine following our decision to cease longwall production on account of uncertainty regarding future operations, as discussed in our January 29th press release. We continue to evaluate the appropriate path forward for Mettiki, though meaningful uncertainty remains and greater clarity is not expected until later this year.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

In the interim, our priority at Mettiki is to reduce costs while preserving the flexibility and optionality needed to align future operations with customer demand. In the 2026 quarter, total revenues were $516 million, down 4.5% compared to the 2025 quarter and down 3.6% compared to the sequential quarter. Lower coal sales pricing and volume sequentially primarily drove the decline, which was partially offset by higher oil and gas royalty revenues. During the quarter, weather-related river disruptions delayed certain committed deliveries. However, we expect our delayed shipments will be recovered over the balance of the year. Our average coal sales price per ton for the 2026 quarter was $56.40, a 6.5% decrease versus the 2025 quarter and a 2% decrease sequentially.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

As noted during prior calls, pricing is normalizing as higher-priced legacy coal contracts entered into during the 2022 energy crisis continue to roll off and are being replaced at coal pricing levels consistent with our current guidance ranges. Total coal production in the 2026 quarter was 8 million tons, compared to 8.5 million tons in the 2025 quarter. Coal sales volumes were 7.9 million tons in the 2026 quarter, up from 7.8 million tons in the 2025 quarter and down from 8.1 million tons in the sequential quarter. In the Illinois Basin, coal sales volumes were 6.1 million tons, up 0.4% compared to the 2025 quarter and down 5.9% compared to the sequential quarter.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Volumes declined primarily due to decreased tons sold from our Hamilton Mine as a result of an extended longwall move scheduled during the 2026 quarter. While the longwall move at Hamilton reduced production and shipments during the quarter, increased productivity at Riverview and Gibson South helped to offset some of that impact. The longwall at Hamilton is currently anticipated to resume production in the first half of May 2026. Illinois Basin coal sales price per ton was $51.05 in the 2026 quarter, a decrease of 7.4% versus the 2025 quarter and an increase of 0.4% compared to the sequential quarter. The decrease versus the 2025 quarter was the result of the expiration of higher-priced legacy contracts.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Segment Adjusted EBITDA expense per ton in the Illinois Basin was $35.20, an increase of 1.3% compared to the 2025 quarter, and up 3.4% sequentially, due primarily to the extended longwall move at our Hamilton Mine this quarter. In our Appalachia region, coal sales volumes were 1.8 million tons in the 2026 quarter, up 3.6% compared to the prior year due to a longwall move at our Tunnel Ridge Mine in the 2026 quarter. Appalachia coal sales price per ton was $74.51, reflecting an expected decrease of 4.8% versus the 2025 quarter and 11.1% versus the sequential quarter as the percentage of higher-priced Mettiki sales volumes were lower and Tunnel Ridge sales volumes increased during the 2026 quarter.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Segment Adjusted EBITDA expense per ton in Appalachia was $62.19, a decrease of 10.8% versus the 2025 quarter and a decrease of 1.8% versus the sequential quarter. The year-over-year improvement was driven primarily by increased production at our Tunnel Ridge operation. ARLP ended the 2026 quarter with total coal inventory of 1.2 million tons, down 0.2 million tons year-over-year and up 0.1 million tons sequentially. In our royalty segments, we delivered strong results during the 2026 quarter. Total royalty revenues were $61.2 million, up 16.1% year-over-year and up 7.7% sequentially. In our oil and gas royalty segment, we achieved another record quarter. Oil and gas royalty revenues were $41.3 million in the 2026 quarter, up 14.6% year-over-year.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

We reported record BOE volumes of 1 million, up 16.1% year-over-year and 3.3% sequentially. Commodity pricing increased sequentially, and segment adjusted EBITDA for the oil and gas royalty segment increased to $34.6 million in the 2026 quarter, up over 15% compared to both the 2025 quarter and sequential quarter. Segment adjusted EBITDA for our coal royalty segment was $12.3 million in the 2026 quarter, up 30.6% compared to the 2025 quarter due to higher royalty tons sold primarily from Tunnel Ridge. This was partially offset by lower average royalty rates per ton sold. Our balance sheet continues to be strong.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

As of March 31st, 2026, total debt and finance leases were outstanding in the amount of $507.7 million, and our total and net leverage ratios were 0.73x and 0.69x debt to trailing 12 months Adjusted EBITDA. Total liquidity was $431.2 million, which included $28.9 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand and $402.3 million of borrowings available under our revolving credit and accounts receivable securitization facilities. We also held 618 Bitcoin, valued at $42.2 million at quarter end, based on $68,233 per coin. For the 2026 quarter, we invested $95.7 million in capital expenditures and $16.2 million in total oil and gas minerals acquisitions.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

We reported distributable cash flow of $77.8 million. Based on our $0.60 per unit quarterly cash distribution, distributions paid to partners were $78 million, and our distribution coverage ratio for the quarter was 1x. Turning to our updated 2026 guidance, I will highlight three items. First, we are maintaining our overall guidance ranges for coal sales volumes, coal sales price, and segment Adjusted EBITDA expense per ton. We will complete planned longwall move activity for the year during the upcoming quarter, and with no additional longwall moves anticipated until the first quarter of 2027, we expect better operational visibility in the second half of 2026. As usual, we plan to update investors again when we release second quarter earnings. Second, contracting activity has remained constructive.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

We layered on 2.6 million net contracted tons for delivery in 2026 and 2027. As a result, our 2026 expected coal sales volumes are now more than 95 committed and priced at the midpoint of our guidance ranges. The remaining open position is concentrated in the second half of 2026 and dependent upon summer burn and customer requirements. Finally, the most notable changes to our guidance are in the oil and gas royalty segment, where year-to-date volumes have exceeded our initial expectations. Based on that outperformance, we are increasing our 2026 volume guidance by approximately 5% on a BOE basis.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

We now estimate 1.6 million-1.7 million bbl of oil, 6.6 million-7 million Mcf of natural gas, and 875,000-925,000 bbl of natural gas liquids. Latest trends in crude oil pricing have improved the near-term outlook. If current strip pricing is realized, we expect realized BOE prices to be higher than last year, supporting stronger segment Adjusted EBITDA. With that, I'll turn the call back to Joe for his comments on the market environment and our outlook. Joe?

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you, Cary, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining the call today. Alliance delivered a solid first quarter with adjusted EBITDA exceeding our internal target due to record BOE volumes and higher commodity prices that increased oil and gas royalties revenues. Our coal operations results were generally in line with our expectations, despite weather-related shipment disruptions and the planned extended longwall move at Hamilton. As Cary said earlier, we expect the first quarter shipment disruptions tied to Winter Storm Fern and subsequent high-water conditions to be recovered over the balance of the year. During the quarter, our teams executed well across the portfolio, including health and safety results that rank as one of our best quarters over the past five years.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

In the Illinois Basin, increased production at Riverview and Gibson South helped offset the lower production we expected at Hamilton as a result of the planned extended longwall move. In late March, we also successfully completed the final phase of our multi-year Riverview to Henderson County Mine unit transition, bringing the Henderson County Mine up to its planned full production capacity of six super sections, and Riverview is now positioned to operate three super sections moving forward. In Appalachia, Tunnel Ridge returned to steady longwall production, with production increasing approximately 28% compared to both the 2025 quarter and the sequential quarter. Operationally, these results reflect the value of the recapitalization work we've done across the portfolio over the past several years.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Those investments are helping us realize productivity gains, access new reserves efficiently, and maintain a low-cost operating base to serve our customers' needs well into the next decade. Looking more broadly at the market, several themes shaped conditions during the quarter. First, Winter Storm Fern and the extended freezing weather across the Eastern United States once again highlighted the critical role coal plays in maintaining grid reliability during extreme weather. According to America's Power, coal-fired generation in several eastern regions operated at capacity factors approaching 80% during peak periods, materially outperforming natural gas and renewable resources when electricity demand was highest. While storm-related incremental coal burn didn't fully offset milder conditions throughout the quarter, utility stockpiles generally remain aligned with our burn projections entering the year. Summer weather will ultimately drive spot market activity for the balance of 2026.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Second, the conflict involving Iran briefly improved a previously quiet export market. In the weeks following the conflict, traders reacted quickly to dislocations in API 2 pricing, allowing Alliance to capitalize on a narrow window for export sales by securing 2 million tons of commitments to be delivered over 2026 and 2027. While API 2 prices have since softened, the conflict has contributed to higher global oil prices, which continues to be supportive of our oil and gas royalty segment. Beyond these shorter-term market dynamics, we continue to see longer-term structural support for coal-fired generation. Load growth remains one of the most significant forces reshaping U.S. power markets, and importantly, it is becoming more tangible. According to S&P, over 100 GW of data center demand is now under contract, with a significant concentration in the Eastern United States.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Execution and timing remain the key variables. The magnitude of this commitment represents a clear inflection point. The need for reliable fuel-secure generation is becoming better understood across the grid, emphasizing the importance of coal generation capacity and justifying the decisions to invest capital in the existing coal fleet to keep that capacity running for much longer than anticipated three years ago. Additionally, I would highlight that we are encouraged by a few recent policy developments that also improve the outlook for coal-fired generation. EPA actions on CCR and MATS during the quarter moved the regulatory framework in a more practical direction, lowering compliance costs, increasing operating flexibility, and reducing uncertainty for coal plants. We believe these changes support the reliability and affordability of dispatchable power and are constructive for our utility customers and for ARLP. We applaud these and the administration's continued deregulation efforts.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Turning our attention to our royalty segments, our oil and gas business delivered another record quarter. Driven by growth in volumes from increased drilling and completion activity by our operating partners and contributions from recent acquisitions. With the portfolio unhedged, changes in commodity prices directly impact our realized pricing, underscoring the segment's operating leverage and cash flow potential. We also continue to grow the portfolio through disciplined capital deployment, investing $16.2 million in acquisitions during the 2026 quarter, and we remain encouraged by a constructive pipeline of additional opportunities. Taken together, these factors continue to support demand for reliable dispatchable generation, an environment that favors coal producers with scale, contracted volumes and low cost reserves, not weighed down by drilling and operating capital cost and benefits directly from changes in commodity prices.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Demand growth for natural gas and stable demand for domestic oil production continue to reinforce our strategy of reinvesting all after-tax cash generation by our oil and gas royalties into expanding our minerals position. In closing, we believe Alliance is well positioned as we invest in this growing energy landscape. Reliable baseload generation, disciplined capital allocation, and operational execution remain at the heart of our strategy. We are committed to investing in opportunities that are strategic to our core businesses, maintaining a strong balance sheet and returning capital to our unit holders. That concludes our prepared comments, and I will now ask the operator to open the call for questions. Operator?

[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. One moment please while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Nathan Martin with The Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question.

[Nathan Martin, Coal and Railroads Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Thanks, operator. Good morning, Joe and Cary. Joe, you noted the Iran conflict briefly opened the U.S. export thermal valve, ARLP contracted nearly 2 million tons, I think. Should we assume now that that valve has closed, or could there be more opportunity? Maybe can you remind us what API2 price range ARLP needs to incentivize sales to that export market? Thanks.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah. Currently, I would say that the domestic opportunities are preferred over the export market. When we contracted for these volumes, API2 was in minimum $130 up to $140, when it peaked. Historically and really currently, even with domestic prices, and really it depends a lot on transportation, but primarily that number is around $120 is where our preferred option would be on how the export market would compare to the domestic market that we see. I would say the answer is $120. We do believe that with the uncertainty, not knowing exactly what's going to happen there, that there still could be possibilities of increased export opportunities. You know, we're sort of in a you know, in a shoulder period.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

When we get to the summer and we have higher demand for both, for cooling demand, that there is a potential that we could see that window open again. Our current posture, though, is to really focus on opportunities that are available to us in the domestic market. At this moment in time, that's where our guidance is projecting us to be for 2026 and 2027.

[Nathan Martin, Coal and Railroads Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Okay. Appreciate that, Joe. That kind of gets into my next question. We talked about largely a more mild winter year over year, despite Winter Storm Fern and the deep freeze that followed. What are you hearing from your customers as far as potential demand as we head into the summer? You made the comment that those evaluations are current now. I think you said summer weather will drive spot activity likely. Could we be in a position where utilities could even flex down if the summer isn't very hot? Would be great to just get some additional thoughts there.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

I think that right now we're seeing our customers we've got four or five different solicitations that are currently either in the process of being evaluated or RFPs that are going to happen this month that we anticipate. We are seeing our customers going out and looking to add to their position for 2026 and then going forward on a longer term basis. We've reflected in our guidance what we believe any downside optionality would present itself. Right now we do believe that there is demand for our unsold position to where we should be in a position to be able to sell our production. Weather will be dependent.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

I think, most things, most projections I'm seeing or most forecasts are projecting that the summer would be warmer than normal, which would be constructive, you know, for demand in the second half of the year.

[Nathan Martin, Coal and Railroads Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

Okay. Got it. Thank you for that. Then finally, the PJM was in the headlines a couple of times over the last few months in regarding the possibility that the region could experience a power shortage over the next decade or so as data center growth accelerates demand there. More near-term, though, I believe PJM was seeking 15 GW of new power supplies and emergency backstop there to address potential shortages as early as the summer of 2027, I think it was. Joe, you know, it would just be great to get your thoughts around what you're hearing there, conversations maybe that are occurring within that arena and how ARLP could possibly participate.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah. As you said, there's a lot of discussion going on in PJM on trying to understand what the markets can do to ensure that we have reliable capacity on a going forward basis, at the same time trying to lower costs as much as possible. There's been a lot of different ideas that have been floated relative to how to ensure that the data center demand is and the increase of, you know, generation capacity is paid for by the data centers. As we try to understand that dynamic, you know, PJM primarily is trying to weigh how do we protect that cost structure, but at the same time ensure we keep the existing capacity, you know, coal capacity, you know, viable and available for future demand.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

It's hard to predict. I think that we still are of the view that the capacity payments that we've seen recently are gonna continue for the next several years because the demand is such that we must keep every coal plant, every natural gas plant, all generation online to meet that demand because trying to build new construction to meet that demand is just not moving as fast as it needs to. When we think of the power capacity, we need everything that we've got available today. I'm speaking more from an eastern coal producer's perspective that is, you know, selling coal to the eastern markets, that we do believe that the existing capacity must stay online. We're seeing announcements, you know, continue to try to extend the life of these plants beyond.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Some plants were designed to close in 2028, and we're hearing more and more that are announcing staying open to 2034 as a minimum. You know, we just think that's gonna continue. The pricing construct that PJM comes up with is gonna have to support that conclusion in our view.

[Nathan Martin, Coal and Railroads Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company]

All right. Very helpful, Joe. I'll pass it on. Appreciate the time and best of luck in the second quarter.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Key with Texas Capital Bank. Please proceed with your question.

[Matthew Key, VP of Equity Research at Texas Capital Bank]

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to start just kind of on costs in Appalachia. Obviously the current guidance improves or implies an improvement over the remainder of the year. However, I know you have the longwall move at Tunnel Ridge. How should we be thinking about costs in the second quarter? Then I imagine, you know, the majority of the improvement would be more back weighted to the second half of 2026. Is that fair?

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah, Matt, that is fair. You know, in terms of your question around Appalachia in particular. Out at Tunnel Ridge, we did have a longwall move this quarter. We've already completed that longwall move. So that was accomplished in first week in April for the most part. So that longwall move is done. So it will modestly impact what the quarter is around Appalachia overall. But for the most part, you know, all the longwall moves in Appalachia are completed. As we look at the balance of the year, we do expect those operations to continue to run well throughout the balance of the year.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

You know, the longwall has started up well since then. Productivity and production has been good, you know, as a result of that. You know, we do anticipate, you know, as you mentioned, costs coming down. They will be, you know, a little bit higher, you know, as we look at Q2 than Q3 and Q4. You should see a fairly meaningful reduction in cost because you're gonna have, you know, quite a bit more of Tunnel Ridge sales volumes in this quarter versus what we had in Q1. We are anticipating, you know, if you just kinda take a look at the volume cadence for the rest of the year from where we were versus the first quarter.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

You know, we do expect, you know, volumes to jump up, you know, maybe around 15% or so, just in Appalachia. That should remain, you know, fairly consistent, for the final three quarters of the year. You will see a positive benefit on cost that will be coming down. We do anticipate a fairly meaningful cost reduction in Appalachia, you know, to the tune of, you know, it could be somewhere in that neighborhood 15% and 20%, you know, quarter-over-quarter.

[Matthew Key, VP of Equity Research at Texas Capital Bank]

Got it. No, that's super helpful. I wanna just touch on major capital allocation priorities in 2026. Obviously we, you know, expect a more investment in the oil and gas royalty business this year than maybe the last couple of years. Obviously Gavin has been a major success for you guys. I wanna just see if you could provide any color on what you're seeing and, you know, potential acquisitions on the power side. Obviously, as you mentioned in your prepared remarks, there's been a lot of positive changes with the MATS adjustments and that. Does that incentivize you to make a, you know, potentially a shot on goal there on the power, and how are you balancing kind of those two major initiatives?

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yes, we are continuing to look at the oil and gas segment, and as I mentioned, you know, we're committed to returning our capital, whatever our after-tax cash deployment is there. The last couple of years, we've actually been short of that. There is the potential to invest more in the oil and gas if the right underwriting standards can be met for that. On the power side, you know, we have been very pleased with our investment in Gavin. We continue to believe that demand for energy from coal-fired generation is necessary, like I mentioned a few minutes ago. If there are those owners of coal plants that are in...

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

If they are interested in divesting those, we are definitely interested in participating in that on a going forward basis. If there are opportunities, yes, we would allocate capital to those two areas of opportunities within, as we look at it, those being opportunities for us to grow our business.

[Matthew Key, VP of Equity Research at Texas Capital Bank]

Got it. Well, I appreciate the color and best of luck moving forward.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you, Matt.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Mark Reichman with Noble Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Thank you. Just to follow up on that last question on the capital allocation. When you think of your coal operations, your royalties expansion, and then your emerging, you know, investments, whether that be Gavin or Matrix or some of the others, how are you thinking about that in terms of, do you think you would go beyond just reinvesting the oil and gas minerals cash flow to fund growth? You think you would go beyond that? And just how do you kinda think about the returns across those different areas? Maybe the way to frame it would be what is your hurdle rate or your criteria for each of those areas?

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah. I think that, you know, as we look at the pipeline, you know, we mentioned that we did $16 million in the first quarter. We did $14 million in the, uh, fourth quarter. So that's sort of the opportunities that are presenting themselves in what we call the ground game. We haven't seen very many packages for larger acquisitions, uh, to come to the market. Uh, I think that it's difficult to understand. I think as from some of the sellers, it's difficult to understand exactly where, uh, where the war premium is gonna be. And so a lot of people that have large portfolios are enjoying pretty high, you know, current pricing. So, uh, is it possible? Yes, it is possible. You know, do we anticipate that right now? We're not anticipating that.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

If you factor in, you know, the past two years in addition to this year, if we were just to look at those cash flows that we have available to invest. Did you have another part of the question that I didn't answer?

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Well, I was just also thinking kinda your... When you think about rein-- you know, beyond maintenance capital for coal operations, and then of course you're-- you kinda answered the oil and gas royalties piece-

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

also the emerging investments. What is your, kinda your criteria or your hurdle rate or maybe, you know, how should investors think about returns across those areas?

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah. I think that they're totally two different investment time horizons. On the coal side, we would expect to try to get our cash flow back on a shorter time period, get a payback period, a shorter time period than on oil and gas. On all our oil and gas opportunities that we look at, most of them are 15, 20 years economic life, whereas a coal asset's probably 10. So when you think of it that way, that requires you to get a higher return on a coal investment than typically what our hurdle rate would be on oil and gas. Oil and gas is just totally dependent on the amount of PDP near-term cash flows that are identified. It's the returns anywhere from 15%-20-something%, depending on the risk profile, the timing of the cash flows that we, you know, evaluate on the mineral side.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Oh, that's helpful. You know, the first quarter results actually came in above our expectations. I do wanna ask on the digital assets. You know, when Bitcoin is going up, that's great. When it's going down, it can be a bit of a distraction. I was just wondering, I mean, it's not hugely significant to your overall operations, but how are you thinking about that business strategically? I mean, are there some strategic intelligence or advantages that you gain from operating that business beyond the gains and losses that cause you to wanna sustain those operations? Or just how are you thinking about the Bitcoin operations?

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah. We do look at what we believe the projected price will be. We're-

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Mm-hmm.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Seeing some rebound in that. I think one of the catalysts could be the Clarity Act that's being considered by Congress this summer, that

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Mm-hmm.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

We're seeing, you know, Kevin Warsh in his confirmation hearing talked about how, you know, Bitcoin is an asset and a class that's that he's, you know, factors in. We're seeing the administration being very supportive. We do believe that the upside on pricing is significant enough that we should hold on to what we have.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Mm-hmm.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

At the same time, you know, it is opportunistic in one sense, but I think it is. As we look at what it costs us to mine.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Mm-hmm.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

The position of where we are, we think there's definitely more upside than there is downside. Like everything-

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

You think you basically the argument to continue with it is you think Bitcoin is gonna gain currency in the market, you know, become more widespread.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Gain in popularity, regulations are gonna support it. And then, of course, you've got all that excess electricity to, to dedicate to it. Uh, okay. Well, that's very helpful.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

We look at the ETF markets and if you look at the cash flow, you know, that's going into the ETF markets, we've seen more inflow of cash. You know, when it was dropping, you saw a lot of outflow, but you're now seeing more, inflow into those markets. Again, we, you know, we're of the view that it's got more upside than downside, and therefore we're holding.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

Okay. just on the overall results. You're expecting a stronger second half. You've already kinda talked about the drivers of that, both on the revenue side and the cost side. Is the second quarter, I mean, you're not expecting quite as strong as, say, the third quarter? That's just kind of a transition to the stronger second half?

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yes, Mark, that's fair. If you look at, uh, you know, the-- our overall sales volume, second half should, um, should pick up. Hamilton does, uh, come online, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, kinda first half of May. And so then with no additional long wall moves, you know, either at Hamilton or Tunnel Ridge, um, you know, certainly the back half of the year, uh, we are anticipating to be, to be quite a bit stronger than the first half. And so as you mentioned, the second quarter will kinda be a transition to that because we'll have this Tunnel Ridge is beyond the long wall move. It'll essentially be running, you know, virtually the entire, the entire quarter.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Hamilton, you know, as I mentioned, will transition and then begin operating kinda in that first half of May.

[Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets]

That's very helpful. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, press star one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Mathison with Sidoti. Please proceed with your question.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

Good morning and congratulations on the quarter, gentlemen.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

Turning to my questions. I noticed that the pricing for Appalachia Coal came in above $74, which is above your guidance, and yet guidance remains unchanged. Was pricing in Q1 just a reflection of or rather your guidance for the remainder of the year, just a reflection of the roll-off of old contracts?

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah, I think that on a going forward basis, you know, we had the Mettiki situation, where those sales contracts are rolling off. We anticipated when we issued the WARN that the contract we had would be totally sold in the first quarter. Some of that's gotten extended beyond the first quarter. What you're seeing is the lack of that higher priced contract being in the market in the second half of the year, including the second quarter. You're seeing, back to what Cary Marshall said earlier, a larger percent of Tunnel Ridge production, which means lower cost, but it also means lower revenue compared to what we had at Mettiki, higher cost and higher revenue before the closure of that operation.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

Got it. Thank you. Looking at CapEx in the quarter, on a run rate basis, it ran about 25% higher than the high end of your guidance. Is that just seasonality or were there special factors involved?

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Uh, when you, when you look at the quarter, it was higher. You know, CapEx came in a little bit over $95 million for the quarter. I will say, you know, included within that, we did, uh, purchase about $15.5 million of coal reserves. Uh, within that $95 million, uh, number there. So if you back that out, uh, it is a little bit higher than what that run rate is, but if you normalize that out, Michael, I think that will, that will account for quite a bit of that difference.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

Okay, great. Again, very helpful. One other question. I noticed that there were no outside coal purchases in this quarter, unlike much of 2025 and 2024. Can we expect the same for the balance of the year, or would outside coal purchases come back into play?

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah. Our, our expectation is no additional outside coal purchases.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

That tied directly to our Mettiki operation.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Right.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

Okay. One last question, if I could squeeze it in.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Sure.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

The other income line. I'm sorry, go ahead.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

No, go ahead.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

Yeah. The other income line was $10 million in the quarter, unusually high for you. What drove the big increase, and what should we expect in other income going forward?

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Yeah, I think, I think going forward, it's a good, it's a good question. Um, you know, I think going forward, you know, essentially, you know, more in line with where we have been historically, which has just been, you know, very minimal, you know, other income flowing through that line item. You know, if not, you know, a little bit on the, on the expense side of it. Uh, for the quarter, we did have, uh, a favorable actuarial adjustment, uh, that's flowing through that line item. That's about half of what that total is. It's associated with some of the, uh, black lung liability, black lung liabilities, um, on our balance sheet. So we did have a favorable adjustment there. The other, the other piece of that, uh, relates to our, um, uh, one of our other growth investments, you know, associated with, uh, Infinitum.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

We did have a favorable adjustment to the valuation of our holdings of Infinitum, you know, just a shade under $4 million associated with that. Those, those two are the lion's share of what you see there. We don't, you know, anticipate those, you know, occurring on a regular basis. I would normalize those out going forward.

[Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti]

Great. Very helpful. Congratulations again, and good luck in the coming quarter.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you, Michael.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from the line of Ed Easton with The Easton Group. Please proceed with your question.

[Ed Easton, Principal Engineer and Head of Alternative Discretionary Technology at The Easton Group]

Morning, gentlemen. Thank you very much for the way you run the business. I love the transparency and the way you conduct everything by just talking about it on the quarterly calls. My question is, it looks to me like most of our capital expenses, the big ones, are kind of a little bit behind us, and the operational costs should be going down a little bit. What would you think about buying back stock, and what do you think about maybe increasing the dividend as that goes forward?

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

You know, we've all, you know, we evaluated that over time. Uh, I think that right now, um, we're focused on, uh, capital allocation and, uh, you know, as Cary mentioned, we were one-to-one this quarter, so we need to get our distribution coverage ratio more in line with, uh, an expectation of one two to one four, uh, on a going forward basis before we would consider, uh, either of those, uh, an answer to do either buyback and/or an increase in distribution.

[Ed Easton, Principal Engineer and Head of Alternative Discretionary Technology at The Easton Group]

Well, thank you. I'm very proud to be a shareholder. I like the way you run the business.

[Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Appreciate it, Ed.

[Ed Easton, Principal Engineer and Head of Alternative Discretionary Technology at The Easton Group]

Thanks.

[Operator]

We have no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Marshall for closing comments.

[Cary Marshall, CFO at Alliance Resource Partners]

Thank you, operator, and to everyone on the call. We appreciate your time this morning and also your continued support and interest in Alliance. We look forward to speaking with you again when we report second quarter financial and operating results. This concludes our call for the day. Thank you.

[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

• Cary Marshall, CFO
• Joe Craft, Chairman, President, and CEO

Analysts

• Ed Easton, Principal Engineer and Head of Alternative Discretionary Technology at The Easton Group
• Mark Reichman, Industrials and Basic Industries Senior Research Analyst at Noble Capital Markets
• Matthew Key, VP of Equity Research at Texas Capital Bank
• Michael Mathison, Equity Analyst of Singular Research at Sidoti
• Nathan Martin, Coal and Railroads Equity Research Analyst at The Benchmark Company