Westlake Chemical Partners Q1 2026 Earnings Report

Westlake Chemical Partners EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.40
• Consensus EPS: $0.43
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.03
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Westlake Chemical Partners Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $305.68 million
• Expected Revenue: $522.00 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$216.33 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Westlake Chemical Partners Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2026
• Date: 5/5/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 1:00PM ET

Westlake Chemical Partners (NYSE:WLKP) (NYSE: WLKP) is a publicly traded master limited partnership sponsored by Westlake Chemical Corporation. The partnership owns, operates and acquires a portfolio of ethylene and vinyl manufacturing assets throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. As a downstream producer of basic chemicals and intermediates, WLKP supplies key industrial feedstocks to customers in a variety of end markets.

WLKP’s operations are organized into two primary segments: olefins and vinyls. In the olefins segment, the partnership operates an ethylene cracker and related fractionation facilities that produce ethylene and propylene, which serve as building blocks for polyethylene, polypropylene and other specialty polymers. The vinyls segment includes vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and chlor-alkali production, as well as related by-product recovery units. These products are used in construction materials, pipe and profile applications, packaging and flexible film.

Founded in December 2012, Westlake Chemical Partners has grown through strategic acquisitions and expansions of its manufacturing footprint. In mid-2014, for example, WLKP acquired Westlake Chemical’s North American VCM and PVC assets, strengthening its vinyls platform. The partnership also maintains a significant presence in the United Kingdom through its Westlake Vinyls Europe joint venture, which supplies European and global markets.

Governed by an experienced board of directors and managed day-to-day by Westlake Chemical Corporation under a long-term services agreement, WLKP leverages technical expertise in process optimization and operational reliability. Its integrated asset base and focused business model are designed to deliver consistent production, flexibility in feedstock sourcing and stable distributions to unitholders.

Westlake Chemical Partners Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Reported Westlake Partners net income of $14 million ($0.40/unit) and distributable cash flow of $18 million ($0.51/unit); consolidated net income was $82 million on $306 million of sales, and trailing 12‑month coverage improved to 1.0x as the impact of the Petro 1 turnaround aged out.
• Positive Sentiment: Announced a quarterly distribution of $0.4714 per unit for Q1, marking the Partnership's 47th consecutive quarterly distribution and cumulative distribution growth of 71% since the original minimum.
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the Middle East conflict has tightened global feedstock supply and supported higher North American ethylene prices; OpCo sold more third‑party ethylene in March and the ~5% of production sold to third parties is seeing improved margins with potential for further upside in Q2 if prices remain elevated.
• Positive Sentiment: Balance sheet and operations remain conservative with consolidated cash held with Westlake of $81 million, long‑term debt of $400 million (partnership $377M), consolidated leverage ≈1x, OpCo capex of $6 million in Q1, and no planned turnarounds in 2026.
• Neutral Sentiment: CFO transition announced — John Bakst joins as CFO on June 15 while Steve Bender will become a special advisor and support the transition, with Steve expected to participate in the Q2 earnings call.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good afternoon. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Westlake Chemical Partners first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. During the presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, you will be invited to participate in a question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, May 5, 2026. I would now like to turn the call over to today's host, Jeff Hawley, Westlake Chemical Partners Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer. Sir, you may begin.

[Jeff Hawley, VP and Chief Accounting Officer at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Thank you, Kelly. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Westlake Chemical Partners first quarter 2026 conference call. I'm joined today by Albert Chao, our Executive Chairman, Jean-Marc Gilson, our President and CEO, Steve Bender, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and other members of our management team. During this call, we refer to ourselves as Westlake Partners or the Partnership. References to Westlake refer to our parent company, Westlake Corporation, and references to OpCo refer to Westlake Chemical OpCo LP, a subsidiary of Westlake and the Partnership which owns certain olefins assets. Additionally, when we refer to distributable cash flow, we are referring to Westlake Chemical Partners MLP distributable cash flow. Definitions of these terms are available on the partnership's website.

[Jeff Hawley, VP and Chief Accounting Officer at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Today, management is going to discuss certain topics that will contain forward-looking information that is based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements suggest predictions or expectations and thus are subject to risks or uncertainties. We encourage you to learn more about the factors that could lead our actual results to differ by reviewing the cautionary statements in our regulatory filings, which are also available on our investor relations website. This morning, Westlake Partners issued a press release with details of our first quarter 2026 financial and operating results. This document is available in the press release section of our webpage at wlkpartners.com. A replay of today's call will be available beginning two hours after the conclusion of this call. The replay can be accessed via the partnership's website.

[Jeff Hawley, VP and Chief Accounting Officer at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, May 5th, 2026, and therefore you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay. I would finally advise you that this conference call is being broadcast live through an internet webcast system that can be accessed on our webpage at wlkpartners.com. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Jean-Marc Gilson. Jean-Marc?

[Jean-Marc Gilson, President and CEO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Thank you, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter 2026 results. In this morning's press release, we reported Westlake Partners first quarter 2026 net income of $14 million or $0.40 per unit. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, our first quarter sales and earnings benefited from a higher third-party average sales price that was offset by slightly lower production and sales volume. The stability of Westlake Partners business model is consistently demonstrated to our fixed margin ethylene sales agreement, which minimizes market volatility and other production risk. The high degree of stability in cash flow when paired with the predictability of our business has enabled us to deliver the long history of reliable distribution and coverage.

[Jean-Marc Gilson, President and CEO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

This quarter distribution is the 47th consecutive quarterly distribution since our IPO in July 2014 without any reductions. Before I turn the call over to Steve Bender, I want to provide some thoughts on our CFO transition. As you may have read, on April 20, we announced that on June 15, John Bakst will join Westlake Corporation and Westlake Partners LP as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. John brings experience from the oil and gas, packaging, and building product industries, as well as investment banking to Westlake, and we look forward to him joining the partnership. On June 15, Steve Bender will transition to the role of special advisor and will continue to report to me as he supports the transition. We anticipate that Steve Bender will participate in the second quarter earnings call in August.

[Jean-Marc Gilson, President and CEO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

With that, I would like to turn our call over to Steve to provide more detail on the financial and operating results for the quarter. Steve?

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Thank you, Jean-Marc, and good afternoon, everyone. In this morning's press release, we reported Westlake Partners first quarter 2026 net income of $14 million or $0.40 per unit. Consolidated net income, including OpCo's earnings, was $82 million on consolidated net sales of $306 million. The partnership had distributable cash flow for the quarter of $18 million or $0.51 per unit. First quarter 2026 net income for Westlake Partners of $14 million was $9 million above the first quarter of 2025 partnership net income, due primarily to higher production and sales volumes as a result of last year's planned turnaround at Petro 1.

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Distributable cash flow of $18 million for the first quarter of 2026 increased by $13 million when compared to the first quarter of 2025, due to higher production sales and sales volumes and more maintenance capital expenditures as a result of last year's Petro 1 planned turnaround. As compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, net income for Westlake Partners in the first quarter of 2026 declined by less than $1 million due to lower production and sales volumes that was mostly offset by higher third-party average sales price. Sequentially, our trailing 12-month coverage ratio improved to 1x from 0.8x, reflecting the aging out of the impact of the Petro 1 turnaround that occurred in the first quarter of 2025.

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Our operating surplus improved by $1 million as we achieved a coverage ratio above 1 in the first quarter. Turning our attention to the balance sheet and cash flows, at the end of the first quarter, we had consolidated cash in cash investments with Westlake through our investment management agreement totaling $81 million. Long-term debt at the end of the quarter was $400 million, of which $377 million was at the partnership. The remaining $23 million was at OpCo. In the first quarter of 2026, OpCo spent $6 million on capital expenditures. We maintained our strong leverage metrics with a consolidated leverage ratio of approximately 1x

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

On May 4, 2026, we announced a quarterly distribution of $0.4714 per unit with respect to the first quarter of 2026. Since our IPO in 2014, the partnership has made 47 consecutive quarterly distributions to unitholders. We have grown distributions 71% since the partnership's original minimum quarterly distribution of $0.275 per unit. The partnership's first quarter distribution will be paid on June 1, 2026 to unitholders of record on May 14, 2026. The partnership's predictable fee-based cash flow continues to prove beneficial in today's environment and is differentiated by consistency of our earnings and cash flows.

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Looking back, since our IPO in July of 2024, we have maintained a cumulative distribution coverage ratio of approximately 1x and the partnership stability and cash flows, we were able to sustain our current distribution without the need to access capital markets. For modeling purposes, we have no planned turnarounds in 2026. Now I'd like to turn the call back over to Jean-Marc to make some closing comments. Jean-Marc?

[Jean-Marc Gilson, President and CEO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Thank you, Steven. We are pleased with the partnership financial and operational performance during the first quarter. Solid operating rates at OpCo's ethylene facilities during the quarter resulted in a quarterly coverage ratio of 1.0x. Turning to our outlook, the conflict in the Middle East has significantly disrupted the global supply of oil, chemical feedstocks, and polymers. Resulting supply concerns are prompting global chemical customers to source more material from North America in response to the conflict, which is supporting higher demand and prices for North American ethylene. While most of OpCo's ethylene volume is contracted to Westlake at a fixed margin of $0.10 per pound, margin for the approximately 5% of production that OpCo typically sells to third parties is benefiting from higher selling prices as a result of the factors I just discussed.

[Jean-Marc Gilson, President and CEO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Turning to our capital structure, we maintain a strong balance sheet with conservative financial and leverage metrics. As we continue to navigate market conditions, we will evaluate opportunities via our four levers of growth in the future, including increases of our ownership interest of OpCo, acquisitions of other qualified income streams, organic growth opportunities such as expansions of our current ethylene facilities, negotiation of a higher fixed margin in our ethylene sales agreement with Westlake. We remain focused on our ability to continue to provide long-term value and distribution to our unitholders. As always, we will continue to focus on safe operations, along with being good stewards of the environment where we work and live as part of our broader sustainability efforts. Thank you very much for listening to our first quarter earnings call. Now I will turn the call back over to Jeff.

[Jeff Hawley, VP and Chief Accounting Officer at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Thank you, Jean-Marc. Before we begin taking questions, I'd like to remind you that a replay of this teleconference will be available two hours after the call has ended. We'll provide instructions to access the replay at the end of the call. Kelly, we will now take questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question-and-answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of James Auchil of Aviation Advisory Service Inc. Your line is now open.

[James Auchil, Analyst at Aviation Advisory Service]

Good afternoon, thanks for taking my call. In your prepared remarks, you mentioned that you anticipate, or I don't know if you anticipate, you're seeing, I believe increased margins on the 5% of your sales to third parties as a result of the war and thus the increased interest in sourcing your products from a North America-based supplier. Did we really see the impact of that in the first quarter? The war started at the end of February and I'm not remembering exactly when the price of oil started to jump and the shipping was intercepted. Are we gonna see a more significant impact on the second quarter?

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Yes, it's a very good question. I will say that as a result of the run-up in ethylene pricing, we did take the opportunity in the first quarter, in March, to actually sell more third parties, ethylene volumes than would be normally the case. We typically try to take opportunities to maximize the margin in this business when we see opportunities like this. We did sell more volume in the first quarter than might be typically done as an example, last year's first quarter. It did improve the margins associated with the business as a result of doing so.

[James Auchil, Analyst at Aviation Advisory Service]

Okay.

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

As we look into the second quarter, if we see opportunities of this nature and continue to see elevated ethylene, we'll continue to do so.

[James Auchil, Analyst at Aviation Advisory Service]

Okay. I'm looking at the income statement and it says under revenue, the figure for third-party sales is a few million less than the comparable quarter last year. Of course that's sales, not margin.

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Again, just the impact of only one month of activity. I do expect that if the ethylene remains as elevated as it has been recently, you'll see more of a positive impact in the second quarter.

[James Auchil, Analyst at Aviation Advisory Service]

Excellent. Thank you very much.

[Steven Bender, EVP and CFO at Westlake Chemical Partners]

You're quite welcome.

[Operator]

Thank you. I am showing no questions at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Jeff Hawley.

[Jeff Hawley, VP and Chief Accounting Officer at Westlake Chemical Partners]

Thank you, Kelly. Thanks everyone for participating in today's call. We hope you'll join us for our next conference call to discuss our second quarter 2026 results.

[Operator]

In today's Westlake Chemical Partners first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, this call will be available for replay beginning two hours after the call has ended and may be accessed until 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. The replay can be accessed via the partnership website. Goodbye.

Participants

Executives

• Jean-Marc Gilson, President and CEO
• Jeff Hawley, VP and Chief Accounting Officer
• Steven Bender, EVP and CFO

Analysts

• James Auchil, Analyst at Aviation Advisory Service