Suburban Propane Partners, L.P.
Q4 2020 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 12 Nov 2020

[Operator:]

Good day and welcome to the Suburban Propane Fiscal 2020 Full Year and Fourth Quarter Results Conference Call. All the participants will be in a listen-only mode. After today's presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. This conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, relating to the Partnership’s future business expectations and predictions and financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. The Partnership has listed some of these important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in such forward-looking statements, which are referred to as cautionary statements in its earnings press release, which can be viewed on the Company’s website. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the partnership’s persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by such cautionary statements.

[Davin D’Ambrosio:]

Thanks, Matt. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning for our fourth quarter and fiscal 2020 full year earnings conference call. Joining me this morning are Mike Stivala, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Mike Kuglin, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer; and Steve Boyd, our Chief Operating Officer. This morning we will review our fourth quarter and fiscal 2020 full year financial results along with the current outlook for the business. As usual, once we’ve concluded our prepared remarks, we will open the session to questions. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 26, 2020 which contains additional disclosure regarding forward-looking statements and risk factors will be filed on or about November 25. Once filed, copies may be obtained on the investor overview page of the Partnership’s website at suburbanpropane.com. Whereby visiting the Partnership’s filings with the SEC. Certain non-GAAP measures will be discussed on this call. We have provided a description of those measures, as well as the discussion of why we believe this information to be useful in our Form 8-K, which was furnished to the SEC this morning. The Form 8-K will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website. At this point, I will turn the call over to Mike Stivala for some opening remarks. Mike.

[Mike Stivala:]

Great. Thanks, Davin, and thank you all for joining us this morning. We're extremely proud to report another strong quarter to close out fiscal 2020. Adjusted EBITDA was $5.5 million, that's an improvement of $6.8 million compared to a loss of $1.3 million in the prior year fourth quarter. When combined with a strong third quarter performance, our adjusted EBITDA of $37.7 million for the second half of fiscal 2020 exceeded the prior year’s second half performance by nearly $20 million and represents the strongest second half results in our history. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA of $253.7 million was $21.4 million or 7.8% lower than the prior year as a result of unseasonably warm temperatures during the fiscal 2020 heating season. In fact, during the peak winter heating months from December through February, average temperatures were 14% warmer than normal and on par with the warmest temperatures on record for those months. Aside from the weather as we all know, there's been no shortage of challenges facing our business and the nation as a whole this past year. From the unprecedented health and economic crisis that started in March from COVID-19 to the wildfires in our West Coast operations and hurricanes in the Southeast, this was one heck of a year. In the face of all these unbelievable challenges, I'm so proud of the resiliency and dedication of the 3,200 employees at team Suburban Propane for following the guidance and new business protocols to help protect their health and safety while also staying focused on delivering the essential services that our customers and local communities count on.

[Mike Kuglin:]

Thanks, Mike, and good morning, everyone. I'll start by focusing on our full year results and give a little color on the fourth quarter toward the end of my remarks. To be consistent with previous reporting, and excluding the impact of unrealized non-cash mark-to-market adjustments on our commodity hedges, which resulted in an unrealized loss of $400,000 in fiscal 2020, compared to an unrealized loss of $8 million in the prior year. Additionally, fiscal 2020 included a $1.1 million pension settlement charge and $100,000 loss on debt extinguishment. Excluding these items, net income for fiscal 2020 amounted to $62.3 million or $1 per common unit, compared to $76.6 million or $1.24 per common unit in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2020 amounted to $253.7 million compared to $275 million in the prior year. As Mike indicated, decrease in earnings was essentially driven by the negative impact of extremely warm weather during the most critical months for heat-related customer demand. Despite the headwinds from COVID that followed the warm heating season, we’ve reported a $19 million increase in adjusted EBITDA in the second half of fiscal year, more than doubling last year’s second half results. While the health and economic crisis from COVID had a varying impact on customer demand and volume sold during the fiscal year, it did not materially impact bottom line earnings. This was achieved in large part by the swift and comprehensive actions we took to realign our workforce to the evolving customer demand. As we mentioned last quarter, there was still a fair amount of uncertainty about the future impact from the economic slowdown resulting from COVID, but we will continue to adapt our business and take steps to help mitigate the potential negative consequences of lower demand to the extent we’ve experienced prolonged softness in the economy. Retail propane gallons sold in fiscal 2020 were 402.9 million gallons, which was 5.6% lower than the prior year, primarily due to warmer than normal temperatures during the most critical months for heat-related demand. All average temperatures across our service territories for fiscal 2020 were 10% warmer than normal and 4% warmer than the prior year. Average temperatures during the peak demand month of December through February were 14% warmer than normal on par with the warmest temperatures on record and 7% warmer than the prior year.

[Mike Stivala:]

Thanks, Mike. As announced in our October 22 press release, our Board of Supervisors declared our quarterly distribution of $0.30 per common unit in respect to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, which equates to an annualized rate of $1.20 per common unit. The quarterly distribution was paid on November 10, to our unit holders record as of November 3. As discussed at the end of our fiscal third quarter, the decision to reduce the distribution rate was the result of a thorough assessment of the potential for shifting demand patterns as a result of the economic uncertainties associated with COVID-19, as well as to provide an incremental $75 million of excess cash flow to accelerate our debt reduction efforts in order to get to our target leverage between 3.5 times and 4 times while also providing enhanced financial flexibility to support our strategic growth initiatives. With the successful end of fiscal 2020, we are very well positioned to carry that momentum into fiscal 2021. We will continue to focus on strengthening our balance sheet. Our distribution coverage at the current rate is well above 2 times providing excess cash flow to continue to reduce debt and invest in our strategic growth and diversification initiatives, which we have already begun with our investments in a renewable energy platform. Our field operations are doing an excellent job with our customer base growth and retention initiatives, and we are continuing to see a shift in customer demand patterns with more and more residential demand from remote working arrangements as well as improving customer -- commercial demand trends, resulting from the gradual reopening of the economy and efforts to adjust to more outdoor activities.

[Mike Stivala:]

Great. Thanks, Matt, and thank you, everybody. We're certainly proud of where we are. We're very focused on starting 2020 strong. We have a lot of momentum in our back, and we look forward to talking to you again after our first quarter performance in February of 2021. In the meantime, stay healthy, stay safe, and have a happy holiday season. Thank you.

[Operator:]

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.