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September 29, 2014 at 08:00 PM
Daniel W. Scott
Cowen and Company
[email protected]
646-562-1384
Natural Resource Partners (NRP) is a master limited partnership headquartered in Houston, with its operations headquarters in Huntington, W. Va. NRP is principally engaged in the business of owning and managing mineral reserve properties. NRP primarily owns coal, aggregate, and oil & gas reserves across the United States that generate royalty income for the partnership.
NRP reported Q2’14 adjusted EBITDA ahead of estimates driven by better-than-expected Appalachian royalties and oil & gas operation performance. While coal revenues are projected to be lower than initial expectations, the fruits of its diversification efforts are materializing as other commodities offset the decline and led NRP to reiterate full-year guidance.
NRP reported Q2’14 adjusted EBITDA of $77 million, ahead of our $69 million estimate and consensus of $68 million. Higher-than-expected Appalachian royalty rates, driven by a rebound in Northern Appalachian ($1.07/ton vs. $0.80 estimate) and Central Appalachian ($4.50/ton vs. $4.30) and higher than expected oil & gas performance ($17.8 million vs. $10 million), somewhat offset by higher general & administrative expenses, accounted for the beat.
Coal-related revenues accounted for 61% of total Q2’14 revenues, down from 78% and 65% in Q2’13 and Q1’14, respectively. Thermal cuts are being reflected as met coal comprised 36% of coal production and 43% of coal royalties versus 28% and 40% in Q2’13 and 28% and 39% in Q1’14.
We acknowledge that diversification efforts are bearing fruit and will revisit our distribution assessment as this piece of the pie continues to grow. We have updated 2014 and 2015 estimates for lower coal volumes, offset by higher oil & gas revenues.
