Operator
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's Delek Logistics Partners' third quarter earnings call. [Operator Instructions]. And now please welcome Mr. Keith Johnson. Sir, the floor is yours.
Delek Logistics Partners, LP (DKL)
Q3 2018 Earnings Call· Wed, Nov 7, 2018
$52.63
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1 Week
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1 Month
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+8.88%
Operator
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's Delek Logistics Partners' third quarter earnings call. [Operator Instructions]. And now please welcome Mr. Keith Johnson. Sir, the floor is yours.
Keith Johnson
Analyst
Thank you, Grace. Good morning. I would like to thank, everyone, for joining us on this webcast to discuss DKL's Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results. Joining me on today's call will be Uzi Yemin, our General Partners' Chairman and CEO; Kevin Kremke, CFO, as well as other members of our management team. As a reminder, this conference call may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined under federal securities law. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words believe, anticipates, plans, expects and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. You're cautioned that these statements may be affected by important factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our latest earnings release. As a result, actual operations or results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, we report certain non-GAAP financial results. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP results, which can be found in the press release, which is posted on the Investor Relations section of our website. On today's call, Kevin will begin with a financial overview, then Uzi will offer a few closing strategic remarks. With that, I'll turn the call over to Kevin.
Kevin Kremke
Analyst
Thanks, Keith. We had a strong third quarter performance. Our results enabled us to continue to maintain a high distributable cash flow coverage ratio. The benefit from the Big Spring logistics assets acquired effective March 1, 2018, the year-over-year increase in the West Texas gross margin and improved performance from the Paline Pipeline drove the third quarter 2018 improvement compared to the prior year period. Our distributable cash flow increased by 50% to approximately $32.4 million in the third quarter of 2018 compared to $21.6 million in the third quarter of last year. Our DCF coverage ratio was 1.25x for the third quarter of this year, which is an increase from 0.97x in the prior year period. EBITDA increased by 45% to $43 million compared to $29.7 million in the prior year period. Based on our performance, we increased our quarterly distribution to $0.79 per limited partner unit for the quarter ended September 30. This distribution is to be paid on November 9 to unitholders of record as of November 2 and is a 2.6% increase from our second quarter 2018 distribution per unit. This is our 23rd consecutive quarterly increase and is 10.5% higher than our third quarter 2017 distribution per unit. At September 30, 2018, DKL had approximately $317 million of available capacity on our $850 million credit facility. Our total debt was approximately $777 million and the total leverage ratio of 4.5x is well within the 5.5x currently allowable under our credit facility. This leverage ratio is elevated in the third quarter of 2018 by a combination of higher cash balance and intercompany receivable at the end of the third quarter. If we adjust for the higher cash balance and the effect of the intercompany receivable, the leverage would have been closer to 4.1x. And based on…
Ezra Yemin
Analyst
Thank you, Kevin, and good morning. Over the last 6 months, we have generated $88 million of EBITDA. This has been supported by our Permian Basin platform we have developed. This consists of a -- the Big Spring logistics assets, the West Texas wholesale business and the Paline Pipeline. In addition, we have benefited from the high utilization rate in the Delek US assets we support. We continue to explore opportunities to grow in the Permian Basin through organic and third-party opportunities. By partnering with our sponsor Delek US, we're evaluating options to further support their Permian crude needs as they continue to increase the amount of crude oil that they are generating -- I'm sorry, that they are gathering. With Delek's announcement of its Big Spring gathering system and its proposed interest in the PGC long-haul crude oil pipeline, its logistics assets base continue to grow. In addition, Delek US has logistics assets at the Krotz Springs refinery that can be a future potential drop-down with the ability to generate $30 million to $40 million -- $30 million to $34 million of annual EBITDA. We recently extended our credit facility and expect an improving leverage ratio that put us in a better position to fund potential drop-down in 2019 and moving forward. With this strategy, we believe that we should be able to create long-term value for our unitholders. This should continue to support our annual distribution growth per limited partner unit of at least 10% through 2019, while maintaining appropriate distribution coverage. With that, Grace, will you open the call for questions?
Operator
Operator
Ezra Yemin
Analyst
Thank you. I'd like to thank everybody on this call listening to us. Also, I'd like to thank you for your continuous support within -- with our company. I'd like to thank my colleagues around the table, the Board of Directors, obviously investors for your support. And mainly, I'd like to thank our employees who make this company the great company it is. Thank you, and have a great day.
Operator
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you all for your participation. That concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.