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Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (NMM)

Q1 2014 Earnings Call· Wed, May 14, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Thank you for joining us for this morning’s First Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call for Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation. With us today from the company are Chairman and CEO, Ms. Angeliki Frangou; President, Mr. Ted Petrone; the Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Leonidas Korres. This conference call is also being webcast. To access the webcast, please go to the Investors section of Navios Maritime Acquisition’s website at www.navios-acquisition.com. You’ll see the webcast link in the middle of the page. I’d now like to read the Safe Harbor statement. This conference call could contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about Navios Acquisition. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of Navios Acquisition’s management and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements. Such risks are more fully discussed in Navios Acquisition’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information set forth herein should be understood in light of such risks. Navios Acquisition does not assume any obligation to update the information contained in the conference call. Now I’d like to review the agenda for today’s call. First, Ms. Frangou will offer opening remarks. Then, Mr. Petrone will give an operational update and an overview of market fundamental. Next, Mr. Korres will provide an overview of Navios Acquisition’s first quarter 2014 results. And finally, Ms. Frangou will offer concluding remarks and we’ll open the call to take questions. I’d now like to turn the call over to Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and CEO of Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation. Angeliki?

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Thank you, Laura [ph], and good morning to all of you joining us on today’s call. I’m pleased with our results as we grew our revenue and adjusted EBITDA by 38% and by 28% respectively. As a result, we again declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. Given our current share price, stockholders are receiving a yield of about 5.4%. We have grown our company to be one of the top five largest publicly listed tanker owners among our U.S. and European peers with one of the youngest underwater fleet. In fact, so far this year, we grew the fleet by four vessels and we expect six additional vessels to be delivered in 2014. We are proud of our responsible growth strategy as we have been able to expand the fleet while protecting our balance sheet and stakeholders. With this discipline, Navios Acquisition believes it has built one of the strongest tanker companies among our public peers. Let’s now turn to Slide 3. Today, Navios Acquisition has a modern high quality fleet of 44 vessels with an average age of 4.2 years. Currently, we have 36 vessels on the water and eight vessels to be delivered over the next few quarters. As a result, of the three VLCCs, all will be delivered this year and the two additional VLCCs that they are delivering within June. Navios Acquisition also has one of the largest VLCC fleets underwater among our publicly listed peers. We identified the market opportunity in tankers a number of years ago during the downturn. As a result, we have focused on security – securing all the vessels accompanied by period charters with strong counterparties. We also have structural charters to capture market upside by insisting these charges to have a profit sharing element, thus we have. Thus,…

Ted Petrone

Management

Thank you, Angeliki. Please turn to Slide 12. With the recent acquisition of another two VLCCs, our fleet has grown to 44 vessels. In 2013, we took delivery of 15 tankers – 2 LR1s, 10 MR2s, 2 chemical tankers and 1 VLCC. Year-to-date in 2014, we took delivery of three VLCCs both 2009, ‘10 and ‘11, purchased two VLCCs both 2002 and ‘03, both of those delivered in Q2, and sold the 1993 built VLCC. This renewal of our VLCC fleet which began last year decreased the average age of our VLCC fleet by about 33% and makes it more in line with the industry average of 8.3 years. We also took delivery of one MR2 product tanker, new building probably in this month. Please turn to Slide 13. Navios Acquisition diversified fleet consists of 44 vessels totaling 5 million deadweight. The fleet consists of 4 chemical tankers, 21 MR2 product tankers and 8 LR1 product tankers and 11 VLCCs. All the fleet statistics exclude the vessels in the age to age [ph] agreement. Navios Acquisition currently has vessels on the water with an average age of 4.2 years. Since January 1, 2013, our product tanker fleet in the water has grown by 108% to 27. And the total fleet on the water grew 80% to 36 vessels. Thirteen product tankers have delivered since the beginning of 2013. Four more will deliver during the balance of 2014 and two in 2015. Available fleet days will grow from 13,682 in 2014 to 15,870 in 2015 representing a 42% growth in available revenue days in ‘14, and a 16% percent growth in 2015. Turning to Slide 14. Navios Acquisition continued to Navios Group Policy of locking in secured cash flow with credit worthy counterparties. Since the beginning of 2014, we have chartered…

Leonidas Korres

Management

Thank you, Ted. I will discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2014. In order to make the comparison with previous periods more meaningful we have adjusted EBITDA and net income for the following noncash items – $10.7 million impairment loss related to the sale of the VLCC Shinyo Splendor that took place in May 2014, $2.2 million loss related to a claim from a defaulted charter that was started in May 2014, and $1.4 million stock based compensation expenses. As shown in Slide 31, our operating metrics for the first quarter of 2014 have improved compared to the same period in 2013 mainly due to the 68% increase in the number of available days of our fleet from 1,832 days to 3,079 days. Revenue for Q1 2014 increased by 38% or $61 million from $44.2 million in Q1 2013. We enjoyed a 99.8% fleet utilization and a time charter equivalent of $19,544 per day. Operating and voyage related expenses were $23.1 million. And G&A expenses were $3.6 million. We continue to demonstrate significant EBITDA growth in this quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 2014 increased by 28.4% to $35.9 million from $28 million the same period of 2013. Other expenses include depreciation and amortization of $17.4 million and interest expense and finance cost of $17.1 million. Our adjusted net income improved by $0.8 million from a net profit of $0.7 million in the first quarter of ‘13, to an adjusted net profit of $1.5 million or $0.01 per share in the first quarter of 2014. As you can see the graph at the bottom of the slide, since we commenced operation in 2010, we have grown our operating metrics significantly reflecting the growth of our fleet. With an expected 42% increase with the available days in 2014, we…

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Thank you, Leo. And this completes our formal presentation. We open the call to questions.

Operator

Operator

(Operator instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Taylor Mulherin of Deutsche Bank. Taylor Mulherin – Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.: Good afternoon, everyone.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Hello, good morning. Taylor Mulherin – Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.: So I want to start off by asking about the recent VLCC purchases so far in Q2. In just the fact that both of the vessels are a little bit on the older side, so I just wanted to get a sense of what you might be seeing in the second-hand market from a valuation standpoint as you look at different vessel ages or maybe if it’s whether you think Navios has its specific advantage over the rest of the market operating these types of ships, just kind of any color about that or whether it was just a coincidence?

Angeliki Frangou

Management

I think what we – that’s a very good question. If you see our strategy to strengthen our VLCC position, we like to be opportunistic about [indiscernible] selected vessels, with going [ph] through vessels around 10 years old. These vessels are fast [ph] vessels of age, so you don’t have the downtime, neither the capital expenditure that associates with that. So you have the next five years uninterrupt to be profitable without having to stop pushing these [ph], the good quality vessels with very good reputation. Our whole target is to acquire vessels in the water and build this cash flow just to realize the breakeven on these vessels well below $20,000. So, yeah, looking on vessels that breakeven will be around $16,000, $17,000. This is quite – it can be quite creative to the bottom line of Navios Acquisition. And at the same time we have scrapped our older VLs, 19 years old and we have replaced – overall, the six vessels we acquired can improve the age profile by four years. We see this as in a portfolio approach. So I remember late last year, we acquired vessels two or three years old. Today, we’re buying around 10 years old. Overall, you see that we replace our fleet with improving age profile by 30% and the getting vessels in the water that can generate a significant cash flow. Taylor Mulherin – Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.: Makes sense. And then just kind of to keep on the VLCCs for a moment, the second-hand market asset values have been moving up fairly rapidly over the last few months. And you’ve clearly been successful so far in the quarter, acquiring ships but my guess is those negotiations may have been going on for a little while. Can you just provide an update on sort of what you’re seeing in the market right now in terms of any opportunities versus maybe three months ago, and then just whether or not that’s changed your strategy going forward of the crude opportunity versus product or anything like that?

Angeliki Frangou

Management

I mean, it’s obvious. Last year, we’re buying the three-year-old vessels at $54 million, so of course there is – as late as November, we’re buying these vessels. So of course there’s a move in the market because this is everything that applies really – these seem to have a negative – we have either zero or very little in asset growth. And that leads the opportunity of course. I mean, and you see that somehow U.S. is importing crude from the Middle East and when you have Venezuela exporting to China, so this creates a normal demand additional. But I think that the strategy was we see – and that’s why we saw a – I mean, prices have moved and that’s why we moved to cold assets of turning [ph] around. So we find where the opportunity is better. We have stayed clear from new buildings up to date because the value appreciation and the future delivery doesn’t match with our strategy which is to generate heavy cash flows today and as a market, we’ll see it with very good fundamentals. So with the market in the way we view it, which is a recovering market, and –

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the operator. I apologize. There will be a slight delay in today’s conference call. Please hold. The conference will resume momentarily. You may resume the conference.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Sorry. Hello, I don’t know where did you lose us or where the call – hello? Taylor Mulherin – Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.: Hi. I think I got most of that. So I think that makes sense. And then the last one, I just wanted to ask about quickly was just on the management services agreement. Just if you could provide any detail on how you were able to reduce those VLCC expenses by 5%, just any color on that would be great.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

As we grew our fleet and we’re seeing our entire – we’ll have to see it also on a portfolio. I mean, the entire fleet of [indiscernible] group has grew by – to about 150 vessels as a group. So these economies of scale that – I mean we had to review it and as we have seen the economies of scale and the youngest fleet that now comes in the VLCC segment, as you remember, we replaced some of the vessels. And the entire fleet, we’re scrapping the older 19-year-old VLs, gave us the ability with the knowledge we have to get a very good deal from Navios Holdings and benefit from keeping – very importantly, we kept operating expenses steady for the last four years which – 17% below industry average and the youngest VLCC with the ability to get a 5% reduction on the VL operating expenses. Far more important, I’d like to stress, is that all our stakeholders get the benefit of the economies of scale in the Navios Group expertise because we don’t see it as a profit center. You see that even in the G&A, the G&A of Navios Acquisition is substantially lower than a lot of the other – of our peers. So you have first class management, you have first class ability to operate and grow in this market. And on the same time, you have one of the lowest cost because strategies – these economies of scale could be transparent. They are transferred to within the group and to all our shareholders, bond holders and overall stakeholders. Taylor Mulherin – Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.: Great. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Ben Nolan of Stifel. Ben Nolan – Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Great. Hi and thank you. I actually – following up on your last comment there with respect to G&A, I absolutely agree you guys do a fantastic job of keeping that much lower than really anybody else. And there was an uptick in the quarter on the G&A side and I assume that is attributable to probably just an annual stock comp element. But even beyond that, it was a little bit up year-over-year and certainly quarter-over-quarter, do you see it coping maybe (inaudible) you could give me an idea of what I need to be modeling for G&A on a go-forward basis?

Leonidas Korres

Management

If you do exclude the non-cash $1.4 million, the remaining, in fact, keep us a run rate of course taking into account the vessel deliveries throughout the year.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

I mean, just to have a realistic view; in 2012, we had 19 vessels. Today, we in – we are running 42 vessels. And if you see the – apple to apple will be a very minor difference here. Ben Nolan – Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: No, absolutely. And I think it’d be – again, if you look at it on a per vessel basis compared to really anybody else, it’s often low. My second question had to do with the acquisition strategy and really more is a function of acquisition funding. Post to this most recent announcement from today, it looks like you guys are pretty well fully [based] as it relates to at least your immediate liquidity. Could you maybe talk to where you could see additional capital becoming available for further acquisitions or is it just a function of needing to start the – collect some of this cash flow before you can really be aggressive?

Angeliki Frangou

Management

I mean, actually, Ben, if you take a look on our cash – our liquidity is $165 million, our cash is $125 million and our entire requirement is $72 million. So we still have quite a significant buying power. The reason we selected this vessel because it made sense on a breakeven and ability to even generate strong cash flows for the next five years. It’s a very simple logic. Ben Nolan – Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Sure.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

You have – we see values today and we see the relative value of the best asset. Now, don’t forget, we also have – in our category, we have also an additional $19 million that we don’t see there from the sale of the Navios – of Shinyo Splendor which is not included. So leveraged together with the cash we have in our balance sheet and our cash generation, that comes from 2,000 days that we have of which 1,000 are product tankers and 1,000 are approximately VLCC days. You can see that you have – I mean this will actually contribute quite a significant free cash. So the company can do [indiscernible] because you have the sale of the Navios – of Shinyo Splendor with $19 million. You have 2,000 of available days and you have $165 million of liquidity, of which for the entire year you only use $72 million. Ben Nolan – Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Okay. So that sort of leads me to my next question. You guys, at least by my calculation, the share price is now trading at a discount to net asset value. Would it make more sense to be buying shares as opposed to be buying ships in the second-hand market or how do you think about the relative economics of those two different uses of your capital?

Angeliki Frangou

Management

I think we are very sensitive to all our stakeholders and we’ll do whatever is best value on the circumstances. So I think Navios has not been – we are very protective of all our stakeholders and we do the best. Ben Nolan – Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Okay, all right, fair enough. That does it for me. Thanks a lot.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Christian Weatherby at Citi. Seth Lowry – Citigroup: Good morning. This is Seth Lowry in for Chris. And probably just to follow up on the VLCC questions, from the two older vessels you bought, I know you take a portfolio approach to investing in assets. And I’m just wondering, does it make – were those assets purchased to sort of maintain some spot exposure even at the cycle uptick or do you think it’s (inaudible) at the market detail enough we could potentially see those chartered out a bit longer term closer to the average duration of your portfolio?

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Listen, I mean our targeting strategy as we have articulated very clearly, it’s a function to what – where we sit to be in the cycle. In this part of the cycle, we like to be exposed and explored and be able to capture as market recovers. That is the – and have shorter [ph]. And as you very well know from our Navios strategy, we are not shy to any opportunity. Even in this portfolio, we are not shy to go long. This is not something that scares us. We like to be – to create cash flows and visibility. But in the particular period, I think the best is to be able to capture shorter durations and being able to capture a market recovery. Seth Lowry – Citigroup: Okay, great. And then my other question, is how to switch over to supply. It looks like slippage (inaudible) product markets remain pretty high in Q1. And that comes sort of in the phase of forming supply-demand fundamentals. Do you think that’s indicative that there may be a bit more canceled orders than originally thought in the order book?

Angeliki Frangou

Management

I think this is – as we have always said, this is a permanent almost – it’s an order book that is obviously the same boosted from orders from the previous cycle. At one point, this has to be cleared and I think this is going to be happening in the next year or so. I think this will have to be cleared and taken out from the order book. So reality is that this VL order book. That’s why you see also a lot of non-delivery easiness, (inaudible) were not able financially to deliver or they have never done the expansion for these vessels or are – in that sense vessels that are wrongly marked. We know at this point that this is a reality, so we can really follow more or less and know that this is not going to come. The order book for the VLs in the next two, three years, looks very good, meaning that an active growth and where we are in the cycle gives us a very good positioning.

Ted Petrone

Management

It looks like to us year-to-date is the one net growth, one VLCC. And so if there is even a positive this year, it’s de minimus. And I think that’s why you see time generated staying up there even though you have some seasonal softness here because everybody sees the (inaudible) fundamentals look very good going forward. Seth Lowry – Citigroup: Okay, great, thanks. I’ll turn it over.

Operator

Operator

At this time, there are no further questions. I’ll now return the call to Angeliki Frangou for any additional or closing remarks.

Angeliki Frangou

Management

Thank you for attending our first quarter results. Thank you.