International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

International Seaways, Inc. (NYSE:INSW) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript May 8, 2024

International Seaways, Inc. beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $2.93, expectations were $2.38. INSW isn't one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).

Operator: Good morning. Thank you for attending today's International Seaways First Quarter 2024 Results Call. My name is Jennifer, and I'll be your moderator today. All lines will be muted, during the presentation portion of the call, with an opportunity for questions-and-answers at the end. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to CAO and General Counsel, James Small. James, please proceed.

James Small: Thank you, Jennifer. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to International Seaways earnings call for the first quarter of 2024. Before we begin, I would like to start off by advising everyone with us on the call today of the following. During this call, management may make forward-looking statements regarding the company, or the industry in which it operates. Those statements may address, without limitation, the following topics: outlooks for the crude and product tanker markets, and changes in trading patterns, forecasts of world and regional economic activity and of the demand for and production of oil and other petroleum products; the effects of ongoing and threatened conflicts around the globe; the company's strategy; our business prospects; expectations regarding revenues and expenses including vessel, charter hire, and G&A expenses; estimated bookings, TCE rates and/or capital expenditures, for periods during 2024, or any other period; projected scheduled drydock and off-hire days; purchases and sales of vessels, construction of new build vessels and other investments; the company's consideration of strategic alternatives; anticipated and recent financing transactions in any plans to issue dividends; the company's relationship with its stakeholders; the company's ability to achieve its financing and other objectives; and other economic, political, and regulatory developments globally.

Any such forward-looking statements take into account various assumptions made by management based on a number of factors, including management's experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected and future developments, and other factors that management believes are appropriate to consider in the circumstances. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, many of which are beyond the company's control which could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the statements. Factors, risks, and uncertainties that could cause International Seaways' actual results to differ from expectations, including those described in our annual report on Form 10-K for 2023, our report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2024, and in other fillings that we have made or in the future may make, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Now let me turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Lois Zabrocky. Lois?

Lois Zabrocky: Thank you very much, James. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining Seaways' earnings call for the first quarter of 2024. You can find our presentation on our website in the Investor Relations section. Starting on Slide 4, our results for the first quarter represent our eighth consecutive quarter of strong earnings. Net income was $145 million, $2.92 per diluted share. This quarter came in higher than our prior two quarters. Adjusted EBITDA, was over $190 million. On the upper right-hand slide, we highlight enhancements that we have made to our already strong balance sheet. At the end of the first quarter, we had $626 million in total liquidity, including $411 million of undrawn revolver. Now, we have consolidated our term loans and converted them into more revolver capacity.

In the execution of this facility, we have saved about $80 million per year in mandatory repayments, or about $3,000 per day across our spot fleet. For some perspective on how Seaways have evolved our balance sheet, two years ago in 2022, we had mandatory debt repayments of $180 million. Now, for the forward 12 months, our mandatory payments are under $50 million. This is tremendous work by Jeff and his finance team, along with our valued relationships with our bankers. This gives us extensive flexibility embedded in the balance sheet. As a result of these efforts, our spot vessels need to earn $13,600 per day to breakeven. With 52% of our spot days booked in the second quarter, it looks like we will generate a significant amount of free cash flow, again in the second quarter.

We now have $559 million in undrawn revolver capacity, putting Seaways in a position to respond, to market opportunities. On the lower left-hand chart, we give detail on our fleet upgrading progress. In the last couple of weeks, we have taken delivery of three of six eco MRs that we purchased in February. The remaining ships deliver before the end of May. The six vessels are under contract for $232 million in aggregate. We also declared our options, for an additional tool to dual-fuel ready LR1s expected to deliver in the third quarter of 2026. Overall, our program of building six LR1s, has the first two deliveries in the second half of next year. The lower right-hand slide, outlines our continued return to shareholders. Our strong earnings and our strong balance sheet allow us to return a substantial portion of our net income to our shareholders.

Today, we declared a combined dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents 60% of our adjusted net income, and another quarter of a double-digit yield for our shareholders. Over the last 12 months, we have returned an actualized greater than 13% return. Here at Seaways, we are focused on a balanced approach to capital allocation. This continues to create value for the company, and our shareholders. We utilize the cash we're generating in this upcycle, to strengthen our balance sheet and put us in position, for the next opportunity. We're now renewing our fleet, by acquiring these six more modern eco-MRs. We are building vessels for our niche premium LR1 trade, and we are selling some older vessels. These older MRs have more than paid for themselves, since acquiring them in 2021.

We're able to execute each of these facets, while still remaining a double-digit yield to our shareholders. On Slide 5, we've updated our standard set of bullets on tanker demand drives, with the positive green up arrows, neutral black dashes, and red arrows for negative tanker factors. Touching on the highlights, oil demand continues to grow with estimates of growth averaging around 1.5% for this year of 2024 year-over-year, with similar projections for 2025. This represents an above-average demand growth level, specifically for seaborne transportation. Existing regional imbalances of crude oil production, and the availability of refined products contrasted with distant strong demand centers, makes a tanker market. In the bottom chart, we highlight the difference between crude oil production, expected throughput, and product demand by region.

Both Europe and Asia are structurally short crude oil, which they source from the Americas, Middle East, Russia. With the enforcement of sanctions on Russian oil tightening, the disruption of traditional routes has enhanced ton miles demand and supported the tanker market. On the refined marked product sector, most regions are short specific refined products, except for the Middle East and Russia. This creates a lively product trade, as charters continue to take advantage of arbitrage plays, to meet demand in different regions for specific grades. It remains very constructive that commercial inventories, are low throughout the world. Continued disruption within the tanker market, on top of strong fundamentals, underpins increased need for seaborne transportation.

Slide 6. The supply side has seen some ordering, with our tanker order book now at 9% of the existing total tanker fleet. You can see this in the lower left-hand chart. These new orders stretch into 2027, as shown in the chart on the lower left-hand corner of the slide. These vessels that are on order will replace older ships, turning 20-plus years old, and at the very least, would be removed from commercial trading. As a result, the average fleet age will rise in the next few years, at a faster rate than it has over the prior 10. Generally, older ships have less efficiency and lower utilization. With an increasing percentage of the fleet falling into this category, the industry will put the new ships to work, covering the increasing seaborne demand.

Overall, this sets the stage for a strong upcycle over the next few years, and Seaways remains well-positioned to capitalize on these market conditions. You can count on Seaways, to utilize our balanced capital allocation approach to renew our fleet and adapt to industry conditions with a strong balance sheet while returning to shareholders. I'm now going to turn it over to our CFO, Jeff Pribor, to provide financial review. Jeff?

Jeff Pribor: Thanks, Lois, and good morning, everyone. Turning to Slide 8, net income for the first quarter was just about $145 million, or $2.92 per diluted share. On the upper right chart, adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2024, was $192 million. In the appendix, we provided a reconciliation from reported earnings to adjusted earnings. Our expense guidance for the first quarter fell largely within the range of expectations, but I'd like to point out a few items of note within our income statement. On the revenue side, our lightering business continues to outperform, earning about $14 million in revenue in the quarter. With about $2.5 million in vessel expenses, $3.5 million in charter hire, and $1 million of G&A, the lightering business contributed about $7 million in EBITDA in the first quarter, just shy of its record of nearly eight times.

Turning now to our cash bridge on Slide 9, we began the quarter with a total liquidity of $601 million, which was composed of $187 million in cash, and $414 million in undrawn revolving capacity. Following along the chart from left to right on the cash bridge, we first add $192 million in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, plus $44 million in debt service, which is composed of scheduled debt repayments and cash interest expense. Last, our dry dock and capital expenditures of about $14 million in the quarter, and a draw on working capital, due to timing of about $13 million. We therefore achieved our definition of free cash flow of about $121 million in the first quarter. This represents an annualized cash flow yield of 18% on today's share price.

The remaining bars on the cash bridge, reflect our capital allocation for the quarter. We spent $23 million as a deposit for the six eco-MRs that are delivering in the second quarter, as Lois mentioned, and we paid $1.32 per share or about $65 million in dividends during the quarter. These components then lead us to an ending liquidity of $626 million, comprised of $215 million in cash, short-term investments, and $411 million in undrawn revolving capacity. Now, moving to Slide 10, we continue to have a strong financial position detailed by the balance sheet you see on the left-hand side of the page. Cash and liquidity remain strong at over $626 million. Vessels on the books at cost are approximately $2 million versus current market values of nearly $3.5 million.

And with $700 million in gross debt at March 31, this equates to a net loan-to-value of just about 14%. Our debt today is 85% hedged or at fixed rates, therefore equating to an all-in weighted average interest rate of about 6%, or less than 100 basis points above SOFR. In the table on the bottom right of the slide, our debt balances as of April 30 reflect the amended and extended $750 million facility, which we now call the $500 million RCF. As Lois mentioned earlier, this facility has no mandatory debt payments at this time, representing a savings of about $80 million per year. We continue to enhance the balance sheet, to create the financial flexibility necessary to facilitate growth and returns to shareholders. We have $559 million in undrawn revolvers.

Our nearest maturity in the portfolio isn't until the next decade. We continue to lower our breakeven costs, and we share in the upside with double-digit returns to the shareholders. On the last slide that I'll cover, Slide 11, this reflects our forward-looking guidance and our booked-to-date TCE aligned with our spot cash breakeven rates. Starting with TCE fixtures, the second quarter of 2024, I'll also remind you, as I always do, that actual TCE earned that you'll see on our next earnings call, may be different. But as of today, we have a blended average spot TCE of about $43,700 per day, fleet-wide, for the quarter. On the right-hand side of the slide, you can see how that lines up against our spot cash breakeven rates. The methodology here is exclusively using expenses on our spot vessels, less the excess of our time charter revenues above charter vessel costs, and dividing that by spot days.

This then relates to the average spot TCE, which, as I said, was $43,700 per day for more than half the days in the second quarter. Looking at the bottom left-hand chart for the modelers out there, we provided some updated guidance on our expenses in the second quarter, and our estimates for 2024. We also include in the appendix our quarterly expected off-hire and a CapEx schedule for 2024. I don't plan to read these items line-by-line, but I want to encourage you to use them for modeling purposes. That concludes my remarks, so I'd now like to turn the call back to Lois for her closing comments.

Lois Zabrocky: Thank you very much, Jeff. Slide 12 details our investment highlights. In brief, over the last seven years, International Seaways has built a track record of returning to shareholders, maintaining a healthy balance sheet, while growing the company. Our total shareholder return is over 490% since our inception, representing a 24% compounded annual return. Over the last 12 months, our combined dividends of $5.74 represent a 13% yield. We continue to upgrade our fleet, purchasing six eco MRs and building six LR1s for our strong niche Panamax International joint venture. We've taken advantage of strong values by selling some of our older MRs. These MRs have gains on the sale that are higher than what we paid for the vessels.

This is all while quietly improving our balance sheet. We now have 36 unencumbered vessels and under $700 million in debt. We have $559 million in undrawn credit capacity, which we will carefully utilize to opportunistically grow our balanced fleet. Finally, our balanced fleet of spot ships, now need to earn below $14,000 per day to breakeven in the forward 12 months. At this point in the cycle, we expect to continue generating cash that we will put to work, creating value for the company, and most importantly, for our shareholders. Thank you very much. And with that said, Jen, we'd like to open up the lines for questions.

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