Parkland reports second quarter financial and operating results with Adjusted EBITDA of $191 million

CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parkland Corporation ("Parkland", "we", the "Company", or "our") (TSX:PKI) announced today its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020. Highlights from the second quarter (three months) include:

• Adjusted EBITDA attributable to Parkland ("Adjusted EBITDA") of $191 million.
  
  
• Net earnings attributable to Parkland of $32 million or $0.22 per share, basic.
  
  
• Cash flow from operations fully funded capital expenditures, acquisitions and net dividend payments.
  
  
• Fuel and petroleum product volume decreased by 14 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19.
  
  
• Operating and marketing, general and administrative ("MG&A") costs decreased by a combined $80 million relative to 2019. The cost reductions and strong per unit fuel margins helped offset the impact of volume declines.
  
  
• Refinery utilization was 64 percent for the quarter, reflecting the impact of the Burnaby refinery turnaround (the "Turnaround"). Post the Turnaround, utilization was between 75 - 80 percent to account for lower product demand.
  
  
• Closed $400 million offering of Senior Notes due 2028 and subsequently redeemed $400 million of Senior Notes maturing in 2021 and 2022.
  
  
• Improved liquidity of $1.6 billion and Total Funded Debt to Credit Facility EBITDA ratio of 2.7 times as of June 30, 2020.
  
  
• Modest increase to expected 2020 capital expenditures of $50 million, to an expected total of $325 million +/- 5%.
  
  
• Proudly supported our Canadian, US and International communities through the COVID-19 pandemic by donating over $4 million of fuel and premium food items.

"I would like to thank the Parkland team for safely serving our customers and delivering strong financial and operating performance, in what was the most challenging macro environment we have ever seen,” said Bob Espey, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We delivered solid margins, won new business and successfully managed our cash flow by reducing costs and controlling capital expenditures. Our financial and operating performance through the second quarter demonstrates the flexibility and resilience of our diversified business model. While we remain nimble in light of ongoing COVID-19 uncertainty, we are confident in our ability to advance our growth agenda.”

Q2 2020 Segment Highlights

Canada

Strong per unit fuel margins and convenience store traffic drove an over 30 percent increase in Adjusted EBITDA relative to 2019. We advanced key organic growth initiatives such as real-time pricing and enhanced digital analytics and continued to win new commercial business. We delivered our 18^th consecutive quarter of Company C-Store same-store sales growth ("SSSG'), completed the roll out of our JOURNIE™ Rewards program and advanced our National Fueling Network ("NFN") to prepare for a second half 2020 launch. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $93 million, an increase of $22 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily driven by strong per unit fuel margins, higher convenience store baskets and lower operating and MG&A costs.
  
  
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 1.8 billion litres, a decrease of 24 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volume declined 28 percent while commercial and other volume declined 16 percent.
  
  
• Company volume SSSG of negative 29.3 percent, reflecting the volume decline due to COVID-19.
  
  
• Company C-Store SSSG of 12.1 percent, our 18th consecutive quarter of positive C-Store SSSG. The convenience store channel has been an attractive consumer option through COVID-19 and performed well despite the significant decline in forecourt traffic. The sales increase was driven by strong tobacco, alcohol, household essential, grocery and take-home format performance offset by lower car wash, fresh food and dispensed beverage offerings. Excluding the impact of cigarettes, Company C-Store SSSG was 7.3 percent.
  
  
• Operating Costs decreased $25 million and MG&A costs decreased $11 million relative to 2019, reflecting the natural variability in our cost structure, proactive cost control measures and a benefit from relief provided under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy ("CEWS") program.
  
  
• Completed the roll out of JOURNIE™ Rewards at over 900 sites under the Chevron, Pioneer and Ultramar brands in Canada. Initial results are encouraging, with increased convenience and fuel baskets and early momentum with CIBC linked customers. We plan to begin joint marketing efforts with CIBC later this year as market conditions warrant. For more information on JOURNIE™, to save money on your fuel purchases and earn in-store rewards, please visit www.journie.ca.
  
  
• Our Canadian Commercial team secured a series of new organic business wins, including multi-million litre cardlock customers.

International

The International segment delivered a strong quarter despite an extensive COVID-19 impact in the Caribbean and South American regions. Our geographic and product diversity underpinned performance, with natural resource sector activity in South America and diversified economies in the Spanish Caribbean helping offset significant declines in aviation and retail. In addition, we meaningfully reduced costs and completed some of our ongoing integration work. The International team grew market share with minimal capital investment, including an exclusive commercial fuel supply agreement in Guyana and continued growth in the commercial mining sector. Our second quarter results demonstrate a robust base business excluding tourism and reinforce the long-term potential for International. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $54 million, a decrease of $20 million relative to 2019. The decrease was primarily driven by COVID-19 shutdowns, national curfew measures which required us to close certain retail gasoline and convenience stores, and lower aviation activity.
  
  
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 1.2 billion litres, a decrease of 4 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volume declined 35 percent while commercial and other volume increased 15 percent. While Commercial and other volumes have lower per unit margins, this organic growth helped mitigate the overall decline.
  
  
• Reduced operating costs by $9 million and MG&A costs by $10 million relative to 2019, reflecting the natural variability in our cost structure, integration efforts and proactive cost control measures taken during the quarter.
  
  
• Our International team secured a five-year marine fuel contract with an international energy company in Guyana and continues to grow our presence in the power, energy, mining and construction sectors across the region.

USA

Our USA business performed well, with strong fuel margins, recent acquisitions, organic national accounts growth and proactive cost management contributing to a year over year increase in Adjusted EBITDA. We closed our previously announced acquisition of ConoMart Super Stores in mid-May, bringing seven high quality corporate retail locations and expanding our presence in Montana. Our recent acquisitions continue to perform well, and in particular, Tropic Oil delivered a record quarter through organic growth initiatives, including joint business opportunities with International and strength in the marine bunkering business in Miami. COVID-19 volume declines were offset by strong per unit retail and marine fuel margins. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $22 million, an increase of $9 million relative to 2019. The increase was primarily due to acquisitions, organic growth and strong retail and marine fuel margins.
  
  
• Fuel and petroleum product volume of 626 million litres, an increase of 59 percent relative to 2019 due to the impact of acquisitions and organic growth, offset by the impact of COVID-19. Retail fuel volume declined 14 percent while wholesale and commercial volume increased 73 percent.
  
  
• Operating Costs increased $15 million and MG&A costs increased $1 million relative to 2019, due to the impact of acquisitions.
  
  
• Our US team continues to win new business in a tough environment, adding national accounts customers in seven states, including several multi-million litre customers.

Supply

The Supply team delivered a safe and successful restart of the planned Turnaround in late April and reliable fuel supply to our customers with no interruptions. Our integrated logistics business performed well despite COVID-19 supply and demand impacts which lowered overall system volume. Refinery utilization and margins increased through June as the market recovered and we exited the quarter with balanced crude and finished product inventory levels. Second quarter highlights include:

• Adjusted EBITDA of $40 million, a decrease of $178 million relative to 2019 due to extended Turnaround timing driven by labour productivity challenges, some of which were COVID-19 related, reduced refinery utilization in response to lower product demand and strong refining crack spreads in the comparable 2019 period.
  
  
• Refinery utilization was 64 percent, reflecting downtime in early April and a standard production ramp up process. Utilization was between 75 - 80 percent for the remainder of the quarter and was supported by our integrated marketing channels in British Columbia.
  
  
• Invested $71 million of capital on the Turnaround during the six months ended June 30, 2020. Capital expenditures for the Turnaround were above original estimates of $60 million due to labour productivity challenges, some of which were COVID-19 related.
  
  
• Reduced operating costs by $26 million and MG&A costs by $3 million relative to 2019, reflecting the variable components of production costs, proactive cost control measures and relief provided under the CEWS program.
  
  
• We continue to pursue high-quality growth projects that extend our supply advantage, such as a fuel import terminal opportunity in the Port of Oshawa, Ontario, to provide a further cost-effective fuel supply source to our integrated marketing operations in the Greater Toronto Area.

Corporate

The Corporate segment includes centralized administrative services and expenses incurred to support operations. Second quarter highlights include:

• MG&A costs of $17 million, a decrease of $12 million relative to 2019, reflecting the natural variability in our cost structure, deliberate cost control measures and relief provided under the CEWS program.
  
  
• Adjusted EBITDA expense of $18 million, which includes MG&A costs and minor foreign exchange impacts during the quarter.
  
  
• As a percentage of total adjusted gross profit, MG&A costs decreased to 3.5 percent (from 4.0 percent in 2019).
  
  
• We continue to enhance base systems and processes to capture efficiency, limit costs from re-emerging in 2021 and position ourselves to scale the business without adding complexity. Examples include teaming up with Amazon Web Services to strengthen our customer value proposition and accelerate our digital transformation and process improvements to further simplify reporting and deliver efficiencies.

Consolidated Financial Overview

^{(1)  Measure of segment profit and Non-GAAP financial measures. See Section 12 of the MD&A.
(2)  For comparative purposes, information for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019 was restated due to a change in segment presentation. Canada Retail and Canada Commercial, formerly presented separately as individual segments and Canadian distribution business, formerly presented in Supply are now included in Canada, reflecting a change in organizational structure in the first six months of 2020.
(3)  Calculated using the weighted average number of common shares.
(4)  2020 and 2019 results reflect the adoption of IFRS 16 as of January 1, 2019. 2018 comparative figures reflect the accounting standards in effect for that year and are not restated to reflect the impact of IFRS 16, as is allowed under the modified retrospective approach for IFRS 16 adoption.
(5)  Amounts presented on a trailing-twelve-month ("TTM") basis.
(6)  Beginning in Q1 2020, Credit Facility EBITDA includes Adjusted EBITDA attributable to NCI and excludes IFRS 16 impact attributable to NCI, and Total Funded Debt includes long term debt attributable to NCI, letters of credit attributable to NCI and cash and cash equivalents attributable to NCI. The amounts presented for 2019 and 2018 have not been restated.}

Update on COVID-19 Business Impacts

While the beginning of the economic recovery from COVID-19 has not been linear, we saw a steady increase in fuel volumes through the second quarter and into July. The potential for a COVID-19 second wave and associated economic impacts are difficult to forecast, however, our business has demonstrated tremendous resilience and flexibility through the uncertainty and these characteristics position us well for the future. Operational highlights subsequent to quarter end include:

• Canada segment volumes steadily improved through the quarter and continued into July and are now trending approximately 15 percent lower relative to 2019, consisting of an approximate 15 percent decline in both retail volume and commercial and other volume. Retail volume continues to trend upwards, while the recovery in commercial and wholesale volume has slowed in-line with seasonal activity. Consolidated per unit fuel margins have moderated slightly from Q2 2020 but remain above prior year levels.
  
  
• Canadian convenience store sales have remained robust through July. Convenience store margins have improved slightly relative to Q2 2020 as higher margin categories such as car wash and fresh food and beverage offerings recover.
  
  
• Our International segment is entering a seasonal low period. Although many countries have begun to reopen their economies, certain key markets have temporarily increased their restrictions as a result of rising COVID-19 cases. Volumes are trending approximately 20 percent lower in July relative to 2019 as a result of lower wholesale and aviation volumes, consisting of an approximate 25 percent decline in the commercial lines of business and 10 percent in the retail line of business. Per unit fuel margins for the segment have modestly increased relative to Q2 2020 as a result of the shifting product mix.
  
  
• Including the impact of acquisitions, US retail gasoline volumes in July are trending in-line relative to 2019 while preliminary wholesale and commercial volume continues to trend well above 2019. Per unit fuel margins have moderated from the historical strength in Q2 2020.
  
  
• Refinery utilization has been between 80 and 85 percent through July 2020. We continue to optimize throughput rates and refinery yields to maximize margin within current market conditions.

2020 Capital Guidance

On March 30, 2020, Parkland took decisive action in response to COVID-19 and reduced its guidance for 2020 total capital expenditures to $275 million +/- 5%, a reduction of $300 million. This reduction was consistent with our priority to maintain financial flexibility and balance sheet strength. Based on stronger cash flow generation relative to our initial COVID-19 planning scenario, higher Turnaround costs and other maintenance spend, we have increased our 2020 total capital expenditure guidance (the "2020 Capital Program") by $50 million to $325 million +/- 5%. We remain flexible with our second half program to adapt to the economic environment. Details of our amended capital program are below:

Conference Call and Webcast Details

Parkland will host a webcast and conference call on Friday, August 7, at 6:30am MDT (8:30am EDT) to discuss the results.

To listen to the live webcast and watch the presentation, please use the following link:

https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1345078

Analysts and institutional investors interested in participating in the question and answer session of the conference call may do so by calling 1-888-390-0546 (toll-free) (Conference ID: 51995975). International participants can call 1-587-880-2171 (toll) (Conference ID: 51995975).

Please connect and log in approximately 10 minutes before the beginning of the call.

The webcast will be available for replay two hours after the conference call ends at the link above. It will remain available for one year and will also be posted to www.parkland.ca.

MD&A and Consolidated Financial Statements

The Q2 2020 MD&A and Q2 2020 Financial Statements provide a detailed explanation of Parkland's operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020. An English version of these documents will be available online at www.parkland.ca and SEDAR after the results are released by newswire under Parkland's profile at www.sedar.com. The Q2 2020 French MD&A and Q2 2020 French Financial Statements will be posted to www.parkland.ca and SEDAR as soon as they become available.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information and statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). When used in this news release the words "expect", "will", "could", "would", "believe", "continue", "pursue" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, business objectives, estimated 2020 capital expenditures, the ongoing launch of the JOURNIE™ Rewards loyalty program, expected Burnaby refinery utilization rates, the expected launch of the National Fueling Network program in the second half of 2020, potential supply import opportunities, and Parkland's ability to advance its growth agenda. Additionally, this press release contains certain preliminary July results to illustrate the impact COVID-19 has had on our business. These numbers are preliminary, subject to finalization and quarter-end accounting procedures and do not constitute guidance.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Parkland does not undertake any obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by securities law. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of numerous risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, general economic, market and business conditions, including the duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; Parkland's ability to execute its business strategies; industry capacity; competitive action by other companies; refining and marketing margins; the ability of suppliers to meet commitments; actions by governmental authorities and other regulators including but not limited to increases in taxes or restricted access to markets; changes and developments in environmental and other regulations; and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Parkland. See also the risks and uncertainties described in "Forward-Looking Information" and "Risk Factors" included in Parkland's Annual Information Form dated March 20, 2020, and "Forward-Looking Information" and "Risk Factors" included in the Q2 2020 MD&A dated August 6, 2020, each filed on SEDAR and available on the Parkland website at www.parkland.ca. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This news release refers to certain non-GAAP financial measures that are not determined in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Distributable cash flow, distributable cash flow per share, adjusted distributable cash flow, adjusted distributable cash flow per share, total funded debt to credit facility EBITDA ratio, dividend payout ratio and adjusted dividend payout ratio are not measures recognized under IFRS and do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS. Management considers these to be important supplemental measures of Parkland's performance and believes these measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. See Section 12 of the Q2 2020 MD&A for a discussion of non-GAAP measures and their reconciliations to the nearest applicable IFRS measure.

Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted gross profit are measures of segment profit. See Section 12 of the Q2 2020 MD&A and Note 20 of the Q2 2020 FS for a reconciliation of these measures of segment profit. Investors are encouraged to evaluate each measure and the reasons Parkland considers it appropriate for supplemental analysis.

In addition to non-GAAP financial measures, Parkland uses a number of operational KPIs to measure the success of our strategic objectives and to set variable compensation targets for employees. These KPIs are not accounting measures, do not have comparable IFRS measures, and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers, as other issuers may calculate these metrics differently. See Section 12 of the Q2 2020 MD&A for further details.

Investors are cautioned that these measures should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings determined in accordance with IFRS as an indication of Parkland's performance.

Effective January 1, 2019, Parkland adopted the new accounting standard, IFRS 16 - Leases ("IFRS 16"). The adoption of IFRS 16 has a significant effect on Parkland's reported results. Due to Parkland's selected transition method, it has not restated its prior year comparatives. Certain financial statement measures are presented excluding the impact of IFRS 16 ("Pre-IFRS 16 measures").

About Parkland Corporation

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

For Further Information

Investor Inquiries

Brad Monaco
Director, Capital Markets
587-997-1447
[email protected]

Media Inquiries

Leroy McKinnon
Senior Specialist, Corporate Communications
403-567-2573
[email protected]