October 24, 2011 [OPIS] – Massachusetts-based master limited partnership Global Partners LP said last week it is on track to achieve its 2011 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) expectations and to reduce core expenses by $10-$12 million in 2012.
The company’s 2011 EBITDA guidance was $75 to $85 million. In July, Global announced cost-savings initiatives, including a 10% workforce reduction in the third quarter.
The company said it faced margin pressure due to less favorable market conditions, including a challenging forward gasoline pricing curve. According to the last 10K SEC filing, Global has a full-time workforce of 286.
“These actions, as well as new business opportunities, support the Partnership’s goal to maintain and increase the distribution and maximize returns to unitholders over time,” said Eric Slifka, the Partnership’s President and CEO.
Global Partners also declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.50 per unit ($2.00 per unit on an annualized basis) on all of its outstanding common units for the period from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2011.
The distribution will be paid Nov. 14, 2011 to unitholders of record as of the close of business Nov. 3, 2011. In August, Global Partners was awarded two one-year contracts to store at its Revere, Mass., terminal facility a combined 500,000 bbl of ultra-low-sulfur distillate for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve (NEHOR).
The contracts, which commence in the fourth quarter of 2011, are expected to generate in the first contract year a total of $4.2 million in storage revenue for the Partnership. The DOE has extension options for up to an additional three years.
In addition, Global Partners has loaded its first unit train of Bakken crude oil in North Dakota for rail delivery as early as next week to the Partnership’s Albany, N.Y., terminal.
“We are enthusiastic about these and other emerging market opportunities, such as the purchase, transportation, storage and resale of Bakken crude, which we believe will become an important and growing business for us,” Slifka said. Global owns, controls or has access to one of the largest terminal networks of refined petroleum products in the Northeast. The Partnership is one of the largest wholesale distributors of gasoline, distillates (such as home heating oil, diesel and kerosene) and residual oil to wholesalers, retailers and commercial customers in the New England states and New York.
In addition, the Partnership owns and supplies fuel to Mobil-branded retail gas stations in New England, and also supplies Mobil-branded fuel to independently owned stations. In the early Wednesday trade, Global Partners shares on the New York Stock Exchange were up 29cts to $15.15, with the 52-week range at $14.73-$29.98. The market capitalization for the company shares was at $320.69 million.
