Westlake Chemical Partners (WLKP) Q3 2026 Earnings Call: Cashflow und Deckungsgrad verbessern sich

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Westlake Chemical Partners wies für Q3 2026 einen Nettogewinn von 16 Mio. US-Dollar bzw. 0,46 US-Dollar je Anteil aus, was vor allem aufgrund höherer Produktions- und Absatzvolumina sowohl über dem Wert von Q2 2026 als auch dem von Q3 2025 lag.
• Der ausschüttungsfähige Cashflow stieg im Jahresvergleich um 3 Mio. US-Dollar auf 18 Mio. US-Dollar bzw. 0,51 US-Dollar je Anteil, begünstigt durch höhere Volumina und geringere Instandhaltungsinvestitionen.
• Der Ausschüttungsdeckungsgrad der letzten 12 Monate verbesserte sich gegenüber dem Vorquartal von 1,04x auf 1,09x, da die Auswirkungen des Petro-1-Wartungsstillstands aus der ersten Hälfte des Jahres 2025 aus der Berechnung herausfielen.
• Die Gesellschaft beschloss eine Quartalsausschüttung von 0,4714 US-Dollar je Anteil – die 49. aufeinanderfolgende Quartalsausschüttung ohne Kürzung seit ihrem Börsengang im Juli 2014.
• Das Management gab bekannt, dass für den Rest des Jahres 2026 sowie für 2027 keine Wartungsstillstände geplant sind. Zudem behielt die Gesellschaft einen konsolidierten Verschuldungsgrad von etwa 1x bei.
• Steigende Ethylenpreise im vierten Quartal 2026 könnten sich laut Management leicht positiv auf die rund 5 % des Jahresumsatzes auswirken, die mit Dritten erzielt werden.

Wichtigste Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Höhere Produktions- und Absatzvolumina trugen maßgeblich zur Verbesserung des Nettogewinns der Gesellschaft im Jahresvergleich sowie gegenüber dem Vorquartal bei. Der ausschüttungsfähige Cashflow profitierte zudem von geringeren Instandhaltungsinvestitionen im Vergleich zu Q3 2025.

Das Management betonte, dass der Ethylen-Liefervertrag mit fester Marge mit Westlake die Anfälligkeit gegenüber Marktvolatilität und Produktionsrisiken begrenzt. Seit ihrem Börsengang im Juli 2014 hat die Gesellschaft einen kumulierten Ausschüttungsdeckungsgrad von über 1x beibehalten und ihre Quartalsausschüttung um 71 % gegenüber dem ursprünglichen Minimum von 0,275 US-Dollar je Anteil gesteigert.

Ungefähr 5 % des Jahresumsatzes entfallen auf Dritte. Das Management gab an, dass die Ethylenpreise im vierten Quartal 2026 zum Zeitpunkt der Telefonkonferenz über dem Durchschnitt des dritten Quartals 2026 lagen, was der Gesellschaft einen leichten Vorteil verschaffen könnte.

Prognose des Managements

Das Management erklärte, dass für den Rest des Jahres 2026 sowie für 2027 keine Wartungsstillstände geplant sind.

Die Gesellschaft prüft weiterhin vier potenzielle Wachstumstreiber: die Erhöhung ihrer Beteiligung an OpCo, den Erwerb anderer qualifizierter Ertragsquellen, die Erweiterung bestehender Ethylenanlagen sowie die Aushandlung einer höheren festen Marge im Rahmen des Ethylen-Liefervertrags mit Westlake.

Der aktuelle Vertrag läuft noch bis Ende 2027; entsprechende Gespräche werden für 2027 erwartet. Das Management bezeichnete die derzeit von Westlake gezahlte Marge von 0,10 US-Dollar für Ethylen unter den aktuellen Bedingungen als angemessen, betonte jedoch, dass die Gesellschaft bei künftigen Verhandlungen höhere Preise anstreben werde.

Risiken und wichtige Beobachtungspunkte

Das Management verwies auf die schwankenden Ethylenpreise im Drittmarktgeschäft im Jahr 2026, die zu einem großen Teil durch den anhaltenden Konflikt im Nahen Osten getrieben wurden. Da der Verkauf an Dritte jedoch nur etwa 5 % des Jahresumsatzes ausmacht, wirken sich Preisschwankungen nur auf einen begrenzten Teil der Ergebnisse der Gesellschaft aus.

Künftige Verhandlungen über die feste Marge betreffen Westlake als Vertragspartner. Das Management merkte an, dass beide Parteien ein Interesse an operativer Stabilität haben, jede geänderte Preisgestaltung jedoch Verhandlungssache sein wird.

Wichtigste Punkte aus der Analysten-Fragerunde

Das Management stellte klar, dass Instandhaltungsaufwendungen und Zugänge zum Sachanlagevermögen nicht identisch sind. Instandhaltungsaufwendungen können sowohl aktivierte Beträge als auch direkt als Aufwand erfasste Positionen umfassen.

Der Wartungsstillstand von Petro 1 führte im Jahr 2025 zu vergleichsweise höheren Cash-Abflüssen. Das Management erklärte, dass die Kosten für Wartungsstillstände über die entsprechende Rücklage vorfinanziert werden, obwohl die Ausgaben in der Kapitalflussrechnung des Jahres erscheinen, in dem der Stillstand stattfindet.

Bezüglich des Ethylen-Liefervertrags bekräftigte das Management, dass die derzeitige feste Marge seit mehr als 10 Jahren für Stabilität sorgt. Die Gesellschaft beabsichtigt, bei Wiederaufnahme der Verhandlungen höhere Preise anzustreben, erkennt jedoch an, dass Westlake und die Gesellschaft als zwei unabhängige Parteien verhandeln werden.

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Good afternoon. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Westlake Chemical Partners Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, November 4, 2026.

I would now like to turn the call over to today's host, Jeff Holy, Westlake Chemical Partners' Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

Jeffrey Holy

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Westlake Chemical Partners Third Quarter 2026 Conference Call. I'm joined today by Albert Chao, our Executive Chairman; Jean-Marc Gilson, our President and CEO; Jon Baksht, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and other members of our management team.

During this call, we will refer to ourselves as Westlake Partners or the Partnership. References to Westlake refer to our parent company, Westlake Corporation, and references to OpCo refer to Westlake Chemical OpCo LP, a subsidiary of both Westlake and the Partnership, which owns certain olefins assets. Additionally, when we refer to distributable cash flow, we are referring to Westlake Chemical Partners' MLP distributable cash flow. Definitions of these terms are available on the Partnership's website.

Today, management is going to discuss certain topics that will contain forward-looking information that is based on management's beliefs and assumptions made by and information currently available to management. These forward-looking statements suggest predictions or expectations and thus are subject to risks or uncertainties. We encourage you to learn more about the factors that could lead our actual results to differ by reviewing the cautionary statements in our regulatory filings, which are also available on our Investor Relations website.

This morning, Westlake Partners issued a press release with details of our third quarter 2026 financial and operating results. This document is available in the Press Release section of our web page at wlkpartners.com. A replay of today's call will be available beginning 2 hours after the conclusion of this call. The replay can be accessed via the Partnership's website.

Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today, November 4, 2026, and therefore, you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay. I would finally advise you that this conference call is being broadcast live through an Internet webcast system that can be accessed on our web page at wlkpartners.com.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Jean-Marc Gilson. Jean-Marc?

Jean-Marc Gilson

Thank you, Jeff. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our third quarter 2026 results. In this morning's press release, we reported Westlake Partners' third quarter 2026 net income of $16 million, or $0.46 per unit, which was above our net income in both the second quarter of 2026 and the third quarter of 2025.

The stability of Westlake Partners' business model is consistently demonstrated through our fixed-margin ethylene sales agreement, which minimizes market volatility and other production risk. The high degree of stability in cash flow, when paired with the predictability of our business, has enabled us to deliver the long history of reliable distributions and coverage. This quarter's distribution is the 49th consecutive quarterly distribution since our IPO in July of 2014 without any reductions.

And with that, I would like now to turn over our call to Jon to provide more detail on the financials and operating results for the quarter. Jon?

Jonathan H. Baksht

Thank you, Jean-Marc, and good afternoon, everyone. In this morning's press release, we reported Westlake Partners' third quarter 2026 net income of $16 million, or $0.46 per unit. Consolidated net income, including OpCo's earnings, was $91 million on consolidated net sales of $314 million. The Partnership had distributable cash flow for the quarter of $18 million, or $0.51 per unit.

Third quarter 2026 net income for Westlake Partners of $16 million was higher than the third quarter 2025 Partnership net income, primarily due to higher production and sales volume. Distributable cash flow of $18 million for the third quarter of 2026 increased by $3 million compared to the third quarter of 2025 due to the higher production and sales volume and lower maintenance capital expenditures. On a sequential basis, net income for Westlake Partners of $16 million in the third quarter of 2026 was higher than the second quarter on higher production and sales volume. Sequentially, our trailing 12-month coverage ratio improved to 1.09x from 1.04x, reflecting the aging out of the impact of the Petro 1 turnaround that occurred in the first half of 2025.

Turning our attention to the balance sheet and cash flows. At the end of the third quarter, we had a consolidated cash balance and cash investments with Westlake through our investment management agreement totaling $113 million. Long-term debt at the end of the quarter was $400 million, of which $377 million was at the Partnership and the remaining $23 million was at the OpCo. In the third quarter of 2026, OpCo spent $12 million on capital expenditures. We maintained our strong leverage metrics with a consolidated leverage ratio of approximately 1x.

On November 2, 2026, we announced a quarterly distribution of $0.4714 per unit with respect to the third quarter of 2026. Since our IPO in 2014, the Partnership has made 49 consecutive quarterly distributions to our unitholders, and we have grown distributions 71% since the Partnership's original minimum quarterly distribution of $0.275 per unit. The Partnership's third quarter distribution will be paid on December 1, 2026, to unitholders on record on November 13, 2026.

The Partnership's predictable fee-based cash flow continues to prove beneficial in today's economic environment and is differentiated by the consistency of our earnings and cash flows. Looking back, since our IPO in July of 2014, we have maintained a cumulative distribution coverage ratio in excess of 1x. And with the Partnership's stability and cash flows, we are able to sustain our current distribution without the need to access the capital markets. For modeling purposes, we have no planned turnarounds for the remainder of 2026 or in 2027.

Now I'd like to turn the call back over to Jean-Marc to make some closing comments. Jean-Marc?

Jean-Marc Gilson

Thank you, Jon. Turning to our outlook. Third-party ethylene prices have been volatile in 2026 due largely to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Thus far, in the fourth quarter of 2026, ethylene prices have been rising and are currently higher than the average price in the third quarter of 2026, which could provide a modest benefit to the Partnership on the roughly 5% of annual sales made to third parties.

Turning to our capital structure. We maintain a strong balance sheet with conservative financial and leverage metrics. As we continue to navigate market conditions, we will evaluate opportunities via our 4 levers of growth in the future, including: increases of our ownership interest of OpCo; acquisitions of other qualified income streams; organic growth opportunities such as expansions of our current ethylene facilities; and negotiation of a higher fixed margin in our ethylene sales agreement with Westlake.

We remain focused on our ability to continue to provide long-term value and distributions to our unitholders. As always, we will continue to focus on safe operations, along with being good stewards of the environment where we work and live as part of our broader sustainability efforts.

Thank you very much for listening to our third quarter earnings call. Now I will turn the call back over to Jeff.

Jeffrey Holy

Thank you, Jean-Marc. Before we begin taking questions, I'd like to remind listeners that a replay of this teleconference will be available 2 hours after the call has ended. We will provide instructions to access the replay at the end of the call.

Grace, we will now take questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of James Altschul with Aviation Advisory Service, Inc.

Fragen und Antworten

James Altschul

Actually, two questions. First of all, just now you made reference to the possibility of negotiating an increased fixed margin with Westlake. What incentive would they have to increase the margin? I mean, what's in it for them? Why would they want to do that?

Jonathan H. Baksht

The current contract we have in place is in place through 2027, and we'll have those discussions next year. As it relates to margins, I think the comment was referring to the margins that we're seeing in the marketplace. And ethylene PE margins are, currently with the current pricing in polyethylene, are constructive. And it's the third-party margins we refer to, the 5% of third-party sales.

James Altschul

Okay. Okay. Well -- but -- okay. If that's -- following on, on what you just said -- sorry. Busy day today. What incentive -- I mean, I believe when you're negotiating with Westlake, they're sort of like on both sides of the trend.

Jean-Marc Gilson

So if you refer to the $0.10 margin that Westlake is paying for ethylene, we think that this is an appropriate level right now. And considering sometimes it goes up -- I mean, the marketplace, sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down, the real price of ethylene. So we think that over the last more than 10 years, it has provided a stable -- I mean, some stability to the Partnership, and we intend to continue to do it like that.

James Altschul

Okay. Because I mean, Westlake is sort of on both sides of the negotiation. So they wouldn't have a lot of incentive to make the terms more favorable to the Partnership, would they?

Jean-Marc Gilson

Yes. No. I mean, it's -- now Westlake has an incentive also in having that stability in the operation. And so that's why we will continue like that right now, and there is a negotiation, and the negotiation opens and just happened last year. And so we do not intend to change anything. We'll try to negotiate higher prices, but we are two parties at the table.

James Altschul

Okay. The other thing, if you're looking to compare the cash flow statement with the reconciliation of MLP distributable cash flow to net income, the -- and the reconciliation, the number for maintenance capital expenditures is different from the additions to property, plant and equipment on the cash flow statement. Why is the discrepancy? Or is PP&E addition to property, plant and equipment separate from maintenance capital expenditures?

Jonathan H. Baksht

That's correct. So when you're thinking of maintenance expenditures, many of those will not be capitalized. And so you're thinking of that maintenance expenditure piece being both -- that cash flow number is going to include both capitalized numbers and pure expense items.

James Altschul

Okay. Okay.

Jonathan H. Baksht

And just as a reminder as well, last year, on a year-over-year basis, we did have the Petro turnaround. And so you will see higher levels on a year-over-year comparative basis on the full year set of cash flows. So that's also some of the delta when looking at it on a comparative basis.

James Altschul

Okay. And I guess, finally, am I correct in thinking that the idea is ordinarily, the turnaround expenses will be covered by what you have in the turnaround reserve?

Jonathan H. Baksht

That's correct. It's prefunded with the turnaround reserve, but you'll still see those flow through in the cash flow statement in the year of the turnaround. It's just funded from cash on the balance sheet that's already been received through the turnaround reserve.

Operator

At this time, the Q&A session has now ended. I will now turn the call back over to Jeff Holy.

Jeffrey Holy

Thank you. Thank you again for participating in today's call. We hope you'll join us for our next conference call to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2026 results.

Operator

Thank you for participating in today's Westlake Chemical Partners Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this call will be available for replay beginning 2 hours after the call has ended and may be accessed until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, November 18, 2026. The replay can be accessed via the Partnership website. Goodbye.