西湖化学合伙 (WLKP) 2026年第三季度业绩电话会议：现金流与覆盖率改善

核心要点

• 西湖化学合伙公司（Westlake Chemical Partners）公布2026年第三季度净利润为1600万美元，即每单位0.46美元，高于2026年第二季度和2025年第三季度，主要得益于产量和销量的提升。
• 受销量增加和维护性资本支出降低的支撑，可分配现金流同比增长300万美元，达到1800万美元，即每单位0.51美元。
• 随着2025年上半年Petro 1装置大修的影响移出计算周期，过去12个月的收益分配覆盖率环比从1.04倍提升至1.09倍。
• 该合伙企业宣布发放每单位0.4714美元的季度收益分配，这是自2014年7月首次公开募股（IPO）以来连续第49个季度未曾削减收益分配。
• 管理层表示，2026年剩余时间及2027年全年均无大修计划。该合伙企业还维持了约1倍的综合杠杆率。
• 管理层表示，2026年第四季度乙烯价格的上涨可能会对占年销售额约5%的第三方销售产生温和的积极影响。

核心财务数据

业务与运营业绩

产量和销量的增加推动了合伙企业净利润的同比及环比改善。与2025年第三季度相比，维护性资本支出的减少也提振了可分配现金流。

管理层强调，与西湖化学签订的固定利润率乙烯销售协议限制了市场波动和生产风险带来的敞口。自2014年7月IPO以来，该合伙企业的累计分配覆盖率一直保持在1倍以上，其季度收益分配较最初每单位0.275美元的最低标准增长了71%。

年销售额中约有5%面向第三方。管理层在电话会议时表示，2026年第四季度的乙烯价格已高于2026年第三季度的平均水平，这可能会给合伙企业带来温和的积极影响。

管理层业绩指引

管理层表示，2026年剩余时间及2027年均无计划中的大修安排。

该合伙企业继续评估四个潜在的增长杠杆：增加其在OpCo的持股比例、收购其他符合条件的收入来源、扩建现有乙烯设施，以及在与西湖化学的乙烯销售协议中谈判争取更高的固定利润率。

现行合同将持续生效至2027年，预计相关讨论将在2027年展开。管理层表示，在当前条件下，西湖化学为乙烯支付的0.10美元固定利润率是合理的，同时表明合伙企业将在未来的谈判中寻求更高的定价。

风险与核心关注点

管理层提及2026年第三方乙烯价格出现波动，这在很大程度上是由中东持续发生的冲突所驱动的。由于第三方销售额约占年销售额的5%，因此价格变动对合伙企业业绩的影响范围有限。

未来关于固定利润率的谈判将以西湖化学为对手方。管理层指出，双方在运营稳定性方面拥有共同利益，但任何调整后的定价都必须经过协商谈判。

分析师问答亮点

管理层澄清称，维护性支出与新增固定资产（物业、厂房及设备）并不等同。维护性支出可以同时包含资本化金额以及直接计入费用的项目。

Petro 1的大修导致2025年出现了较高的可比现金流出。管理层表示，大修费用已通过大修准备金预先提供资金，尽管这些支出仍会在发生大修的年份呈现在现金流量表中。

关于乙烯销售协议，管理层重申，现行的固定利润率在过去10多年中提供了稳定性。合伙企业打算在重新开启谈判时争取更高的定价，同时也认识到西湖化学与合伙企业将作为独立的两方进行谈判。

业绩电话会议完整文字记录

完整财报电话会议逐字稿

管理层陈述

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.

分析师问答

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.