Westlake Chemical Partners (WLKP) Q4 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Reported full year 2024 net income of $62.4 million or $1.77 per unit, up $8.1 million from 2023, with consolidated net income including OpCo at $369 million.

• Fourth quarter 2024 net income was $15 million or $0.43 per unit; consolidated net income including OpCo was $87 million on $290 million in sales.

• Stable fee-based cash flow from a fixed margin ethylene sales agreement with Westlake supports predictable earnings and distributions.

• 42nd consecutive quarterly distribution since IPO in 2014, with distributions grown 71% since inception.

Financial highlights

• Q4 2024 total net sales were $297.3 million, up from $255.3 million in Q4 2023; full-year 2024 net sales were $1.14 billion.

• Q4 2024 gross profit was $98.6 million; full-year 2024 gross profit was $418.9 million, up from $387.5 million in 2023.

• Q4 2024 EBITDA was $120.8 million; full-year 2024 EBITDA was $507.6 million, up from $472.1 million in 2023.

• Full year 2024 distributable cash flow was $67 million, up $4 million from 2023, driven by higher net income.

• Consolidated cash and investments at year-end totaled $193 million.

Outlook and guidance

• The planned Petro 1 ethylene unit turnaround began in January 2025 and is expected to last about 60 days, likely causing the coverage ratio to dip below 1.00x in 2025.

• Management expects sufficient cash and surplus to fund distributions above distributable cash flow during the turnaround year.

• Third-party ethylene sales prices and margins remain favorable into 2025, expected to benefit financial performance.

• Coverage ratio expected to recover post-turnaround, targeting 1.1 times.