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Western Refining – WNR – Pleased with first quarter results and the positive momentum

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Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR) reported first quarter 2012 net income, excluding special items, of $85.1 million, or $0.81 per diluted share. This compares to first quarter 2011 net income, excluding special items, of $25.4 million, or $0.27 per diluted share. Including special items, the Company recorded a first quarter 2012 net loss of $53.5 million, or $0.60 per diluted share as compared to net income of $12.2 million, or $0.13 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2011. The special item in the first quarter of 2012 was a non-cash unrealized pre-tax hedging loss of $218.0 million. The quarter on quarter improvement in net income, excluding special items, was due in large part to higher refining margins resulting from the price advantage of WTI crude oil as compared to Brent crude oil. A reconciliation of reported earnings and description of special items can be found in the accompanying financial tables.

Jeff Stevens, Western’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased with our first quarter results and the positive momentum that we continue to achieve. Refining margins, particularly in our geographic areas, strengthened during the quarter and exceeded what we achieved in the same quarter last year. The stronger margins, along with our continued focus on cost and operational improvements, contributed to our solid performance.”

Continuing, Stevens said, “In this current environment, we have the opportunity to further strengthen our balance sheet. We have accelerated our targeted debt reduction for the year to $150 to $175 million. On March 1, we made a $30 million prepayment on our term loan and on April 30, we made an additional $75 million prepayment on our term loan for a total year-to-date debt prepayment of $105 million.”


For the first quarter of 2012, Adjusted EBITDA was $183.0 million compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $111.7 million for the first quarter of 2011. Total debt as of March 31, 2012, was $777.0 million and cash was $374.3 million, including restricted cash of $153.3 million. This resulted in net debt of $402.7 million at the end of the quarter.

Commenting on the second quarter, Stevens said, “The widening price differentials between WTI Cushing crude oil and WTI Midland crude oil are contributing to refining margins that are stronger than those in the first quarter. The current margin environment, the location of our assets, our access to discounted crude oils, the recent improvements in our balance sheet, and our on-going capital investments, position Western well.”

About Western Refining – WNR

Western Refining, Inc. (WNR) is an independent refining and marketing company headquartered in El Paso, Texas. Western operates refineries in El Paso and Gallup, New Mexico. Western’s asset portfolio also includes stand-alone refined products terminals in Albuquerque and Bloomfield, New Mexico, asphalt terminals in Albuquerque, El Paso, and Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, retail service stations and convenience stores in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, a fleet of crude oil and finished product truck transports, and wholesale petroleum products operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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