CALGARY, ALBERTA — (Marketwired) — 11/02/17 — Q3 HIGHLIGHTS
(all financial figures are unaudited and in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted)
Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (TSX: ENF) (ENF or the Company) announced third quarter earnings of $77 million, or $0.52 per common share.
Fund Group ACFFO was $488 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 and $1,411 million year-to-date. Cash distributions paid year-to-date were $1,209 million, resulting in a payout ratio of 86 percent of ACFFO through September 30, 2017.
Third quarter ACFFO was up year-over-year driven largely by the strong performance of the Canadian Mainline as a result of higher crude oil throughput and higher tolls. Crude oil throughput on the Canadian Mainline averaged close to 2.5 million barrels per day during the third quarter.
“Our strong financial results are a testament to the strength and quality of our asset base,” said Perry Schuldhaus, Company President. “Within the Liquids Pipelines segment of the Fund Group, earnings on the Canadian Mainline were strong in the third quarter, thanks to various capacity optimization initiatives completed earlier this year in combination with a higher residual benchmark toll. In the Gas Pipelines segment, we continue to see strong contributions from Alliance Pipeline as a result of ongoing demand for firm seasonal service.”
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the Company expects performance to continue to strengthen. With the capacity optimizations in place, the Canadian Mainline is now in a position to transport increased volumes as production and refinery facilities come back into service following maintenance outages and as new oilsands production facilities come on line.
Project Execution
The Fund Group continues to make good progress on the execution of its $9 billion secured growth capital program. On August 29, 2017, the JACOS Hangingstone crude oil pipeline lateral in Alberta was placed into service. Year to date, the Fund Group has brought over $2.4 billion of new projects into service on budget, and is also expecting the $1.3 billion Wood Buffalo Extension project to come into service before year end.
The Line 3 Replacement is a critical energy infrastructure program that will support the economy and assure a reliable and cost-effective supply of energy. It will comprise the newest and most advanced pipeline technology and will enhance safety, reliability, and throughput capacity on the Mainline system.
All required regulatory permitting is in place in Canada and construction began this summer on certain segments of the pipeline and is progressing well.
The most significant remaining permitting process for the U.S. portion of the Line 3 Replacement Program which is being constructed by Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. U.S. is in Minnesota. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is expected to issue a decision on the Certificate of Need and Route Permit in the second quarter of 2018. Based on this regulatory process and timeline, Management continues to anticipate an in-service date for the project in the second half of 2019.
In addition, subsequent to quarter-end, Enbridge received an amended Presidential Permit for the Alberta Clipper (Line 67) expansion project.
“We are very pleased with the progress the Fund Group has made on the execution of its growth capital projects,” concluded Mr. Schuldhaus. “With the strength we are seeing in the base business, combined with the balance of the $9 billion organic growth program coming into service, we remain on track to achieve our dividend growth projections of approximately 10% per year through 2019.”
Dividends and Ownership Structure
On October 30, 2017, the Company–s Board of Directors declared a monthly cash dividend of $0.1711 per common share to be paid on December 15, 2017 to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 30, 2017.
These dividends are designated eligible dividends for Canadian tax purposes, which qualify for the enhanced dividend tax credit. Eligible shareholders may elect to participate in the Company–s Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan (DRIP), where they may automatically reinvest their dividends in additional shares at a two percent discount to the share price without brokerage fees. Details of the DRIP are available on the Company–s website. Shareholders who wish to participate in the DRIP should contact their investment dealer for further information and to enroll.
The Company holds a 67.0 percent ordinary trust unit (Fund Unit) interest in Enbridge Income Fund (the Fund) and an approximate 19.2 percent overall economic interest in the Fund Group. The Fund Group is comprised of the Fund, Enbridge Commercial Trust (ECT), Enbridge Income Partners LP (EIPLP) and the subsidiaries and investees of EIPLP. EIPLP holds the operating entities of the Fund Group.
NON-GAAP MEASURES
This news release contains references to adjusted earnings before interest and income taxes (adjusted EBIT) and ACFFO. Adjusted EBIT represents EIPLP earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT), adjusted for unusual, non-recurring or non-operating factors on both a consolidated and segmented basis. These factors, referred to as adjusting items, are reconciled and discussed in the financial results sections of this news release.
Fund Group ACFFO consists of adjusted EBIT further adjusted for non-cash items, representing cash flow from the Fund Group–s underlying businesses, less deductions for maintenance capital expenditures, interest expense, and applicable taxes and further adjusted for unusual, non-recurring or non-operating factors not indicative of the underlying or sustainable cash flows of the business. ACFFO is important to unitholders as the Fund Group–s objective is to provide a predictable flow of distributions to unitholders. ACFFO represents the Fund Group–s cash available to fund distributions to unitholders, as well as for debt repayments and reserves.
Management believes the presentation of adjusted EBIT and ACFFO are useful to investors and unitholders as they provide increased transparency and insight into the performance of the Company and the Fund Group. Management uses adjusted EBIT and ACFFO to set targets, including the distribution payout target, and to assess the performance of the Company and the Fund Group. Adjusted EBIT and ACFFO are not measures that have standardized meanings prescribed by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP) and are not U.S. GAAP measures. Therefore, these measures may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other issuers.
Please see the tables in the Third Quarter 2017 Performance Overview section that provide a reconciliation of the GAAP and non-GAAP measures.
THIRD QUARTER 2017 PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW
For more information on the operating results of the Company, the Fund and EIPLP, please see the respective Management–s Discussion and Analysis on the Company–s website at . The documents are also filed on SEDAR under Enbridge Income Fund Holding Inc.–s profile for the Company and under Enbridge Income Fund–s profile for the Fund and EIPLP.
Earnings Before Interest and Income Taxes
The comparability of EIPLP–s earnings was impacted by a number of unusual, non-recurring or non-operating factors, the most significant of which relates to changes in unrealized derivative fair value gains and losses as well as pipeline and facilities restart costs that resulted from the extreme wildfires that occurred in northeastern Alberta in the second quarter of 2016.
EIPLP–s EBIT for the three months ended September 30, 2017 was $811 million, an increase of $375 million over the corresponding period in 2016. Excluding the impact of unusual, non-recurring or non-operating factors, EIPLP EBIT increased for the third quarter of 2017 compared with the third quarter of 2016, primarily driven by stronger performance from the Liquids Pipelines segment. Specifically, Canadian Mainline contributions increased due to a higher Canadian Mainline International Joint Tariff (IJT) Residual Benchmark Toll, which increased in April 2017 and July 2017. In addition, Canadian Mainline throughput was higher in the third quarter of 2017 following capacity optimizations implemented earlier in the year.
For the first nine months of 2017, EIPLP EBIT was higher than the same period in 2016, largely driven by the stronger results within the Liquids Pipelines segment in the second and third quarters of 2017 compared with the corresponding period in 2016. Following the first quarter of 2017, Canadian Mainline revenues increased due to a higher Canadian Mainline IJT Residual Benchmark Toll and a higher foreign exchange hedge rate used to record United States dollar denominated revenues compared to the second and third quarters of 2016, respectively. The Canadian Mainline also benefitted from stronger throughput on a year-to-date basis in 2017 compared to 2016.
Adjusted Earnings Before Interest and Income Taxes
EIPLP adjusted EBIT for the third quarter of 2017 was $491 million compared with $456 million for the third quarter of 2016. The quarter-over-quarter increase was mainly driven by stronger contributions from the Liquids Pipelines segment. The Liquids Pipelines segment revenues increased due to a higher average Canadian Mainline IJT Residual Benchmark Toll in the third quarter of 2017 as well as throughput growth on the Canadian Mainline and Regional Oil Sands System. Liquids pipelines throughput in the third quarter of 2017 returned to levels achieved earlier in the year following temporary, unusual events in the second quarter, as discussed below. Canadian Mainline throughput was further strengthened in the third quarter of 2017 by capacity optimizations implemented in the first half of the year.
The year-to-date increase in adjusted EBIT was largely driven by the stronger results in the second and third quarters of 2017 compared to the corresponding periods in 2016. Beginning in April 2017, the Liquids Pipelines segment benefitted from an increase in the Canadian Mainline IJT Residual Benchmark Toll from US$1.47 to US$1.62, which was further increased to US$1.64 in July 2017. In addition, United States dollar denominated Canadian Mainline revenues were recorded at a higher foreign exchange hedge rate in the second and third quarters of 2017 compared with the corresponding 2016 periods. The IJT Benchmark Toll and its components are set in United States dollars, and the majority of EIPLP–s foreign exchange risk on Canadian Mainline revenues is hedged. The effective hedge rate for the translation of Canadian Mainline United States dollar transactional revenues for the second and third quarters of 2017 were $1.04 and $1.07 compared with $1.03 and $1.05 for the corresponding periods in 2016, respectively.
Canadian Mainline throughput was also stronger on a year-to-date basis in 2017 compared to 2016, driven by strong oil sands production in western Canada along with increased pipeline capacity realized in the third quarter of 2017, as discussed above. The year-to-date periods were also impacted by temporary, unusual events in the second quarters of both years. In the second quarter of 2017, volumes were impacted by an unexpected outage and accelerated maintenance at a customer–s upstream facility, while in the second quarter of 2016, throughput was lower due to the impacts of the northeastern Alberta wildfires. Based on the positive impacts of Canadian Mainline capacity optimizations implemented in the first half of the year along with new projects coming into service in the remainder of the year, liquids pipelines throughput is expected to remain strong through the fourth quarter of 2017.
Fund Group ACFFO underpins the Fund Group–s ability to pay distributions to holders of Fund Units, including the Company. The Fund Group–s ACFFO increased to $488 million and $1,411 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 from $448 million and $1,346 million in the comparable periods of 2016, respectively.
Similar to adjusted EBIT, the increase in ACFFO in the third quarter of 2017 was driven by stronger contributions from EIPLP–s Liquids Pipelines segment following the increases in the Canadian Mainline IJT Residual Benchmark Toll in April 2017 and July 2017, along with higher throughput on the Canadian Mainline following capacity optimizations implemented in the first half of 2017.
For the first nine months of 2017, ACFFO increased compared with the same period of 2016 driven by strong operating results in the second and third quarters of 2017 discussed in Non-GAAP Measures – Adjusted EBIT, which included a higher Canadian Mainline IJT Residual Benchmark Toll and higher liquids pipelines throughput, which was partially offset by temporary, unusual events in the second quarter of 2017. In addition, ACFFO increased due to greater distributions from Alliance Pipeline and lower maintenance capital expenditures in both periods of 2017.
The Company–s distribution income represents substantially all of the Company–s earnings and cash flows, and is derived from the Fund Group distributions paid to the Company. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, distribution income was $79 million and $227 million, an increase of approximately 20 percent and 24 percent from the comparable periods of 2016, respectively, as a result of the increased number of Fund Units held by the Company in the second and third quarters of 2017 compared with the same periods in 2016.
The following table summarizes the dividend rate and total dividends declared by the Company for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 and the quarters therein.
CONFERENCE CALL
The Company will hold a joint conference call with Enbridge, Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. and Spectra Energy Partners, LP on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 9 a.m. Eastern Time (7 a.m. Mountain Time) to discuss the third quarter 2017 results. Analysts, members of the media and other interested parties can access the call toll-free at (877) 930-8043 or outside North America at (253) 336-7522 using the access code of 95724866#. The call will be audio webcast live at . A webcast replay and podcast will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the event and a transcript will be posted to the website within approximately 24 hours. An audio replay will be available for seven days after the call toll-free at (855) 859-2056 or outside North America at (404) 537-3406 (access code 95724866#).
The conference call format will include prepared remarks from the executive team followed by a question and answer session for the analyst and investor community only. Enbridge–s media and investor relations teams will be available after the call for any additional questions.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Forward-looking information, or forward-looking statements, have been included in this news release to provide information about the Company and its investee, the Fund, and the Fund–s direct and indirect investments and joint ventures (collectively, the Fund Group), including management–s assessment of future plans and operations of the Company and the Fund Group. This information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “anticipate”, “expect”, “project”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “plan”, “intend”, “target”, “believe”, “likely” and similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking information or statements included or incorporated by reference in this document include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the following: mainline system throughput; expected or target ACFFO; cash flows; equity capital requirements; in-service dates of projects; safety and reliability of pipeline systems; regulatory approvals; impact of the hedging program; shareholder returns; future dividends and distributions by the Fund; and dividend increases.
Although the Company and the Fund Group believe these forward-looking statements are reasonable based on the information available on the date such statements are made and processes used to prepare the information, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and readers are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. By their nature, these statements involve a variety of assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, levels of activity and achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Material assumptions include assumptions about the following: supply of and demand for crude oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and renewable energy; prices of crude oil, natural gas, NGL and renewable energy; exchange rates; completion of growth projects; inflation; interest rates; availability and price of labour and construction materials; operational reliability; customer and regulatory approvals; maintenance of support and regulatory approvals for the Fund Group–s projects; anticipated in-service dates; weather; the impact of the dividend policy on the Company–s or the Fund Group–s future cash flows; capital project funding; the Fund Group–s credit ratings; EBIT or adjusted EBIT; earnings/(loss) or adjusted earnings/(loss); earnings/(loss) per share; future cash flows and future ACFFO; and dividends or distributions. Assumptions regarding the expected supply of and demand for crude oil, natural gas, NGL and renewable energy, and the prices of these commodities, are material to and underlie all forward-looking statements. These factors are relevant to all forward-looking statements as they may impact current and future levels of demand for the Fund Group–s services. Similarly, exchange rates, inflation and interest rates impact the economies and business environments in which the Company and the Fund Group operate and may impact levels of demand for the Fund Group–s services and cost of inputs, and are therefore inherent in all forward-looking statements. Due to the interdependencies and correlation of these macroeconomic factors, the impact of any one assumption on a forward-looking statement cannot be determined with certainty, particularly with respect to earnings/(loss), adjusted EBIT, ACFFO and associated per share amounts or dividends or distributions. The most relevant assumptions associated with forward-looking statements on projects under construction, including completion dates and capital expenditures include the following: availability and price of labour and construction materials; effects of inflation and foreign exchange rates on labour and material costs; effects of interest rates on borrowing costs; and the impact of weather and customer, government and regulatory approvals on construction and in-service schedules and cost recovery regimes.
The Company–s and the Fund Group–s forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties pertaining to future dividends, ACFFO guidance, operating performance, regulatory parameters, project approval and support, weather, economic and competitive conditions, public opinion, changes in tax laws and tax rates, exchange rates, interest rates, commodity prices, political decisions and supply of and demand for commodities, including but not limited to those risks and uncertainties discussed in this news release and in the Company–s and the Fund Group–s other filings with Canadian securities regulators. The impact of any one risk, uncertainty or factor on a particular forward-looking statement is not determinable with certainty as these are interdependent and the Company–s or the Fund Group–s future course of action depends on management–s assessment of all information available at the relevant time. Except to the extent required by applicable law, the Company and the Fund Group assume no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements made in this news release or otherwise, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to the Company or the Fund Group or persons acting on the Company–s or the Fund Group–s behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.
ABOUT ENBRIDGE INCOME FUND HOLDINGS INC.
Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc., through its investment in the Fund, indirectly holds high quality, low-risk energy infrastructure assets. The Fund–s assets consist of a portfolio of Canadian liquids transportation and storage businesses, including the Canadian Mainline, the Regional Oil Sands System, the Canadian segment of the Southern Lights Pipeline, Class A units entitling the holder to receive defined cash flows from the United States segment of the Southern Lights Pipeline, a 50 percent interest in the Alliance Pipeline, which transports natural gas from Canada to the United States, and interests in more than 1,400 megawatts of renewable and alternative power generation assets. Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. is a publicly traded corporation on the Toronto stock exchange under the symbol ENF; information about the Company is available on the Company–s website at .
None of the information contained in, or connected to, the Company–s website is incorporated in or otherwise forms part of this news release.
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