Calumet Provides Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2024 Selected Financial Results

Rhea-AI Summary

Calumet (NASDAQ: CLMT) released preliminary Q4 2024 financial results, expecting a net loss between $54-24 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $45-60 million. The company reported significant operational progress, including:

- Successful completion of planned turnaround at Montana Renewables in November 2024
- Achievement of 50 million gallon annualized SAF run rate
- Reaching operational cost target of $0.70/gallon
- Receipt of $20 million in insurance proceeds from business interruption claims

The company projects 2025 capital expenditures of $50-70 million for specialties business and $10-20 million for Montana Renewables maintenance. MaxSAF project spending is expected at $40-60 million, with 45% funded from MRL operating cash flow and the remainder from DOE loan. Management emphasizes focus on deleveraging in 2025, aiming to pay down all 2026 notes.

Positive

• Receipt of $20 million insurance proceeds from business interruption claims
• Achieved operational cost target of $0.70/gallon
• Reached 50 million gallon annualized SAF run rate
• Successful completion of planned facility turnaround

Negative

• Expected Q4 2024 net loss between $54-24 million
• Seasonal impacts affecting fuel and asphalt business expected to continue in Q1 2025
• Significant capital expenditure requirements for 2025 ($100-150 million total)

Insights

Financial Analyst

The preliminary Q4 2024 results reveal concerning financial metrics with an expected net loss of $24-54 million, though Adjusted EBITDA remains positive at $45-60 million. The key positive developments include:

• Successful DOE loan closure providing debt refinancing flexibility
• Achievement of 50 million gallon annual SAF production run rate
• Operational cost optimization reaching $0.70/gallon target
• One-time $20 million insurance proceeds boost

However, several risk factors warrant attention: The substantial planned capital expenditure for 2025 ($100-150 million total) could strain liquidity, while seasonal weakness in fuel and asphalt segments may pressure Q1 2025 performance. The focus on deleveraging through DOE loan proceeds and anticipated capital raises suggests ongoing balance sheet concerns, though the strategy to address 2026 notes is prudent for near-term debt management.

Energy Industry Expert

The operational achievements at Montana Renewables mark a significant milestone in Calumet's renewable fuels strategy. Reaching a 50 million gallon SAF annual run rate positions the company competitively in the growing sustainable aviation fuel market. The successful completion of the November turnaround and achievement of $0.70/gallon operational cost target demonstrates improving operational efficiency.

The MaxSAF project's funding structure, with 45% from internal cash flow and the remainder from DOE funding, provides a balanced approach to expansion. However, the seasonal weakness in traditional fuel segments and substantial capital requirements for 2025 ($40-60 million for MaxSAF alone) could create near-term execution challenges. The specialties segment's continued strong production performance helps offset these pressures, though market conditions remain dynamic.

INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Calumet, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLMT) (the "Company," "Calumet," "we," "our" or "us") announced today preliminary selected financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2024.

Based on preliminary data, the Company currently expects to report a net loss between $54 million and $24 million and Adjusted EBITDA between $45 million and $60 million for the fourth quarter 2024.  For a reconciliation of the preliminary estimate of Adjusted EBITDA to preliminary estimated net loss, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below. 

"Calumet continues to make meaningful strategic progress across the board," said Todd Borgmann, CEO.  "We saw this with the recently announced closing of our Department of Energy (DOE) loan, and we also have achieved new operational milestones within both of our businesses.  In our specialties business, we saw another exceptional production quarter following the volume records set in third quarter of 2024. We also achieved new high points at Montana Renewables as we successfully completed our planned turnaround in November, demonstrated a 50 million gallon annualized SAF run rate, and achieved our year end operational cost target of $0.70/gallon.

"With the DOE loan closed, and the other strategic catalysts executed in 2024 behind us, we enter 2025 with a clear focus on deleveraging. Between this recently-closed DOE loan, cash flow from earnings, and our anticipated near-term capital raises, Calumet expects to pay down all of its 2026 notes, continue to de-lever the balance sheet and reduce its financing costs."

As previously announced, the Great Falls facility conducted a planned turnaround in November 2024 to change catalyst, which was completed successfully in December, and we entered 2025 operating at a 50 million gallons per year run rate of SAF.  Net loss and Adjusted EBITDA were positively impacted by approximately $20 million of insurance proceeds from business interruption claims related to our previously reported steam drum crack in the Montana Renewables business.

Our specialties business continues to operate well, and we saw continued exceptional production as our reliability progress continued in the fourth quarter of 2024.  As anticipated, the fourth quarter saw typical seasonal impacts to the fuel and asphalt business, which we expect to continue into the first quarter of 2025. 

Finally, we expect capital expenditures in 2025 of $50 million to $70 million in our specialties business and $10 million to $20 million of maintenance capital at Montana Renewables before our MaxSAF project.  MaxSAF spending is expected to be $40 million to $60 million in 2025, of which 45%, or $18 million to $27 million, is expected to be funded from MRL operating cash flow, and the remainder from the next tranche of the DOE loan. 

The Company has prepared the estimated preliminary financial data presented above based on the most current information available to management. The Company's normal financial reporting processes with respect to the preliminary financial data have not been fully completed and the Company's independent registered public accounting firm has not audited, reviewed, compiled or performed any procedures with respect to the accompanying preliminary financial data.  As a result, the Company's actual financial results could vary materially from this preliminary financial data.  Investors should not place undue reliance on these preliminary financial data. These estimates should not be viewed as a substitute for full interim financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

About Calumet

Calumet, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLMT) manufactures, formulates, and markets a diversified slate of specialty branded products and renewable fuels to customers across a broad range of consumer-facing and industrial markets. Calumet is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and operates twelve facilities throughout North America.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and information in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements." The words "will," "may," "intend," "believe," "expect," "outlook," "forecast," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "plan," "should," "could," "would," or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature. The statements discussed in this press release that are not purely historical data are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the statements regarding (i) preliminary estimates of selected financial results for the most recent quarterly period, (ii) our expectations regarding the funding under the loan facility (the "DOE Facility") that MRL recently closed with the DOE, including the timing and intended use of borrowings under such facility, (iii) our expectation that the DOE Facility will enable MRL to complete the MaxSAF™ construction and that such project will be completed on time and on budget, (iv) demand for finished products in markets we serve, (v) our expectation regarding our business outlook and cash flows, including with respect to the Montana Renewables business and our plans to de-leverage our balance sheet, (vi) our expectation regarding anticipated capital expenditures and strategic initiatives, and (vii) our ability to meet our financial commitments, debt service obligations, debt instrument covenants, contingencies and anticipated capital expenditures. These forward-looking statements are based on our expectations and beliefs as of the date hereof concerning future developments and their potential effect on us. While management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, there can be no assurance that future developments affecting us will be those that we anticipate. All comments concerning our current expectations for future sales and operating results are based on our forecasts for our existing operations and do not include the potential impact of any future acquisition or disposition transactions. Our forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. Known material factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include: the overall demand for specialty products, fuels, renewable fuels and other refined products; the level of foreign and domestic production of crude oil and refined products; our ability to produce specialty products, fuel products, and renewable fuel products that meet our customers' unique and precise specifications; the marketing of alternative and competing products; the impact of fluctuations and rapid increases or decreases in crude oil and crack spread prices, including the resulting impact on our liquidity; the results of our hedging and other risk management activities; our ability to comply with financial covenants contained in our debt instruments; the availability of, and our ability to consummate, acquisition or combination opportunities and the impact of any completed acquisitions; labor relations; our access to capital to fund expansions, acquisitions and our working capital needs and our ability to obtain debt or equity financing on satisfactory terms; successful integration and future performance of acquired assets, businesses or third-party product supply and processing relationships; our ability to timely and effectively integrate the operations of acquired businesses or assets, particularly those in new geographic areas or in new lines of business; environmental liabilities or events that are not covered by an indemnity, insurance or existing reserves; maintenance of our credit ratings and ability to receive open credit lines from our suppliers; demand for various grades of crude oil and resulting changes in pricing conditions; fluctuations in refinery capacity; our ability to access sufficient crude oil supply through long-term or month-to-month evergreen contracts and on the spot market; the effects of competition; continued creditworthiness of, and performance by, counterparties; the impact of current and future laws, rulings and governmental regulations, including guidance related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; the costs of complying with the Renewable Fuel Standard, including the prices paid for renewable identification numbers ("RINs"); shortages or cost increases of power supplies, natural gas, materials or labor; hurricane or other weather interference with business operations; administration changes in the federal government and potential legislative enactments and administrative actions; our ability to access the debt and equity markets; accidents or other unscheduled shutdowns; and general economic, market, business or political conditions, including inflationary pressures, instability in financial institutions, general economic slowdown or a recession, political tensions, conflicts and war (such as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and their regional and global ramifications).

For additional information regarding factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our projected results, please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including the risk factors and other cautionary statements in Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P.'s (the "Partnership") latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings made by the Partnership and the Company with the SEC.

We caution that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and you should not rely unduly on them, as they involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that we cannot predict. In addition, we have based many of these forward-looking statements on assumptions about future events that may prove to be inaccurate. While our management considers these assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. Accordingly, our actual results may differ materially from the future performance that we have expressed or forecast in our forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law. Certain public statements made by us and our representatives on the date hereof may also contain forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained above.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Our management uses certain non-GAAP performance measures to analyze operating segment performance and non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate past performance and prospects for the future to supplement our financial information presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). These financial and operational non-GAAP measures are important factors in assessing our operating results and profitability and include performance measures along with certain key operating metrics.

We use the following financial performance measures:

EBITDA: We define EBITDA for any period as net income (loss) plus interest expense (including amortization of debt issuance costs), income taxes and depreciation and amortization.  

Adjusted EBITDA: We define Adjusted EBITDA for any period as: EBITDA adjusted for (a) impairment; (b) unrealized gains and losses from mark to market accounting for hedging activities; (c) realized gains and losses under derivative instruments excluded from the determination of net income (loss); (d) non-cash equity-based compensation expense and other non-cash items (excluding items such as accruals of cash expenses in a future period or amortization of a prepaid cash expense) that were deducted in computing net income (loss); (e) debt refinancing fees, extinguishment costs, premiums and penalties; (f) any net gain or loss realized in connection with an asset sale that was deducted in computing net income (loss); (g) amortization of turnaround costs; (h) lower of cost or market ("LCM") inventory adjustments; (i) the impact of liquidation of inventory layers calculated using the last in, first-out ("LIFO") method; (j) RINs mark-to-market adjustments; and (k) all extraordinary, unusual or non-recurring items of gain or loss, or revenue or expense.

The definition of Adjusted EBITDA that is presented in this press release is similar to the calculation of (i) "Consolidated Cash Flow" contained in the indentures governing our 11.00% Senior Notes due 2026 (the "2026 Notes"), our 8.125% Senior Notes due 2027 (the "2027 Notes"), our 9.75% Senior Notes due 2028 (the "2028 Notes"), and our 9.25% Senior Secured First Lien Notes due 2029 (the "2029 Secured Notes") and (ii) "Consolidated EBITDA" contained in the credit agreement governing our revolving credit facility. We are required to report Consolidated Cash Flow to the holders of our 2026 Notes, 2027 Notes, 2028 Notes, and 2029 Secured Notes and Consolidated EBITDA to the lenders under our revolving credit facility, and these measures are used by them to determine our compliance with certain covenants governing those debt instruments. Please see our filings with the SEC, including the Partnership's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings made by the Partnership and the Company with the SEC, for additional details regarding the covenants governing our debt instruments.

These non-GAAP measures are used as supplemental financial measures by our management and by external users of our financial statements such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others, to assess:

• the financial performance of our assets without regard to financing methods, capital structure or historical cost basis;
• the ability of our assets to generate cash sufficient to pay interest costs and support our indebtedness;
• our operating performance and return on capital as compared to those of other companies in our industry, without regard to financing or capital structure;
• the viability of acquisitions and capital expenditure projects and the overall rates of return on alternative investment opportunities; and
• our operating performance excluding the non-cash impact of LCM and LIFO inventory adjustments, RINs mark-to-market adjustments, and depreciation and amortization.

We believe that these non-GAAP measures are useful to analysts and investors, as they exclude transactions not related to our core cash operating activities and provide metrics to analyze our ability to fund our capital requirements and to pay interest on our debt obligations. We believe that excluding these transactions allows investors to meaningfully analyze trends and performance of our core cash operations.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered alternatives to Net income (loss) or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with GAAP. In evaluating our performance as measured by EBITDA or Adjusted EBITDA management recognizes and considers the limitations of these measurements. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA do not reflect our liabilities for the payment of income taxes, interest expense or other obligations such as capital expenditures. Accordingly, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are only two of several measurements that management utilizes. Moreover, our EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of another company because all companies may not calculate EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA in the same manner. Please see the table below for a reconciliation of the preliminary estimate of Adjusted EBITDA to preliminary estimated Net income (loss), our most directly comparable GAAP financial performance measure.

Subject to the qualifications set forth above, our estimated range of Net loss and Adjusted EBITDA for the Company for the three months ended December 31, 2024 is (in millions):

		Three Months Ended December 31, 2024
		Low Estimate						High Estimate
		(In millions)
Reconciliation of Net loss to Adjusted EBITDA
Net loss		$	(54.0)					$	(24.0)
Add:
Depreciation and amortization			51.0						50.0
LCM / LIFO loss			4.0						3.0
Loss on impairment and disposal of assets			2.0						1.0
Interest expense			58.0						57.0
Unrealized loss on derivatives			3.0						2.0
RINs mark-to-market gain			(39.0)						(40.0)
Other non-recurring expenses			3.0						2.0
Equity-based compensation and other items			16.0						15.0
Income tax expense (benefit)			3.0						(3.0)
Noncontrolling interest adjustments			(2.0)						(3.0)
Adjusted EBITDA		$	45.0					$	60.0

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SOURCE Calumet, Inc.

FAQ

What is Calumet's expected net loss range for Q4 2024?

Calumet expects to report a net loss between $54 million and $24 million for Q4 2024.

What is CLMT's projected Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 2024?

The company expects Adjusted EBITDA between $45 million and $60 million for Q4 2024.

How much are Calumet's planned capital expenditures for 2025?

Calumet plans $50-70 million for specialties business, $10-20 million for Montana Renewables maintenance, and $40-60 million for the MaxSAF project in 2025.

What operational milestone did CLMT achieve in SAF production?

Calumet achieved a 50 million gallon annualized SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) run rate after completing the planned turnaround in December 2024.

How much insurance proceeds did CLMT receive for business interruption claims?

Calumet received approximately $20 million in insurance proceeds related to business interruption claims from the Montana Renewables steam drum crack.