CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – May 12, 2016) –
HIGHLIGHTS
(all financial figures are unaudited and in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted)
- First quarter earnings were $1,213 million or $1.38 per common share, including the impact of a number of unusual, non-recurring or non-operating factors
- First quarter adjusted earnings were $663 million or $0.76 per common share
- First quarter adjusted earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT) were $1,374 million
- First quarter available cash flow from operations (ACFFO) was $1,114 million or $1.27 per common share
- Enbridge continued to deliver record throughput on its liquids mainline system during the quarter
- The $0.9 billion Greater Toronto Area (GTA) project was completed and placed into service by Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc. (EGD)
- The $0.5 billion acquisition of operating natural gas processing plants and associated pipelines in the Montney region of northeastern British Columbia closed on April 1, 2016
- Since the beginning of 2016, approximately $2.9 billion of new common equity capital has been raised on an enterprise basis through public offerings by the Company and Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (ENF) of $2.3 billion and $0.6 billion, respectively
- On April 25, 2016, the National Energy Board issued its report on the Canadian portion of the Line 3 Replacement (L3R) Program, concluding that this project is in the Canadian public interest and recommending approval to the Federal Cabinet
- On May 10, 2016, Enbridge announced the acquisition of a 50% interest in Éolien Maritime France SAS (EMF), a French offshore wind development company
- Enbridge working to restart regional oil sands pipelines as risk from wildfires in northeastern Alberta moderates
Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge or the Company) (TSX:ENB)(NYSE:ENB) today reported first quarter adjusted EBIT of $1,374 million and ACFFO of $1,114 million, or $1.27 per common share. This represents a quarter-over-quarter increase in adjusted EBIT of $343 million and an increase in ACFFO per share of $0.32, or approximately 34%. The increase in quarterly EBIT and ACFFO was driven primarily by record throughput growth on the liquids mainline system and the impact of new projects coming into service in the second half of 2015. Average deliveries on the mainline system ex-Gretna and on the Lakehead Pipeline System (Lakehead System) in the first quarter of 2016 were over 2.5 million barrels per day and 2.7 million barrels per day, respectively, surpassing the record deliveries achieved in the fourth quarter of 2015.
“We’re pleased with our solid results which were in line with our expectations and reflect strong operational performance and new cash flows from organic projects coming on line,” said Al Monaco, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our ability to generate predictable cash flow growth is a testament to the strength of our asset base and our low risk business model which is built to withstand the current downturn in commodity markets. The fundamentals for our liquids pipeline systems remain very strong as evidenced by another quarter of record volumes on our liquids mainline, which remains well positioned as western Canadian production increases over the next few years.
“In this low commodity price environment, we continue to focus on our priority of ensuring our customers have safe, reliable and the lowest cost transportation to key markets so they maximize their netbacks,” Mr. Monaco added.
On March 1, 2016, Enbridge completed a public offering of common shares for gross proceeds of approximately $2.3 billion, sufficient to meet the equity funding requirement for the Company’s $26 billion commercially secured capital program through 2017. On April 20, 2016, subsequent to the end of the quarter, ENF, one of the Company’s sponsored vehicles, completed a public offering of common shares for gross proceeds of approximately $0.6 billion, bringing the total equity capital raised since the beginning of 2016 through follow on offerings across the Enbridge group to approximately $2.9 billion.
“The success of these offerings clearly demonstrates our Company’s ability to efficiently and effectively access capital markets,” Mr. Monaco said. “The amount of equity capital that we have raised since the beginning of the year more than takes care of the equity requirement for our current secured growth program for the next two years. It also further strengthens our financial position and creates flexibility to capitalize on new opportunities to grow and diversify our asset base.”
During the quarter, Enbridge advanced a number of key projects. The Company completed and placed into service the $0.9 billion GTA project in March. The GTA project was undertaken to meet the growing demand for natural gas distribution services in the Greater Toronto Area and ensure the ongoing safe and reliable delivery of natural gas to EGD’s current and future customers. The system expansion is the largest ever undertaken by EGD and significantly bolsters its rate base and expected earnings going forward.
Enbridge also expanded its natural gas pipelines and processing businesses with the $0.5 billion acquisition of two operating natural gas plants (the Tupper Main and Tupper West gas plants) and associated pipelines in the Montney region of northeastern British Columbia from a Canadian subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corporation. Together, the two plants have capacity of 320 million cubic feet per day and will serve to enhance the Company’s natural gas footprint within the Montney region, one of the most attractive natural gas plays in North America. The acquisition closed on April 1, 2016.
“These natural gas midstream assets are underpinned by long-term contracts, strong market fundamentals and align well with our low risk business model,” noted Mr. Monaco. “In acquiring assets from others, we carefully assess their ability to generate attractive returns and further our key priority of extending and diversifying our growth beyond 2019.”
In April 2016, the National Energy Board (NEB) found that Enbridge’s Canadian L3R Program is in the Canadian public interest. The NEB recommended that the Federal Cabinet (the Cabinet) issue a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the construction and operation of the pipeline and related facilities, subject to certain conditions. Also in April 2016, Environment and Climate Change Canada published a draft review of related upstream greenhouse gas emissions estimates for Enbridge’s Canadian L3R Program and opened a 30 day public comment period on the draft. Among other things, the draft found that the estimated emissions are not necessarily incremental. Once the public comment period has closed and the report is finalized, it will be provided to the Cabinet for consideration. The Federal Government is expected to make its final decision on the Canadian L3R Program before December 2016.
In the United States, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission continues to review the United States portion of the L3R Program, as well as the Sandpiper Pipeline project.
On May 10, 2016, Enbridge announced the acquisition of a 50% interest in EMF, a French offshore wind development company, for $282 million inclusive of transaction costs and past and future pre-Final Investment Decision (FID) development costs. EMF will be co-owned with EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN), a subsidiary of Électricité de France S.A. (EDF) dedicated to renewable energy. The acquisition is expected to close on or about May 19, 2016, subject to completion of pre-closing transactions.
Upon closing of the acquisition, Enbridge and EDF EN plan to co-develop three large-scale offshore wind farms off the coast of France that would produce a combined 1,428 megawatts (MW) of power. Subject to FID and regulatory approvals, construction on each of the three projects would commence gradually from 2017, with expected completion in 2022 for a total investment cost to Enbridge of approximately $4.5 billion.
During the first week of May 2016, extreme wildfires in northeastern Alberta resulted in the shutdown of a number of oil sands production facilities and the evacuation of approximately 88,000 people from the city of Fort McMurray which serves as a commercial and regional logistics centre for the oil sands region and a home to a significant portion of the oil sands workforce.
Enbridge’s facilities in the region were largely unaffected, however, as a precautionary measure on May 4, 2016, the Company shut down and evacuated its Cheecham terminal and curtailed operations at its Athabasca terminal. It also isolated and shut down pipelines in and out of the Cheecham terminal and shut down or curtailed operations on other pipelines it operates in the region.
With the risk to people and facilities abating, the Company is coordinating with emergency response, public safety and utility officials to restore power and make any necessary repairs to its systems while working closely with producers in the region to restart and return its regional pipeline systems to full operation. The time required to return to full operation will be dependent on a number of factors including the ability to readily access facilities and re-establish power supply while firefighting and emergency response efforts continue in the region.
It is estimated that since the shutdown of Enbridge’s facilities, deliveries from the Company’s regional oil sands pipelines have been reduced by approximately 900,000 barrels per day. Management currently expects that system capacity will be restored over the next few days subject to ongoing access to facilities. Given the evolving nature of the situation, the impact of the wildfires on the financial performance of the Company cannot be accurately estimated at this time. However, the disruption of service on the regional oil sands pipeline system and corresponding impacts on Enbridge’s downstream pipelines, under a variety of restart scenarios, is not expected to significantly impact the Company’s financial performance in 2016.
Supporting the Company’s priority of safety and operational reliability, Enbridge delivered its 2015 Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Report (the Report) in March. The Report outlines the Company’s social and environmental performance, and the actions taken to integrate social and environmental considerations into business decision making. The Report includes an updated policy that makes several commitments such as the development of multi-year plans for emissions reduction and energy efficiency; doubling Enbridge’s renewable energy generation capacity in five years; and investing in programs to enable residential and commercial natural gas customers to reduce energy use, emissions and costs.
Commencing with the first quarter of 2016, Enbridge has adopted a new financial reporting format which focuses on the operating and financial performance of its five major business lines, regardless of where the assets operated by each business are owned within the Enbridge group. Adjusted EBIT will be used as a key performance metric at the segment level, while adjusted earnings per share and ACFFO will be used to measure the consolidated performance of the Company. The change in format is intended to provide greater transparency into the operating and financial performance of businesses and the drivers of cash flow and dividend growth that are central to Enbridge’s value proposition.
Forward-Looking Information and Non-GAAP Measures
This news release contains forward-looking information and references to non-GAAP measures. Significant related assumptions and risk factors, and reconciliations are described under the Forward-Looking Information and Non-GAAP Measures sections of this news release, respectively.
FIRST QUARTER 2016 PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW
For more information on Enbridge’s growth projects and operating results, please see Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) which is filed on SEDAR and EDGAR and also available on the Company’s website at www.enbridge.com/InvestorRelations.aspx.
ADJUSTED EARNINGS BEFORE INTEREST AND INCOME TAXES
For the three months ended March 31, 2016, adjusted EBIT was $1,374 million, an increase of $343 million over the comparable period in 2015. Growth in consolidated adjusted EBIT was largely driven by stronger contributions from the Liquids Pipelines segment which benefitted from a number of new assets that were placed into service in 2015, the most prominent being the expansion of the Company’s mainline system in the third quarter of 2015, as well as the reversal and expansion of Line 9B and completion of the Southern Access Extension Project in the fourth quarter of 2015, which have provided access to the Eastern Canada and Patoka markets, respectively. The Canadian Mainline contribution increased primarily due to higher throughput that resulted from strong oil sands production in western Canada combined with contributions from the new assets placed into service in 2015, as well as a higher quarter-over-quarter average Canadian Mainline International Joint Tariff Residual Benchmark Toll. The Lakehead System also experienced quarter-over-quarter growth in adjusted EBIT, mainly due to higher throughput and contributions from new assets placed into service in 2015. In the first quarter of 2016, the Company also benefitted from stronger adjusted EBIT contributions from the United States Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast, mainly attributed to increased transportation revenues resulting from an increase in the level of committed take-or-pay volumes on Flanagan South Pipeline (Flanagan South) and higher tariffs on Flanagan South and Seaway Pipeline.
Within the Gas Distribution segment, EGD generated higher adjusted EBIT in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the corresponding 2015 period, primarily attributable to higher distribution charges arising from growth in its rate base and the impact of operating under interim rates for the first three months of 2015, and lower storage and transportation costs.
The Gas Pipelines and Processing segment benefitted from strong contributions from Alliance Pipeline under its new services framework that came into effect in the fourth quarter of 2015, and from higher throughput on certain Enbridge Offshore Pipelines. However, these positive effects were offset by weaker contributions from Aux Sable due to lower fractionation margins, and lower volumes on US Midstream pipelines due to reduced drilling by producers.
The Green Power and Transmission segment’s adjusted EBIT was lower as a result of disruptions at certain eastern Canadian wind farms due to winter weather conditions which caused icing of wind turbines, as well as weaker wind and solar resources at certain facilities.
Adjusted EBIT from Energy Services decreased when compared with the first quarter of 2015 as low oil prices compressed crude oil location and quality differentials and lower seasonal volatility of natural gas prices resulted in fewer arbitrage opportunities and weaker margin revenue through which to recover demand charges on certain facilities where the Company holds committed transportation capacity.
ADJUSTED EARNINGS
Adjusted earnings for the first quarter of 2016 were $663 million or $0.76 per common share compared with adjusted earnings of $468 million or $0.56 per common share in the first quarter of 2015. Partially offsetting the quarter-over-quarter adjusted EBIT growth discussed above in Adjusted Earnings Before Interest and Income Taxes, was higher interest expense resulting from the incurrence of incremental debt to fund asset growth and the impact of refinancing construction debt with longer-term debt financing. The amount of interest capitalized period-over-period also decreased as a result of projects coming into service.
Income taxes increased in the first quarter of 2016 largely due to the quarter-over-quarter increase in earnings.
The above noted negative impacts were offset slightly by a decrease in the adjusted earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests in Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (EEP). Although EEP reflected higher quarter-over-quarter contributions from its liquids pipelines businesses, there was a decrease in EEP’s overall quarter-over-quarter contribution to adjusted earnings primarily due to higher interest expense.
Finally, interest expense, income taxes and noncontrolling interests and redeemable noncontrolling interests were also impacted by adjustments for unusual, non-recurring and non-operating factors.
EARNINGS
Earnings for the first quarter of 2016 were $1,213 million or $1.38 per common share compared with a loss of $383 million or $0.46 per common share in the first quarter of 2015. Earnings for each period reflected the same operating factors as discussed above in Adjusted Earnings Before Interest and Income Taxes and Adjusted Earnings. The comparability of quarter-over-quarter earnings, however, was impacted by a number of unusual, non-recurring and non-operating factors that are listed in Non-GAAP Reconciliation – EBIT to Adjusted Earnings on page 9.
AVAILABLE CASH FLOW FROM OPERATIONS
ACFFO for the first quarter of 2016 was $1,114 million, or $1.27 per common share, compared with $802 million, or $0.95 per common share for the first quarter of 2015. The Company experienced strong quarter-over-quarter growth in ACFFO which was driven by the same factors as discussed in Adjusted EBIT above.
Maintenance capital expenditures were comparable period-over-period as higher expenditure in the Company’s Gas Distribution and Gas Pipelines and Processing segments were offset by lower maintenance capital expenditures in the Liquids Pipelines segment which reflected a shift in the timing of maintenance activity within the year. Maintenance capital expenditures across all business segments are expected to be higher over the full 2016 year as the Company continues to invest in its maintenance capital program to support the safety and reliability of its operations.
Partially offsetting the quarter-over-quarter increase in ACFFO was higher interest expense as discussed in Adjusted Earnings above.
The increase in ACFFO was also partially offset by increased distributions to noncontrolling interests in EEP and to redeemable noncontrolling interests in Enbridge Income Fund (the Fund). Distributions were higher in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the first quarter of 2015 mainly as a result of increased public ownership and distributions per unit in EEP and the Fund.
The ACFFO also includes cash distributions from the Company’s equity investments. Cash distributions in the first quarter of 2016 were $186 million compared with $179 million of cash distributions received in the first quarter of 2015. Although the cash distributions period-over-period slightly increased, earnings from such investments in the first quarter of 2016 were much higher compared with the corresponding 2015 period.
DIVIDEND DECLARATION
On April 22, 2016, the Enbridge Board of Directors declared the following quarterly dividends. All dividends are payable on June 1, 2016 to shareholders of record on May 16, 2016.
Common Shares | $0.53000 |
Preference Shares, Series A | $0.34375 |
Preference Shares, Series B | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series D | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series F | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series H | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series J | US$0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series L | US$0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series N | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series P | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series R | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series 1 | US$0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series 3 | $0.25000 |
Preference Shares, Series 5 | US$0.27500 |
Preference Shares, Series 7 | $0.27500 |
Preference Shares, Series 9 | $0.27500 |
Preference Shares, Series 11 | $0.27500 |
Preference Shares, Series 13 | $0.27500 |
Preference Shares, Series 15 | $0.27500 |