Kinder Morgan (KMI) raises dividend - Jan 20

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dan_s
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Kinder Morgan (KMI) raises dividend - Jan 20

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Kinder Morgan, Inc.’s (NYSE: KMI) board of directors today approved a cash dividend of $0.2625 per share for the fourth quarter ($1.05 annualized), payable on February 16, 2021, to common stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 1, 2021. This dividend represents a 5% increase over the fourth quarter of 2019.

KMI is reporting fourth quarter net income attributable to KMI of $607 million, compared to net income attributable to KMI of $610 million in the fourth quarter of 2019; and distributable cash flow (DCF) of $1,250 million, an 8% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2019.

"Despite the pandemic’s continued drag on the economy and on energy demand, our company weathered the fourth quarter well, producing substantial earnings as expected and robust coverage of this quarter’s dividend," said KMI Executive Chairman Richard D. Kinder.

"Our assets continue to provide strong cash flow and our corporate philosophy remains sound: fund our capital needs internally, maintain a healthy balance sheet, and return excess cash to our shareholders through dividend increases and/or share repurchases. As noted in our December financial guidance, the board expects to increase the dividend by 3% for 2021, to $1.08 per share (annualized). The company also has the capacity to engage in opportunistic share repurchases up to $450 million," Kinder concluded.

"We are optimistic that the U.S. and global economies are poised for a strong recovery as the vaccines are distributed and we return to normal activity," said KMI Chief Executive Officer Steve Kean. "The measures we took in the face of that unprecedented challenge — maintaining capital spending discipline, reducing expenses, and increasing operational efficiency — will all contribute to a stronger company in the months and years ahead. The services we provide and the products we move remain critical to the quality of life of millions of our fellow citizens, and we expect demand for those services and products to rebound as the economic recovery takes hold.

"I remain extremely proud of our employees, who throughout a trying year kept their focus on their work providing essential energy services for businesses and consumers," Kean concluded.

"We generated fourth quarter earnings per share of $0.27, which was flat compared to earnings per share of $0.27 in the fourth quarter of 2019," said KMI President Kim Dang. "At $0.55 per share, DCF per share was down $0.04 from the fourth quarter of 2019. We achieved $652 million of excess DCF above our declared dividend. That excess cash resulted in part from a lower dividend than we assumed in our plan, but was also the result of our cost savings and reduced capital expenditures. Financial contributions from all of our business segments were down compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, due to lower energy demand as a result of the pandemic, lower commodity prices, and the December 2019 sale of Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (KML) and the U.S. Cochin Pipeline. This was partially offset by lower interest expense and lower sustaining capital expenditures compared to the fourth quarter of 2019," said Dang.

"One of the major highlights of the quarter was completing construction of the Permian Highway Pipeline, which went into full commercial service on January 1, overcoming multiple permitting and legal challenges. Our project management teams and workers in the field managed to complete several other important expansion projects during the quarter while maintaining an outstanding safety record in the face of the historic pandemic," Dang continued.

For the full year 2020, KMI reported net income attributable to KMI of $119 million compared to $2,190 million in 2019. Net income attributable to KMI for the full year 2020 included a combined $1,950 million of non-cash impairments associated with our Natural Gas Pipelines Non-Regulated and CO2 reporting units. KMI’s 2020 full year DCF of $4,597 million was down 8% from $4,993 million in 2019. Adjusted EBITDA of $6,962 million was down 9% from $7,618 million in 2019. The decreases in DCF and Adjusted EBITDA are consistent with previous guidance provided during 2020, and are primarily attributable to pandemic-related reduced energy demand and commodity price impacts, as well as the impact of the KML and U.S. Cochin sale in the fourth quarter of 2019.

2021 Outlook

For 2021, KMI’s budget contemplates $2.1 billion in net income attributable to KMI, or $0.92 earnings per share, declared dividends of $1.08 per share, a 3% increase from the 2020 declared dividends, DCF of approximately $4.4 billion ($1.95 per share), and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $6.8 billion. KMI also expects to invest $0.8 billion in expansion projects and contributions to joint ventures during 2021. KMI expects to generate $1.2 billion of DCF in excess of discretionary expenditures and dividend payments. KMI also expects to end 2021 with a Net Debt-to-Adjusted EBITDA ratio of approximately 4.6 times.

As of December 31, 2020, we had over $3.9 billion of borrowing capacity under our $4 billion credit facility and nearly $1.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents. We believe this borrowing capacity, current cash on hand, and our cash from operations are more than adequate to allow us to manage our cash requirements, including maturing debt, through 2021.
Dan Steffens
Energy Prospectus Group
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