Martin Midstream Partners reports earnings increase in 2012 first quarter

Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (MMLP) on May 2 announced first-quarter earnings per share of $0.40 versus an estimated $0.39 per share, beating estimates by 2.6 percent.

Revenues came in at $338.3M versus an estimated $305.04million, beating by 10.9 percent.

Net income for the first quarter of 2011 was $7.3 million, or $0.31 per limited partner unit. Revenues for the first quarter of 2012 were $338.3 million compared to $283.0 million for the first quarter of 2011.

For the quarter ended March 31,  net income was not impacted by non-cash derivative losses. For the first quarter of 2011, net income was impacted negatively by $0.5 million, or $0.02 per limited partner unit, in non-cash derivatives net losses from certain commodity and interest rate hedges that are subject to mark-to-market accounting.

The Partnership's distributable cash flow for the first quarter of 2012 was $22.8 million.

Ruben Martin, president and chief executive officer of Martin Midstream GP LLC, the general partner of Martin Midstream Partners, said, "We are pleased with the Partnership's first quarter financial performance. For the quarter we earned distributable cash flow of approximately $22.8 million and a strong distribution coverage ratio of 1.17 times. The Partnership benefitted from stronger than expected performance in our Sulfur Services Segment as our fertilizer and molten sulfur divisions continued their positive momentum and strong margin levels we saw in the fourth quarter last year. Operationally, our fertilizer production units are running at very high levels of utilization that coincides with strong customer demand for our product offerings.”

On April 24, Martin Midstream declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.7625 per unit for the quarter ended March 31. This quarterly distribution remains unchanged from the distribution paid in the prior quarter. The distribution is payable on May 15 to common unitholders of record as of the close of business on May 8. The ex-dividend date for the cash distribution is May 4, 2012. 

MarkWest Energy Partners increases quarterly cash distribution to $0.79

MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE: MWE) on April 26 declared a cash distribution of $0.79 per common unit for the first quarter of 2012, for an implied annual rate of $3.16 per common unit. The first quarter 2012 distribution represents an increase of $0.12 per common unit, or 17.9 percent, compared to the first quarter 2011 distribution and an increase of $0.03 per common unit, or 4.0 percent, compared to the fourth quarter 2011 distribution.