HollyFrontier Corporation Reports Quarterly Net Income

HollyFrontier Corporation (NYSE:HFC) (“HollyFrontier” or the “Company”) today reported third quarter net income attributable to HollyFrontier stockholders of $196.3 million or $1.04 per diluted share for the quarter ended September 30, 2015, compared to $175.0 million or $0.88 per diluted share for the quarter ended September 30, 2014. Included in the current quarter results was a non-cash inventory valuation charge that decreased after-tax earnings by $146.3 million, or $0.78 per share. Excluding this inventory valuation charge, after-tax earnings was $342.6 million, or $1.82 per share.

For the third quarter, net income attributable to our stockholders, excluding the lower of cost or market inventory valuation adjustment, increased by $167.6 million compared to the same period of 2014, principally reflecting improved margins and strong refining operations across our system. Crude oil charges averaged 460,000 barrels per day ("BPD"), a new quarterly record since the HollyFrontier merger in July 2011. Production levels averaged approximately 474,000 BPD. On a per barrel basis, consolidated refinery gross margin was $19.85 per produced barrel, a 27% increase compared to $15.59 for the third quarter of 2014. Total operating expenses for the quarter were $265.4 million compared to $281.0 million for the third quarter of last year, and refining operating expenses averaged $5.46 per produced barrel sold compared to $6.39 per barrel for the same period of 2014.

HollyFrontier’s President & CEO, Mike Jennings, commented, “Third quarter earnings reflect solid refining margins and impressive operational reliability across our refining system. We reported a second consecutive quarterly record in terms of utilization rate, averaging 460,000 BPD of crude throughput. Strong refining operations, improved margin realization and lower operating costs generated a greater than 100% increase in earnings per share, excluding the current quarter inventory charge, when compared to the third quarter of 2014. Furthermore, we continued to execute our capital allocation plan, returning approximately $164.0 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the quarter.”

For the third quarter of 2015, net cash provided by operations totaled $333.4 million. We executed $102.0 million in share repurchases and completed a $300.0 million accelerated share repurchase program initiated in May. Our shares outstanding as of September 30, 2015 were approximately 185.0 million, down from approximately 196.0 million at December 31, 2014. Additionally, we declared and paid a $0.33 regular dividend to shareholders in the third quarter totaling approximately $62.0 million. At September 30, 2015, our combined balance of cash and short-term investments totaled $626.8 million and our consolidated debt was $982.8 million. Our debt, exclusive of Holly Energy Partners' debt, which is nonrecourse to HollyFrontier, was $31.8 million at September 30, 2015. We had no cash borrowings or outstanding principal under our credit facility during the quarter.

The Company has scheduled a webcast conference call for today, November 5, 2015, at 8:30 AM Eastern Time to discuss third quarter financial results. This webcast may be accessed at: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1079891. An audio archive of this webcast will be available using the above noted link through November 19, 2015.

HollyFrontier Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is an independent petroleum refiner and marketer that produces high-value light products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other specialty products. HollyFrontier operates through its subsidiaries a 135,000 barrels per stream day (“BPSD”) refinery located in El Dorado, Kansas, two refinery facilities with a combined capacity of 125,000 BPSD located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 100,000 BPSD refinery located in Artesia, New Mexico, a 52,000 BPSD refinery located in Cheyenne, Wyoming and a 31,000 BPSD refinery in Woods Cross, Utah. HollyFrontier markets its refined products principally in the Southwest U.S., the Rocky Mountains extending into the Pacific Northwest and in other neighboring Plains states. A subsidiary of HollyFrontier also owns a 39% interest (including the general partner interest) in Holly Energy Partners, L.P.

The following is a “safe harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements in this press release relating to matters that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” based on management’s beliefs and assumptions using currently available information and expectations as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, including those contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that our expectations will prove correct. Therefore, actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied or forecast in such statements. Any differences could be caused by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties with respect to the actions of actual or potential competitive suppliers of refined petroleum products in the Company’s markets, the demand for and supply of crude oil and refined products, the spread between market prices for refined products and market prices for crude oil, the possibility of constraints on the transportation of refined products, the possibility of inefficiencies, curtailments or shutdowns in refinery operations or pipelines, effects of governmental and environmental regulations and policies, the availability and cost of financing to the Company, the effectiveness of the Company’s capital investments and marketing strategies, the Company’s efficiency in carrying out construction projects, the ability of the Company to acquire refined product operations or pipeline and terminal operations on acceptable terms and to integrate any future acquired operations, the possibility of terrorist attacks and the consequences of any such attacks, general economic conditions and other financial, operational and legal risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and, other than as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Financial Data (all information in this release is unaudited)

Segment Information

Our operations are organized into two reportable segments, Refining and HEP. Our operations that are not included in the Refining and HEP segments are included in Corporate and Other. Intersegment transactions are eliminated in our consolidated financial statements and are included in Consolidations and Eliminations. The Refining segment includes the operations of our El Dorado, Tulsa, Navajo, Cheyenne and Woods Cross refineries and NK Asphalt (aggregated as a reportable segment). Refining activities involve the purchase and refining of crude oil and wholesale and branded marketing of refined products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel. These petroleum products are primarily marketed in the Mid-Continent, Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. Additionally, the Refining segment includes specialty lubricant products produced at our Tulsa refineries that are marketed throughout North America and are distributed in Central and South America. NK Asphalt operates various asphalt terminals in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

The HEP segment involves all of the operations of HEP, a consolidated variable interest entity, which owns and operates logistics assets consisting of petroleum product and crude oil pipelines and terminal, tankage and loading rack facilities in the Mid-Continent, Southwest and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. The HEP segment also includes a 75% interest in the UNEV Pipeline (a consolidated subsidiary of HEP) and 50% and 25% ownership interests in Frontier Pipeline and SLC Pipeline, respectively. Revenues from the HEP segment are earned through transactions with unaffiliated parties for pipeline transportation, rental and terminalling operations as well as revenues relating to pipeline transportation services provided for our refining operations. Due to certain basis differences, our reported amounts for the HEP segment may not agree to amounts reported in HEP's periodic public filings.

Refining Operating Data

The following tables set forth information, including non-GAAP performance measures about our refinery operations. The cost of products and refinery gross and net operating margins do not include the non-cash effects of lower of cost or market inventory valuation adjustments and depreciation and amortization. Reconciliations to amounts reported under GAAP are provided under “Reconciliations to Amounts Reported Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles” below.

Reconciliations to Amounts Reported Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles

Reconciliations of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) to amounts reported under generally accepted accounting principles in financial statements.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which we refer to as EBITDA, is calculated as net income attributable to HollyFrontier stockholders plus (i) interest expense, net of interest income, (ii) income tax provision, and (iii) depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is not a calculation provided for under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States; however, the amounts included in the EBITDA calculation are derived from amounts included in our consolidated financial statements. EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income or operating income as an indication of our operating performance or as an alternative to operating cash flow as a measure of liquidity. EBITDA is not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. EBITDA is presented here because it is a widely used financial indicator used by investors and analysts to measure performance. EBITDA is also used by our management for internal analysis and as a basis for financial covenants.

Set forth below is our calculation of EBITDA.

(1) Includes loss on early extinguishment of debt of $1.4 million and $7.7 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Reconciliations of refinery operating information (non-GAAP performance measures) to amounts reported under generally accepted accounting principles in financial statements.

Refinery gross margin and net operating margin are non-GAAP performance measures that are used by our management and others to compare our refining performance to that of other companies in our industry. We believe these margin measures are helpful to investors in evaluating our refining performance on a relative and absolute basis.

Refinery gross margin per barrel is the difference between average net sales price and average cost of products per barrel of produced refined products. Net operating margin per barrel is the difference between refinery gross margin and refinery operating expenses per barrel of produced refined products. These two margins do not include the non-cash effects of lower of cost or market inventory valuation adjustments or depreciation and amortization. Each of these component performance measures can be reconciled directly to our consolidated statements of income.

Other companies in our industry may not calculate these performance measures in the same manner.

Refinery Gross and Net Operating Margins

Below are reconciliations to our consolidated statements of income for (i) net sales, cost of products (exclusive of lower of cost or market inventory valuation adjustment) and operating expenses, in each case averaged per produced barrel sold, and (ii) net operating margin and refinery gross margin. Due to rounding of reported numbers, some amounts may not calculate exactly.

Reconciliation of produced refined product sales to total sales and other revenues

Reconciliation of average cost of products per produced barrel sold to total cost of products sold

Reconciliation of average refinery operating expenses per produced barrel sold to total operating expenses

Reconciliation of net operating margin per barrel to refinery gross margin per barrel to total sales and other revenues

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