Textainer Group Holdings Limited Reports First-Quarter 2019 Results

HAMILTON, Bermuda, May 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Textainer Group Holdings Limited TGH ("Textainer", "the Company", "we" and "our"), one of the world's largest lessors of intermodal containers, today reported financial results for the first-quarter ended March 31, 2019.

Key Financial Information (in thousands except for per share and TEU amounts) and Business Highlights:

• Lease rental income of $155.5 million for the first quarter, as compared to $157.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2018;
• Adjusted net income of $22.4 million for the first quarter, or $0.39 per diluted common share, as compared to $11.9 million, or $0.21 per diluted common share in the fourth quarter of 2018;
• Adjusted EBITDA of $118.1 million for the first quarter, an increase of $3.1 million (or 2.7%) from the fourth quarter of 2018;
• Issued $350 million fixed rate asset backed notes on April 24, 2019, increasing our ratio of fixed rate or hedged debt to 84% of total debt outstanding;
• Utilization averaged 98.3% for the first quarter, as compared to 98.6% for the fourth quarter of 2018; and
• Container investments of approximately $200 million delivered during the first quarter.

"We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, which was in line with our expectations.  Adjusted EBITDA increased $3.1 million, or 2.7%, to $118.1 million, while adjusted net income increased $10.5 million, or 88.3%, to $22.4 million in the first quarter as compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. These improvements were achieved despite the slow market activity that we experienced towards the end of 2018 and which continued through the first quarter, resulting in a slightly lower lease rental income of $155.5 million," stated Olivier Ghesquiere, President and Chief Executive Officer of Textainer Group Holdings Limited. 

Ghesquiere continued, "Despite a quiet start to the year and uncertainties about the world economy, trade and shipping volumes have remained strong following the robust expansion experienced in 2018. We remain optimistic that we will deliver growth and improved financial performance as we continue to implement our strategic initiatives and anticipate an acceleration in overall market activity in the second half of the year. The fundamentals of our business remain positive, evidenced by low turn-in activity, high utilization, a stable container resale environment, reasonable inventory levels, and recently increasing new container prices.  In addition, with the successful completion of our recent $350 million asset backed financing, we remain well positioned and ready to capture profitable market growth opportunities as they arise."  

First-Quarter Results

Lease rental income decreased $1.6 million from the fourth quarter of 2018, mostly due to having two fewer billing days in the first quarter of 2019. This was partially offset by a slight increase in the average rental rate of the fleet, resulting in stable revenues per available day.

Trading container margin increased $1.3 million from the fourth quarter of 2018 and $2.2 million from the first quarter of 2018, mostly due to an increase in the number of containers sold.

Gain on sale of owned fleet containers, net, decreased $2.8 million from the fourth quarter of 2018 due primarily to a decrease in the number of containers sold as volumes fell back in line with our normal run rate.

Direct container expense – owned fleet, decreased $3.5 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, mostly due to container recovery costs for defaulted lessees that did not recur during the current quarter, as well as a decrease in repositioning expense. Direct container expense – owned fleet, decreased $2.0 million, compared to the first quarter of 2018, primarily due to a decrease in repositioning expense.

Container impairment was $0.8 million for the quarter, mostly related to normal activity from containers moved to disposal.  Overall, the level of impairment was lower than in the fourth quarter of 2018 as no further impairment for unrecoverable containers held by defaulted lessees was recorded.  

General and administrative expense decreased $0.8 million, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, due mostly to a reduction in professional fees.

Bad debt expense was $0.2 million for the quarter, relating to normal adjustments to existing reserves with no new defaulted lessees.

Unrealized loss on interest rate swaps, collars and caps, net, was $5.7 million for the quarter, resulting from a notable decrease in the forward LIBOR curve at the end of the quarter which reduced the value of our interest rate derivatives. This is a non-cash loss that flows through Net income as we have not elected to designate our derivative instruments under hedge accounting. However, Textainer intends to hold the underlying hedges until maturity, therefore, any unrealized gain or loss will net to zero over the life of the hedge.

A gain on insurance recovery of $8.7 million was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018, relating to the final insurance settlement of the Hanjin bankruptcy, with no comparable recovery during the first quarter of 2019.

Conference Call and Webcast

A conference call to discuss the financial results for the first quarter 2019 will be held at 5:00 pm EDT on Thursday, May 9, 2019. The dial-in number for the conference call is 1-855-327-6838 (U.S. & Canada) and 1-631-891-4304 (International). The call and archived replay may also be accessed via webcast on Textainer's Investor Relations website at http://investor.textainer.com.

About Textainer Group Holdings Limited

Textainer has operated since 1979 and is one of the world's largest lessors of intermodal containers with more than 3.4 million TEU in our owned and managed fleet. We lease containers to approximately 250 customers, including all of the world's leading international shipping lines, and other lessees. Our fleet consists of standard dry freight, refrigerated intermodal containers, and dry freight specials. We also lease tank containers through our relationship with Trifleet Leasing and are a supplier of containers to the U.S. Military. Textainer is one of the largest and most reliable suppliers of new and used containers. In addition to selling older containers from our lease fleet, we buy older containers from our shipping line customers for trading and resale. We sold an average of almost 140,000 containers per year for the last five years to more than 1,500 customers making us one of the largest sellers of used containers. Textainer operates via a network of 14 offices and approximately 500 independent depots worldwide.

Important Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements include statements that are not statements of historical facts and include, without limitation, statements regarding: (i) we will deliver growth and an improvement in financial performance; (ii) we anticipate an acceleration in market activity in the second half of the year; and (iii) we will hold all hedges until maturity. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the following items that could materially and negatively impact our business, results of operations, cash flows, financial condition and future prospects: any deceleration or reversal of the current domestic and global economic conditions; lease rates may decrease and lessees may default, which could decrease revenue and increase storage, repositioning, collection and recovery expenses; the demand for leased containers depends on many political and economic factors and is tied to international trade and if demand decreases due to increased barriers to trade or political or economic factors, or for other reasons, it reduces demand for intermodal container leasing; as we increase the number of containers in our owned fleet, we increase our capital at risk and may need to incur more debt, which could result in financial instability; Textainer faces extensive competition in the container leasing industry which tends to depress returns; the international nature of the container shipping industry exposes Textainer to numerous risks; gains and losses associated with the disposition of used equipment may fluctuate; our indebtedness reduces our financial flexibility and could impede our ability to operate; and other risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in Textainer's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For a discussion of some of these risks and uncertainties, see Item 3 "Key Information— Risk Factors" in Textainer's Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 25, 2019.

Textainer's views, estimates, plans and outlook as described within this document may change subsequent to the release of this press release. Textainer is under no obligation to modify or update any or all of the statements it has made herein despite any subsequent changes Textainer may make in its views, estimates, plans or outlook for the future.

Textainer Group Holdings Limited
Investor Relations
Phone: +1 (415) 658-8333
ir@textainer.com

TEXTAINER GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED AND SUBSIDIARIES
Reconciliation of GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP financial measures
Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 and 2018
(Unaudited)
(All currency expressed in United States dollars in thousands, except per share amounts)

The following is a reconciliation of certain GAAP measures to non-GAAP financial measures (such items listed in (a) to (c)  below and defined as "Non-GAAP Measures") for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, including:

Non-GAAP Measures are not financial measures calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, income from operations or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities as a measure of our liquidity. Non-GAAP Measures are presented solely as supplemental disclosures. Management believes that adjusted EBITDA may be a useful performance measure that is widely used within our industry and adjusted net income may be a useful performance measure because Textainer intends to hold its interest rate swaps, collars and caps until maturity and over the life of an interest rate swap, collar or cap the unrealized loss (gain) will net to zero. Adjusted EBITDA is not calculated in the same manner by all companies and, accordingly, may not be an appropriate measure for comparison.

Management also believes that adjusted net income and adjusted net income per diluted common share are useful in evaluating our operating performance because unrealized loss (gain) on interest rate swaps, collars and caps, net, is a noncash, non-operating item. We believe Non-GAAP Measures provide useful information on our earnings from ongoing operations. We believe that adjusted EBITDA provides useful information on our ability to service our long-term debt and other fixed obligations and on our ability to fund our expected growth with internally generated funds. Non-GAAP Measures have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider either of them in isolation, or as a substitute for analysis of our operating results or cash flows as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

• They do not reflect our cash expenditures, or future requirements, for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• They do not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense or cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our debt;
• Although depreciation expense and container impairment are a noncash charge, the assets being depreciated may be replaced in the future, and neither adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income or adjusted net income per diluted common share reflects any cash requirements for such replacements;
• They are not adjusted for all noncash income or expense items that are reflected in our statements of cash flows; and
• Other companies in our industry may calculate these measures differently than we do, limiting their usefulness as comparative measures.

SOURCE Textainer Group Holdings Limited